Flight Cases

[pattonaudio]

Flightcases

 

Better to build or buy?

[cedd]

I build my own. Ok so you don't get those machine milled edges to your extrusions, but if you're careful it's the best way of getting just what you want.

 

I go about things a slightly odd way though;

 

1 sheet of 12mm mdf (HDF is better to screw into but a pain to cut and extremely heavy). Cut to size roughly by the sawmill.

 

Build a box with 1" planed batton for joining edges.

 

Buy >30mm right anle extrusion and fix to all external corners (after painting) along with ball corners.

 

The lid has no fancy catches or extrusion, it is the same 90 degree egging but fastened only to the roof so the edges come down and wrap round the walls of the box and locate the lid. Couple of butterfly catches riveted to this and Robert is your father's brother!

 

Have just made 2 x 4 foot by 2 foot by 1 foot flight cases for £30. Yes they don't have all the mod cons, but with a decent pair of casters I'd say they'll do extremely well and probably last as long as an off the shelf one (being a box with extrusin added rather than a box held together by extrusion, it's far stronger.).

[soundiesam]

my 10p worth would be that it depends if your any good at making cases.. the advantage of going to a company who make them is the fact they make them every day.

[Rob_Beech]

Making them isn't something I have had much experience in. I can't imagine anyone would go away having not done it before and make 10 identical cable trunks with all the extras without making a few mistakes. If you've got enough to make, and have the facilities to make them then it's a great idea. If not, the hiring or buying the tools to do so is going to make it a bit pointless unless you plan on making lots or them in a short space of time.

 

I've seen some cases people have made that have been very good indeed, I've also seen some that I wouldn't use as a rubbish bin.

 

 

Rob

[Simon Lewis]

It's not hard to make a box with wheels, with some butterfly catches added. No offence to Cedd, but the real beauty of a proper flightcase is that the materials are lightweight, but when assembled give a very strong case that can be weather resistant, and last years.

 

I made my own cases for a few years, but used mainly domestic tools. The results were OK at times, but sometimes not so good. To do this job well (as in reproducibly, accurately and precisely) you need a table mount circular saw, a router or good jigsaw, and a a chop saw or similar tool that can cut and mitre aluminium angle and extrusion. You also need a way of pulling 5mm grooved steel rivets - either a lazy tong device, or far better, a pneumatic riveter.

Naturally, you also need some space to use this stuff...

 

Given that many flightcase firms have special offers on the standard stuff, and the internet guys sell reasonably well made boxes at knock down prices there's little call for me to fire up the jigsaw these days...

 

In pattonaudio's situation, I think I'd buy in. Oh, welcome to Blue Room, and you need a "U" in your URL....!

 

Simon

[foh_al]

I'd always recommend buying cases.

 

As has been said, there are plenty of good deals out there. By the time you've factored in the cost of the quality tools that you'll need to do a decent job, materials, and your time, for me there's no contest.

[pattonaudio]

In pattonaudio's situation, I think I'd buy in. Oh, welcome to Blue Room, and you need a "U" in your URL....!

 

Simon

 

 

Thanks Simon changed that now.

 

I have been trying to price how much it would cost me to make a top hat case for 2 EV SX300s. I worked out that if I were to make them my self with 9mm ply and lined with foam, the works etc, then it would cost approx £150. But to have a compay custom make them to almost the same finish it would cost approx £500. so £350 to them for time and labour,, would sooner buy some new gear or build 2 more cases!

[paulears]

You'll find plenty of sources that are nowhere near that price - flightcase warehouse comes to mind, but plenty of others are around.

[mervaka]

my next case will be an SKB. noone can make injection moulded cases in their garage.

[cedd]

It does take a reasonable batch of tools to make a case up I'll agree.

 

I'm just lucky my other hobbies mean I have a pretty comprehensive engineering workshop at the bottom of my garden, including bandsaw, table saw, router and pillar drills, plus other stuff completely non-flightcase related (anybody fancy turning and milling their own butterfly catches???).

 

So I like to think my cases are resonably good. But yes they are very heavy! Never normally a problem as I've always either got a lift, ramp or lots of people at my get-ins. I have to say though, I have one bought small ish cabe trunk, and one almost identical copy that's home made and they weigh practically the same. I don't doubt though that with a large case, the difference is worthwhile, plus proper extruded lids do come into their own on the bigger cases.

 

I think the £150 mark is a bit over for your pricing. A local company will do an 8 x 4 sheet of 9mm mdf for £12. Ok so you're looking at ply, but I wouldn't say any more than £20 for wood. Extrusions are around £3 per 2m length (CPC) and butterfly catches are a couple of quid each at most. Ok so a decent set of casters may set you back £20, but I still reckon £50 is realistic for a home build. The small print is that I'm assuming you already have the tools to do this.

 

Flightcase warehouse have loads of stuff specific to cabinets for not a lot of money, and their cases are very good. They'll also make up pretty much anything you want!

 

Nice thing with building your own is that you can paint them whichever colour you like! Ok so mine are all black, but imagine how easy it would be to reclaim your gear after a get-out if you can just say "my cases are the pink ones!". Mine are painted in blackboard paint. Don't laugh, its matt finish, pretty hardwearing on top of a decent primer and you can write on it with chalk or cliquid chalk. The whole case becomes a rolling tour plate/place for rude messages to be written!

 

One cheat I use - as my cases are boxes first and don't need extrusion to hold them together (screwed and glued to baton construction - very strong!) you can cheat with the ends of the extrusion. On corners you're fitting a ball to, you can just cut the extrusion straight rather than using a mitre, and the corner covers it up.

[Simon Lewis]

On corners you're fitting a ball to, you can just cut the extrusion straight rather than using a mitre, and the corner covers it up.

And commercial ones don't do this?! What are large ball corners there for ? ;-)

[Bobbsy]

I don't have the right tools to do a really good job of something like a flight case. I could bodge something together but it would have to be heavier than a professionally made one and probably still not offer as much protection to the gear.

 

On top of that, by the time I buy all the necessary materials and hardware in the small quantities I'd use, I spend almost as much as I would on one from one of the big companies. Frankly, I'm always amazed at how cheaply the companies I use can produce good quality cases. I assume it's down to economy of scale and having the right tools to automate a lot of the things I have to sweat over.

 

Bob

[pattonaudio]

Just so you guys know I got quotes back from 5Star and flightcase warehouse and they both were over £450 for 1 tophat case to fit 2 EV Sx300s

 

I then went and priced various parts including 9mm ply, foam inserts, extrusions, corners, wheels etc and between CPC, Adam Hall, Terralc and local hardware store best price is £162!!!!!!!!!

[Pete McCrea]

No disrespect, but I doubt you'll be able to build a case to the same standard of fit and finish as 5star. Unless you have a CADCAM facility in your garage. Also consider that if your buying the bits, that's £162, but then factor in your labour at £150/day for instance. Then it starts to get close to what your being charged.

 

I always buy. Usually from 5 Star, as I know the build them good, store the file for later rebuilds, and will make sure it's right. And when we buy kit, we factor in the casing to the purchase decision.

[Bobbsy]

....and if you can use standard cases, the prices aren't nearly that high. For example, an ATA touring spec flight case for my DM1000 was £175 at Flightcase Warehouse. A 20u rack case with heavy duty casters was about £185. by memory.

 

Even assuming I had the tools and the skills, the materials for these cases would come pretty close to those prices, before I even start to factor in my labour.

 

Bob