Chase Yeremian Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 Hey all, I just got a 20ru flight case I'm going to be turning into a vertical cart. I am so far extremely pleased with it in every aspect except its mobility. It does have 4 heavy duty casters on the bottom but we all know how much those will help on location. So I decided to come up with a super compact way to have full size wheels on the back of the cart, but since it was made to travel they couldn't be out there all the time. Here is what I came up with (in design) and I would love anyones input. The parts consist of 2 18-20" wheel chair wheels with 1/2" hubs 2 1/2" quickrelease axle pins 2 1/2" pin receptacles Now in my hilariously bad picture you see that basically the pin receptacle is mounted to the side of the case, and the wheel is held in place by inserting the quick release pin. What you don't see but is nice to know, is that both wheels fit nicely inside the back panel of the case. And even when the wheels are on all 4 casters are still under it, though the 2 back ones are only held slightly off the ground. So once you wheel it on the big wheels whatever great distance over whatever difficult terrain to get to your remote warehouse or whatever, you can then go back within seconds, to 4 casters. In addition to this i am working on some type of handlebar for actually holding the case while its leaned on its 2 wheels. -Chase Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old school Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 Hey Chase, my cart is based on 20" wheels with the pins. Mine are outdoor sport wheelchair types. They work well. I would lower that axel point to the bottom of the cart if it were mine so it could support a greater weight load. Send pix whenever you can for the group to see. I like vertical carts for mobility. Good luck. CrewC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chase Yeremian Posted December 3, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 Hey Crew, Yeah actually I'm interested in how you were able to get the axles so low. This case has the Shockmount foam surrounding the rack area (depicted by the super fat walls). To get them lower i would have to butcher some of that foam and interior wall. Is this what you had to do? -Chase Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old school Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 I didn't build my cart on a preexistent rack case, though it is the same dimensions as one, my cart is frame based around the wheels. If I get a chance to take a pic tomorrow at work I will post it. CrewC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Lightstone, CAS Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 You could do what Lee Orloff did with his SKB 16RU case and have a platform built that matches the footprint of the cart with 4 -10" wheels. Two Smart Wheels, two stationary wheels. It was designed to be removable by just lifting the SKB up off the platform. He built it that way to be able to take it onto the boats for all of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. It's simple, strong to support the SKB case and easy to build. Or you could do what Brett Grant Grierson has built for about ten of us - a larger structure attached to an upright Magliner. Photos of my cart are here for reference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old school Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 You could do what Lee Orloff did with his SKB 16RU case and have a platform built that matches the footprint of the cart with 4 -10" wheels. Two Smart Wheels, two stationary wheels. It was designed to be removable by just lifting the SKB up off the platform. He built it that way to be able to take it onto the boats for all of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. It's simple, strong to support the SKB case and easy to build. A great way to incorporate a rack case. I would look at 20 in wheels in the rear of the cart for the tip point and moving of it, and 10 " in the front. CrewC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chase Yeremian Posted December 3, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 You could do what Lee Orloff did with his SKB 16RU case and have a platform built that matches the footprint of the cart with 4 -10" wheels. Two Smart Wheels, two stationary wheels. It was designed to be removable by just lifting the SKB up off the platform. He built it that way to be able to take it onto the boats for all of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. It's simple, strong to support the SKB case and easy to build. Ahh see theres an idea. I will have to check that out. The brain juices, how they do flow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg sextro Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 Check out Mattias's cart. He attached bike wheels to an skb case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taylormadeaudio Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 ...Or you could do what Brett Grant Grierson has built for about ten of us - a larger structure attached to an upright Magliner. Photos of my cart are here for reference. Ahh, I remember that cart : )... pretty amazing! ~tt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnpaul215 Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 Just be careful where you mount the wheels... the SKB is not made to take the forces that the axel would apply. That's probably why many people effectively put the case on a hand truck (or a custom built thing that's effectively a hand truck). Look at the galleries and you will see a few people that have done something similar. I was intending to do something similar with my 20" BMX wheels. I got a matched pair of front wheels on Ebay pretty cheap. I just spun the axels all the way to one side. I was going to eventually make/get a non-threaded axel so I could use a pin to pop off the wheel in a similar fashion. I think you are on the right track though. I don't know your working environments, but say you make a "hand truck-like" frame out of something metal. you could have multiple axel holes. Do you work in sand? you could have a set of axel holes for balloon tires, or a set for 20' wheels. You can also pop them off all together if you ever ship your cart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthias Richter Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 you need to reinforce the case by some kind of an inner frame. I have some aluminium plates attached to the inner side of the case with a matching plate outside and some bares inbetween. works perfect! leaves the option to pull on/off the quicklock-axels (and if shooting on a beach using the wheeleez) Matthias Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Wexler Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 Matthias definitely has the right idea --- you really need substantial reinforcement system if you are going to mount your wheels directly to the SKB case. The molded plastic on the sides is very thin and totally not suitable to support an axle and wheels. Using some sort of support plates/rods etc. and a straight through axle seems to be the way to go if you must mount wheels to the case. The platform/base approach seems to be much more common with all the case - based cart people have built. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Kurland Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 My cart was originally built with 18" removable tires very much as you describe. They were wheelchair wheels already designed around a removable pin and with a commercial available socket which was reinforced in the sides of a plywood flight case. The wheels fit inside the bottom drawer for shipping. I used it that was for years but ultimately went for bigger tires and not having to empty the drawers for shipping. Backstage built a steel frame that the cart sits on and has bigger handles and 10" casters. The wheels and casters are still removable and can be replaced with sand wheels using no tools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthias Richter Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 to me the factor weight was important and 4 aluminium plates and 4 bares in between weigh far less than any frame would do. It was an experiment at first cause I didn´t really know if it would stand the forces in real life. It´s been 4 years and quite some productions since and the "experiment" has proofed to work - for me. Matthias Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old school Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 This is my cart next to the video cart today. Mine is welded aluminum and his is 80/20 stock. CrewC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Wexler Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 I really like the look of those large diameter wheels. What size are they and where did you get them? Can a straight axle be used? Also, are they fully pneumatic or flat free tires? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old school Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 Both carts have pneumatic tires. Mine were from a wheelchair company as were his. Both are 20".I attached 2 pics of how his are mounted. Mine are on pins. I see no reason a straight axel wouldn't work though. Hey Jeff, did you pull down one of my posts on the Boom Op thread? CrewC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Wexler Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 Both carts have pneumatic tires. Mine were from a wheelchair company as were his. Both are 20".I attached 2 pics of how his are mounted. Mine are on pins. I see no reason a straight axel wouldn't work though. Hey Jeff, did you pull down one of my posts on the Boom Op thread? CrewC I don't think I did anything to one of your posts, Crew, but if I did, sorry about that. There have been some difficulties weeding out spam stuff from proper posts, maybe something of yours got blitzed in the process. The wheel mounting hardware piece for the 80/20 cart look simple, elegant and obviously effective. See if you can find out if that was a custom fitting or something available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old school Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 Custom fitting. I'm w the operator not the builder so this is 2nd hand info. His cart is heaver than yours and mine combined so they will carry a lot of weight. CrewC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chase Yeremian Posted December 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 Matthias- That is pretty much what I am looking to do. Your reinforcement looks like it could handle anything haha. Would you mind sharing where you found those hollow threaded bolts that you are using as your pin receptacles? I had a heck of a time finding anything hollow and threaded over 1/4 inch (which is to thin for axles in a quick release setup IMO). I have found the commercially available "quick release pin receptacles" But i see much more of an issue mounting those to a case than one long threaded bolt. I'm basically in the pickle of mobility. I pack everything into the back of my wagon usually, so while i love the separate base idea, I don't think I could fit that in the car. Crew- Where did you get those brackets for your wheel pins? That is a great design for the absence of a full axle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthias Richter Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 the quicklock receivers are from a local wheelchair-repairstore but could also be found online: http://www.bigskyprecision.com/Quick-Release-Accessories.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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