Light stands storage trunk

[miked]

This case is not done yet. ATM it is a work in progress, and I'll update the thread as the case gets closer to completion. I didn't want to call it a "Roadcase" b/c that would imply aluminum channel construction, butterfly latches, etc. Would be nice, but ah, nope. This is "A storage trunk done up on a budget."

I bought a couple of 12-foot light stands. These:


They don't look like they take up a lot of room, but the longest piece (base) is 54" long and you've also got all these parts.


AND these 4-foot long bars (mounted to lights in this pic.)


Again, the two stands disassembled take up a whole lot of room. I want to protect my investment, so I am builiding a case to transport the stands in. I sized it to allow for future growth. This case will hold 4 of these stands.

Things I had to buy:
2 full (4'x8') sheets of 5/8" ply (from Lowes...and full of lovely voids and BONUS warps like heck when you cut it)
4 3" casters (2 locking/2 not)
4 4" "chest handles"
4 packs of 5/8" t-nuts
____________________________________
Outlay for new materials was roughly $110 including tax.

Things I already had
16 3/4"x5/16" bolts (to bolt casters to caster plates
8 2"x5/16" bolts (to bolt caster plates to case)
8ea 5/16" lockwashers and fender washers (to bolt caster plates to case)
PL Premium (Have I mentioned that I hate/love this stuff?)
1" Kreg screws
Take-apart/removable hinges (may go with a piano hinge that will add $10 to the cost)
Assorted sheetrock screws and brad nails to fix crappy construction due to crappy plywood
Black paint in a can (I will need to buy another gallon at roughly $20 w/tax...the last gallon painted every-freaking-thing but it's almost gone now)

Won't bore you with panel-by-panel pics. I made a few mistakes and it's far from visually perfect, even at this point. But, it will be strong and long-lasting and that's what I was going for.

Here are the caster boards completed. I had a long scrap of 3/4" plywood. I'm so glad I don't throw anything away! I made these before I built the case. 16 t-nuts is tedious business and I wanted to get it out of the way. They are 3" casters, BTW. The caster boards will be attached to the case with t-nuts. The bottom of the inside doesn't have to be perfectly flat, so a few bolt heads won't matter.


The Box. Outer dimensions are 58-12/" x 22" x 23".


Used pocket screws and PL. I hate PL. And it's the best thing since sliced bread. And I hate PL. A big issue that I ran into (keep in mind I'm new to the Kreg Jig) is that the Kreg Jig has a 5/8" height setting, HOWEVER there are no Kreg Screws for 5/8" material. I'm new to this jig and I fiddled around quite a bit with depth collar settings and material pocket hole settings,etc. I could not avoid "material jacking" due to improper length screws being used. (I had to use the 1" screws b/c the 1-1/4" screws would bust out of the sides of the wood). Gave me all sorts of headaches. The PL will fix all that though. Once it's dry, it's forever. Heck, I should copyright that and sell it to the Loctite Corporation!!!



Lid.


The semi-cool part will be done tomorrow. The case will have two stacking/removable trays that fit inside. Each of the two bottom layers can hold two complete light stands. E.G. the folding, tripod base, plus all the assorted poles and clamps. The top tray will hold DMX cables, so as to keep them separate from my normal XLR cables (not that I have a lot).

Essentially, the Big Idea here is to keep all the Lighting Stands and Cabling in one box. More pics on the way.

[byacey]

Mike, why do you find T nuts for 4 casters tedious? Drill the holes, use a high torque drill with a 1/2 socket to tighten up the bolts and you're done in 10 minutes.

The company in which I used to have shares had frame racks on casters that the lighting bars would hang on horizontally, with the lights permanently mounted on the bars. I'm not sure if you have the vertical height for hauling something like that, but it's worth consideration. They were about 6 feet high, 8 feet long and about 24 inches wide.

[miked]

Thanks for the tip, byacey. I've seen the pro lighting companies wheel in big racks just like you describe. ATM, I only own five lights, so I don't think I'm "there" yet. LOL! Would be nice to have though!

On a smaller scale, I've seen folks hang the horizontal bars, lights still attached on trailer walls. That saves setup/teardown time, sure, but IMO having the lights banging against the walls is not exactly a good idea. For now, the bar lights (in the pic above) will stay mounted on the stand arm and will store in this case I'm building. I'll be sure to pad their little compartment somehow...even a moving blanket is better than nothing. Being that I don't have a whole lot of lights, I'm going to try and fit them in this box on the top layer, somehow. All the dividers are only screwed in; no glue. So they can be moved later if need be.

Onto the update! I'm 3/4's of the way done. All that's left is to attach the lid, paint the outside and slap the handles/hasp on. I may throw some corner protectors on it...we'll see what happens.

I added some cleats on the front and rear panels (inside the box). They are down near the bottom in these pics.



I added a carefully-placed divider. It took me about an hour of placing the lightstand parts in the box to come up with exactly where to place the divider. Ya'gotta sweat the details, folks.


This is two complete sets of lightstands, minus the two 4-foot bars that top the stands. Those bars will be stored, lights attached, a couple layers higher up. More on that...wait for it...


Built these "drawers" or "boxes" or whatever you'd like to call'em. It may look like I built one big box and cut it in half...wouldn't it be nice to own a bandsaw THAT big? But no, I built two separate boxes...so many screws. Ugh.


One drawer in place.


Ya gettin' the idea yet?


Second drawer in place, and second "tier" complete.


And here are the bases for the top-most layer. Still need to figure out where the dividers will go so that's why these have no dividers/compartments...yet.


I'd like to thank Mr. Handhold/Port Template. I've used this thing so many times...so glad I took the time to make it.


Case on wheels.


Lid just sitting on top.


Nobody ever shows you this pic. But I do. Why? Because when I knew nothing about "caster boards" and was trying to find images of what the hell it was and how it mounted and what it looked like from the bottom, etc, I couldn't find a damn thing. Frustrated the hell out of me. So if one person, sometime in the future, is Googling images of "caster board", I hope they see this pic. /soapbox


Tomorrow I'll attach the lid...still not positive what type of hinge I will use. Will think on that tonight. I'll also get the first coat of (hopefully) two coats of flat black on there. Would be so cool to DTex this thing but I'm all out. Of DTex and cash. Classic Flat Black it is.

I want to fit my lights into that top layer. There is room; the problem is getting them to be secure in there. More thinking to be done. Thanks for looking!

[DJPhatman]

I want to fit my lights into that top layer. There is room; the problem is getting them to be secure in there. More thinking to be done.

What about using small bungee cords to "secure" the lights to the "floor" of the shelf, through holes? Line everything with foam, and hold it down with the bungee cords. Easy and cheap!

[miked]

That is a darn good idea, DJP! And I happen to have about a dozen small bungee cords I bought years ago during one of those Harbor Freight parking lot sales...never used them for anything. LOL! Great idea! Thank you!

[miked]

Got the first coat of Classic Flat Black on. Notice how I make the color sound so awesome, classy and just a bit sexy? Yeah, it's black.

If you look closely at the left side, near the top you can see the two sets of holes for the handles. Much easier to lay out drill marks on plain wood than on a painted panel.


The clamp is there to try and push the bow out of (mostly) the rear panel, but a bit on the front too. Cheap wood equals problems, no doubt about it. But at least it's "BC ply" and not OSB.


Even the lid has casters. That's just how I roll. J/K. The lid is sitting on a dolly. Makes it easy to paint...just spin as you go.


In a couple of hours I will put a second coat on there and we'll see what it looks like in the morning. I'm not painting the inside...don't see a point to it. Especially since I have THREE layers of shelves...would take forever to paint just to say "Hey I painted all the parts." Nah.

[ecut1]

Mike,

DJing looks to be a pretty labor intensive job! That's a lot of equipment to pack around.

How do you drill the holes for the countersunk screws on the inside? They look perfect. Do you have a jig or something you use on a drill press? I noticed the same thing on another of your threads and I've been wondering how you do it. It would be good to use for the TLAHs I'm about to build.

[miked]

I assume you're talking about those teardrop-shaped holes at the edges of the panels? Like this:


Those are made with Kreg jig. It's a special jig and bit and screws. I highly recommend it. It would've made my life much easier during my OTop and very recent T48 builds and honestly, the cabs would've turned out better than they did, especially the OTops. They are solid, but they aren't as pretty as I'd like. This is the Kreg jig I have http://www.kregtool.com/Kreg-Jigreg-Prodview.html It was $99 at Lowes a few weeks ago. Watch all the videos on the Kreg website; they are pretty interesting. Though the jig can cut pocket holes in any thickness of wood up to 1-1/2", it is optomized for the "standard" thicknesses of 1/2", 3/4" 1", 1-1/2". It was a bit of a PITA getting it to work w/the 5/8" wood I used due to the screw lengths.

And there is a lot of equipment to pack around, for sure! It's obviously not necessary to have cases for everything, but I believe in protecting my investments. Plus, having equipment already wired together and ready to go saves time and setup mistakes. E.G. the Driverack PA's outputs are already connected to the proper amps, the CD player is already connected to the mixer, etc.

The main idea behind this case was to have 4, 12-foot lightstands packed inside it. That's 48 feet of lightstands, complete with all the hangers, bars, screws, etc in one box. Rather than have to carry the stands in piece by piece and have parts fall off and roll away, etc, I wheel in one box and it's all in there.

The painting went well. Now that it's no longer 95 degrees in my garage, it's much more pleasant to work out there. However, paint takes a lot longer to dry, especially when you slather on two heavy coats without letting the first one fully dry first.

I'm putting the hardware on the case now. Pics very soon.

[miked]

It's pretty much done. I haven't finalized the dividers for the top level yet b/c I'm not sure what I'm doing with it. That will be easy enough to do later, though. The trunk isn't totally square due to the crappy warped plywood...and the crappy skills of the guy who built it. BUT, it is strong as heck. It's held togther with PL and a ton of pocket screws. I sat my fat ass on it and it didn't so much as creak.

Made a small compartment for the two long bar lights. They fit very snugly with almost no movement. I may line the compartment with some foam or something...or not.


Trunk closed up. Hardware is on, obviously.


Hasp. If I was using butterfly latches, the front would be pulled in even with the lid. But I'm not. So it's not. Oh well.


Piano hinge.


Handles. They are attached with bolts/lockwashers. Not going anywhere.


Trunk open. Note the lid stays.


Lid stays are made out of a carrying strap that ripped off one of my tripod bags. I throw nothing away. I cut the strips to length and "sealed" the cut ends with a cigarette lighter.


The ends are "grometted" with two washers. Whole thing held on w/a 3/4" wood screw on each end. Dead simple and it works.


I'll update this thread once I get my whole divider thing/what goes where finalized. Thanks for looking.

[Titanium Hand]

Nice Job Miked!

I dealt with the hassle of making fifty thousand trips back and forth to my van for load in and load out last friday.

Even just to pack my van at home Sooo much time.

I'm jumping onto the multi case bandwagon myself.

At present I've got a basic 5U rack that I built a while back for my amp with a 3U drawer. It houses the amp and cables, power strip, headphones.... that's it.
Two 18mm timber drawers that fit perfectly under the van's false floor and serendipitously fit two mini kinta's into one with the foam packaging from the box!

I'm going to build a rack to hold all of the above plus all of my lights, TRAKTOR KONTROL, Laptop, DMX Controller, all cables and an extra 3u of rack space (for future expansion additional amp and DCX2496.

Plus a big long trunk style case like yours for my lighting stand, speaker stands a four foot UV's. Exciting times thanks to you and escapemcp I've gotten the build bug again - that and necessity!

[Grant Bunter]

Love it Mike!
Even with a truck you gotta do road cases, maybe even more so.
They're on my list of to do's, after lighting upgrades, which is after more cabs...

[ecut1]

Nice looking case Mike! I'm not into the DJing thing but I imagine that will be super handy. I have an idea for you (if you're interested). This is assuming you could benefit from rolling the case around...

Get a seat belt assembly out of a car - one that retracts into the spring loaded roll. Any salvage yard would sell you one for pretty cheap, they have hundreds of them. Mount it to the plywood on one side (on the inside of the case). Cut a slot for the belt to come out the side. Then cut it to a comfortable length and add a handle to the end (you're gonna have to use a sewing machine for that last part).

Now you have a retractable leash so it can be pulled by one person. I imagine it would eat up a bit of space on the inside but those seat belt assemblies aren't too big, maybe 3x3x4 or so. You could even build a little plywood box around it on the inside to keep it protected.

Oh, and the Kreg Jig is pretty sweet! Thanks for the info on that. I watched some videos about it online yesterday. I'm adding it to my tools wish list!

[byacey]

If I might suggest something else: It's a good idea to use a round over bit on all the corners; it prevents splintering and chipping on the edges that inevitably happens to trunks from clunking around in the back of a truck.

You could still do this even though you're finished, except you'll have to repaint all the corners.

[miked]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone!

That seatbelt leash thing is a great idea! I may do that once I get the interior compartments finalized. I thought about rounding over the edges, but decided against it...don't remember what my logic was...probably just laziness. LOL! If I see it's getting too banged up, I'll roundover the edges and throw corner protectors on there. We'll see how it goes.

Depending how things go w/the business, I will have to build another case specifically just for lights and that one will have to be fully padded, etc. Don't know if you guys have priced sheet styrofoam, but it's not cheap. It's more expensive than wood, believe it or not. The 1" sheet foam I lined my OTop roadcase with, cost $100 for 20 square feet. Basically, a case of 24" square pieces. Of course, PLUS the spray adhesive to mount them with. All the little things really add up.

For now, the lights I have will fit in this roadcase along w/the stands. So far so good.

[David Raehn]

That foam IS pricey.... It may help to look for it in it's intended habitat. For example: An old couch costs how much?