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Bag cart DIY build


drpro

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Two hip replacements in the past two years and still needing to work, has required some thinking about work habits.  Most of my jobs are bag related, very few with a larger mix panel, so my search led me to the various commercial offerings along with mixer op built bag carts.

My criteria being weight, size, and cost.  One aspect was I didn't want to reinvent the wheel, so I went with a ready made aluminum cart.  For ease in building along with the ability to perform modifications I chose to use the 1" extruded aluminum product.  There are a number of companies selling this type of product all over the world, 8020, T-Slots, Parker, Bosch, Mainframe, Item, Mayhew and others.  What I discovered is these folks are vendors, the manufacturing sources won't sell to individuals.  Also prices are fairly high from these vendors.  Another decision was to do minimal cutting of parts.  The cart I chose has vertical frame members of 12".  I finally found a vendor of extruded 1" for about half the price of 8020 and they offer cut lengths in 12" sections.

The various vendors I used where Tnutz, Amazon, McMaster-Carr, 8020, Chinda, Modern Grip, and Ebay.   I keep a record of costs and this cart as you see in the photos was about $800.  Had I used 8020 exclusively the total would have been closer to $1100.  If you left off the Chinda and stool, the build would be around $650.  Chinda products are well made and for me made cable and headphone support very easy.

From the photos you probably have noticed all of the shelves and sides have holes.  This was a weight savings and most of what I carry won't be affected.  If I need to carry some really small items, then the plastic bins from McMaster-Carr take care of those needs.

The left side photo shows boom pole holder, cable and head phone.  Back view shows folding tall stool on hangers, design doesn't let the stool swing when the cart is tilted. 

The right side shows cable and folding cup holder along with a 5/8" pin.  The reason for this is as you can see in the two photos is mostly I need a stand for sit down interviews so with a Lowel adapter clamped to one leg I can easily carry a stand.  For those times when it is a wireless only type of job, then a Lowel KP pole allows raised mounting of an antenna.

Top view shows Roc straps for holding mixer bag in place when rolling about, along with a Nato rail and clamp should a need to attach a Noga arm or other small item.  There is a RAM mount for phone or Ipad.  On more jobs now I am seeing Serv Pro being used and with the app on my phone I can see what the cameras are shooting.  Roc straps are handy because one side is elastic and the other is webbing.

Finally, for prepping lavs and transmitters a small folding shelf.

Weight sans gear is just under 50lbs or 22.5kg.  Footprint is 24" x 27" (62cm x 69cm)

I made some mistakes along the way, mis-measured, didn't order quite enough material, or at the last minute decided to add to the cart.  The shelf was a total after thought, added cost about $65.  All in all a needed item to allow me to continue working more easily and it was fun to build.  Happy to share details with anyone, just ask.

Merry Christmas from Nashville

David

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  • 1 month later...

Drpro this is an beautifully built bag cart. I like the idea of starting with a magliner handtruck and adding to it. How exactly did you attach the aluminum profile to the frame of the magliner? Did you need to drill through the profile on both the handtruck frame and the tslot as well as the nose? Any clarification on how you did the drilling and/or mounting would be much appreciated as I will be building a similar style cart soon. Thanks so much!

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I simply drilled through the extruded stock and through the handtruck frame.  If you look at the fourth photo you will see three nut/washer combos on each rail.  Stainless steel stove bolts from McMaster-Carr.  They are a very good source for the hardware and other bits you might need.  The extruded parts and fasteners mostly came from T-nutz.  Some things they didn't have so, 8020 off of Ebay covered the rest.

David

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  • 2 months later...

I just finished up a weekend with my 664 in an over the shoulder bag and I am now convinced. I am going to build a 2-wheel cart out of a Magliner 2-wheel dolly. I have the dolly and have been wanting to use it for some time. 

 

I am going to name my cart R2D2. When I build a 4-wheel prototype I will name those models Jonny 5, ( Short Circuit) 

 

Your cart looks awesome. I'm combing these pages gathering ideas and I appreciate your pics. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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