Home made case?

[johns811]

Has anybody build their own case for hauling their electronics around. I have a plastic case about 30" tall that holds more stuff than I normally need to dj a small party. I was thinking of making about 12" case with the mixer mounted on the top and the amp on the bottom for small gigs when I just bring a pair of speakers, no sub for small residential type parties. Going to start making dust as soon as the wife wakes up, its 5AM!

[LelandCrooks]

I did. Then I went and had a case guy make me one.

[Scott Brochu]

I too made one. I found out it was a lot cheaper to just buy one. The only advantage I saw building one was that it was build to my specs.
Some of the ones at G.Center are cheesy.
The picture of mine is in the thread at the bottom in my signature.
got my stuff to build it from Reliable Hardware out of Cali.
Or you could have one built like Leland did.

[Bruce Weldy]

I built my own.....I wanted it bigger than what was available and certainly built it for less than buying one.

These are old pics.....different amps and processing plus and upgrade to the rack panel in the back.....

[johns811]

Very inpressive cases and hardware! I just have a single amp and mixer. I left a few inches of extra space in case I want to squeeze in somthing else. I made up something this AM. Time for a break, will finish tomorrow. Not nearly as impressive as these but I think it will do the job for my small parties I do. If I need to bi-amp and sub it will stack right on top of my plastic case and I can swap around a few XLR cables.

[byacey]

I built one about 18" high with the lid on. The lid has a drop down front and back to cover the gear. When you remove the lid, it sits on the floor, and the rack is put on top of it, raising the mixer to about the 36" level. It holds a 2 RU power amp , a 1RU 4 channel comp limiter, a 2 RU graph, 1RU Driverack and the mixer on top.

I'll see if I can take a picture of it later.

[miked]

A small, 4U mixer case really isn't that expensive. I've bought several cases from these guys and the quality is first-rate. http://www.audiopile.net/products/Cases ... heet.shtml

This case is $200, shipped to my house in Texas. Based on my previous experience w/their products, it's worth every penny.



JUST the latches and handles on the case above will cost you $40, if not more. I've been a DIY Guy at heart since my teenage years. Why pay someone to do something I can do myself? Got it. The issue here is not ability or desire, but economy of scale. Assuming you have just a circular saw, a drill and a screwdriver, techincally, you COULD build any road case of any size.

But laminating your own ABS panels isn't as easy as it looks. And the big case manufs' pay 25% what we do for hinges and handles b/c they buy them in lots of 10,000 or more. We can't compete w/that.

I'm certainly all for building my own cases and trunks, but SOME things are just better bought, IMO. Building your own gets expensive, fast. You'd be amazed at how many latches and such you need, and how many linear feet of L-track aluminum and/or hinge track you need even for a small case. And while you CAN attach the aluminum track to the laminated wood panel with screws, the professional and long-lasting way is with rivets...do you own a rivet gun? I had to buy one at HF...waited for the 20% off coupon and the sale, etc.

I built a huge roadcase for my OTops and it cost me a fortune. But nobody makes a case THAT big (ready to buy, off the shelf), so I had to build my own. You could build just a plywood box with rack rails and a removable lid for the mixer for under $100 easily. But once you start "professionalizing it" with butterfly latches and corner protectors it will get expensive very quickly. Lest you think I'm all "hoity toighty" (sp?) or made of money, see my recent "Lightstands storage trunk" thread. Built 100% with material purchased at Lowes. Not 100% (or75%) "Pro" by any means, but it gets the job done. I wanted better for my OTops and I wound up going 50% over budget AND time AND patience AND this/that/the other thing.

My two pennies.

[johns811]

That's a nice case and similar to what I made with just plywood. I agree, well worth the money. I'm not getting all crazy with all the hardware. Just something for me to use a few times a year. I'll post a pic later this week. So far it looks like it is coming out good. So far spend $0. Had some left over ply. Will post pic later this week.

[LelandCrooks]

That's a dead ringer for the case the now departed Greg Plouvier built for me.

[escapemcp]

+1 on what everyone else has said.

If you want a standard case (e.g. amp rack)... BUY IT! My 12U amp rack cost £56 on eBay
If you want a custom case, probably cheaper to build it yourself, but not always - either way, there isn't much between the two options. My custom CDJ/mixer flight case cost me about £130+my time+a rivet gun.

[miked]

I just bought two Penn 3758 butterfly latches on the bay. I am not happy with my lid at all. It moves around too much b/c the lid is what you grab/push on when trying to move the case around. I have put all kinds of dividers in there and have fit an AMAZING assortment of crap in there and the damn thing got real heavy, really quickly. Having the front locked down with two of these latches will go along way towards making this case a solid piece. And it just got $20 more expensive.

[JohnP.]

@Leland,

Departed from the forum... or departed-departed....

[Bruce Weldy]

@Leland,

Departed from the forum... or departed-departed....

Unfortunately, the later.

[LelandCrooks]

Massive heart attack at 57. Good guy, good friend by phone and net.

[JohnP.]

So sorry to hear that. I enjoyed browsing his website and his contributions to the site.

Prayers for his friends and family in this time of loss.