View new posts | View your posts CARRYING CASE FOR PROTON PACK

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remember this from the episode "Look Homeward Ray"........



well a friend of mine (fifthrider) and i decided to make real ones.

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-CASE-

we kicked around a few ideas about how to make the pack fit in the case and mobility of the case... but first we needed to find a case. after putting a poll up on proptopia, it was decided to use a military carrying case that was for shipping computers.

( ** indicate photos by fifthrider)

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-AXLE-

the axle is a 3/8 aluminum rod (you'll need to cut it to length desired), two casters (wheels), washers and locking nuts. now in fifthrider's** you can see that the rod is completely threaded. in mine (which i need to do a new pic of) you can KINDA see that only a portion of the end of the rod is threaded. we found that the fully threaded one will lock up your wheels. so i bought a smooth rod and a tap and die set and threaded it myself

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we didnt take exact measurement on where to place the hole for the axle. what you are looking for is so that when the case stands on end, the wheels arent touching the ground; but do touch when you bring the case to about a 45 degree angle.

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-FOAM-
now we came up with two ideas two ways of protecting the pack, using the foam inside and making our own (basically) foam shell. fifthrider used the foam already in the case so i went with the custom foam job. we'll look at fifthrider's first.

basically you just keep cutting away until your pack slips in there nicely but snugly. we found the best thing to use is like a steak knife that has a nice serrated blade.

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now mine with the custom foam job. i used 'great stuff' expanding foam. for the most part it worked nicely, forms a nice little shell around the pack. you have to do it in layers and let each layer you put down fully harden before adding more.



now the first thing that comes to mind is "but how do you stop the foam from expanding into areas it shouldnt go?". simple (simple concept, pain in the ass to do) form up your pack with cardboard then put in a garbage bag so the foam doesnt stick to the cardboard...





here is how it looks once it hardens.


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RECAP

what we learned is that the when making the axle, to thread your own rod like i already talked about. the other MAJOR learning experience is that unless you can find a cheap, but good expanding foam; it is not cost effective what so ever to go this route. just that one half of the case took 6 cans of "great stuff" (which is like $5 a can). so stick with the carving out of the foam it comes with. if you notice in my pic below, one half is the "great stuff", the other is what the case came with.

our fist test came at the time of comic con. when it arrived in san diego, there was some damage. the ion arm, one of the tube in the center (the one with the clippard elbow), and injector tubes had broke off. i cant say i was surprised about the injector tubes, i was having an issue with them staying on to begin with, which is why i added an L bracket to atleast keep them from falling completely off. and i wasnt that surprised about the ion arm cause that was just held on by super glue; same with that other center tube. and since i was in a hurry to fix mine up so i could help out bryan finish his stuff, i didnt even think to take pics.

but when the pack arrived back in my hometown and i picked it up at the ups store, everything was was in perfect shape when i got it back. see...



so there it is. a carrying case for your pack.

though i have mine, the one fifthrider worked on was given to mr. hudson

-ORIGINAL THREAD MADE ON PROPTOPIA IN JULY-

Great ideas guys. Thanks for the pics

Very interesting idea.

I haven't done any long distance traveling with my pack yet,dunno if I will ever,but thanks for the idea.

thanks guys. its works really great for traveling. i like i said before, shipping from illinois to california and back for comic con was its first test and it worked out perfectly.

Fantastic idea!
I'm go around and try and pick up a decent case now!!

Just be careful with that. Someone at AFest did something like that for one of their props. The "Great Stuff" foam can/will shrink. It got so tight around their prop that it broke it before they even tried to take it out.

yeah, i can see that happening. they probably stored the prop in there all the time cause logistically speaking there is no way it could shrink that much during shipping alone

Fantastic idea, man. I've got to start looking for a case now.

Can you give us an idea of the costs involved, not only for that monstrous-looking case but also what it cost to ship the thing cross-country?

oh man, i dont even remember what the cost of the case was. i do remember though that the shipping for it (to ship it to me from the ebay seller) cost more than the case itself and the shipping was like $35 because of the size.

now to return ship it from california to illinois ups standard ground was like $125 one way. i had to do like a 2 day shipping thing to get it out there on time for comic con which was expensive as hell, but im not gonna mention how much that was .

its really not that heavy. what gets you (if you use ups) it being a "special package" because of its size and i quote "its not in a corrugated box"

Couldnt you just tape cardboard around the box and slap the shipping label on that?

yeah except i didnt have any and you know as well as i do they dont sell that stuff for cheap. but yeah, doing so would have brought the price down a bit

What are those cases called? That would be a perfect idea for both carrying and storage.

"Military computer case" doesn't find anything close to that on ebay or google.

Plus - I know a great place to pick up that foam for cheap.

ya know, the heading of the auction i got mine was "military transit case"; but i havent been able to find them on ebay lately. so keep on trying that or try "military shipping case". i havent had much luck lately in finding them. which figures, when fifthrider and i got these, the dude had like 12 of them for sale.

Shipping case got a few hits, though it looks like nothing the right size.

If I had to guess I'd say you're looking at around 30" x 26" x ... 18"?

HA! ya know, probably would have been helpful if i included that in the original post huh? well here is what fifthrider came up with. keep in mind that these are minimum interior measurement

I was close!

btw Keoni - I added you on xbox live, hope you don't mind.

Skycraft in Orlando has cases like that surplus

just wondering if there was an actual name or possible ID code for the case that was used for this. I'd love to get my hands on one of these and make a case. Shipping would be tons easier for me around the states

check out this site for new cases. should be able to find something though i haven't searched it yet.



http://www.transitcases.com/


jafillz

Hi, necropost! I figured I'd bump this up because it took me a while to find this thread since I will probably need a case soon. Most military tranist cases are made by Hardigg and if you search for them on eBay, there are plenty of them, and cheap too!

Just don't use the great stuff.

It is hard as a rock. You are better off just throwing it in with a bunch of packing peanuts.

Actually AJ, I have yet to have an issues with Great Stuff other than the fact it is expensive. The best thing to use is what ever comes in the case already and just carve it out

What about a softer foam resin? I am sure smooth on had something that better resembles the black foam the case originally had.

Possibly the Blue Can of Great Stuff might be a good choice then. That's meant for window insulation because it doesn't turn rock solid, stays a little spongey. That way it won't surround hard on the window framing.

Try Foam It III - http://www.smooth-on.com/Rigid-and-Flex ... catdepth=1

That's one big case. For informational purposes, here's what I would do (as I've done it before with "other" expensive items):




Already discussed on AR15.com is a cheap way to achieve a professional look when cutting foam for gun/military cases.

Custom Foam Hot Wire Cutter (method)

Progess Pics (example)

Parts and Diagram (suggested)

Foam Supplier and Alternative Transformer.

Other parts can be used (in case you don't want to read the full 38-page thread) but you should adhere to this fundamental diagram. Again, it's a cheaper way to cut foam with excellent results. I've used all sorts of knives, and even pick-n-pluck foam, but nothing comes close to these results. Excellent DIY foam cutter for those who need multiple results with a professional look. Also, I know you two are professionals, but I would never recommend the expanding foam method. It gets brittle over time, is under-performing and If a mistake should occur, that crap is harder to remove than removing Rosie O'Donnell from the earth. Yeah. You calculate that escape velocity. Trapperkeeper!!!

Brock
phantom50

Brock that is amazing. I will be doing that for my S&W MP15-22. good stuff man!

yeah Brock, that is awesome!!!

I have been wanting to build one of these for some time and that tutorial answered any remaining questions I had about building one. Thanks for the post Brock.