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Bag cart build ideas


AndyB

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Brilliant work, Kevin! Any issues with stability or cracking while drilling through the frame? I don't know that I would reinforce mine much. Still thinking about a steel frame hand truck, though. It won't be carrying much weight. 10 to 18 pound bag on a shelf, and some kind of tool box on the base to carry cable and other odds and ends and spares...

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You could also get a Rastorder Foldup cart and place your bag on it. It has room for battery, mixer/control surface boom pole holder, antenna mast holder. Best of all, it folds up and the wheels are removable. It can be very compact for traveling. It is also very light. Rob at Rastorder is a super nice guy to deal with. post-639-135277665547.jpg

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Yes Jeff, the one I used is different from the one you used. The plastic is ABS and easy to drill, no cracking issues.

I have seen magliner type copies at home depot for around a $100 or so.

The Rastorder cart is definitely a winner imho.

All cart owners with pnenmatic tires will be rewarded with very few, if any flat tires, if they put this stuff in the inner tubes.

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Here are a few photos of the bag cart I put together:

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The casters on the bottom are mounted on a Magliner nose plate turned up side down. The handle was chopped to allow easy access to knobs and faders at the top of the bag. A boom pole holder is on the left side and an antenna mast on the right (not in these photos, however). The basket at the bottom is useful to toss in various items. The hook on the back is great for cables, headphones, etc. There was a cup holder at one point but I have taken it off to modify it and have not reattached it yet.

The tires are solid foam so I don't have to worry about flats. The front casters are medical type wheels and roll silently.

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Yes Jeff, the one I used is different from the one you used. The plastic is ABS and easy to drill, no cracking issues.

I have seen magliner type copies at home depot for around a $100 or so.

The Rastorder cart is definitely a winner imho.

All cart owners with pnenmatic tires will be rewarded with very few, if any flat tires, if they put this stuff in the inner tubes.

You can also use Stan which is better then Slime since you can run it without tubes and at low pressure if you need that. although it does take a bit of setup. Also remember Fix-A-Flat and Slime will slowly destroy a tube. regardless of sealants you use, tire rotation is a must. putting sealant in a tire and then not using it for months is a bad idea. It may be a better idea to run a tire liner to prevent punctures.

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You can also use Stan which is better then Slime since you can run it without tubes and at low pressure if you need that. although it does take a bit of setup. Also remember Fix-A-Flat and Slime will slowly destroy a tube. regardless of sealants you use, tire rotation is a must. putting sealant in a tire and then not using it for months is a bad idea. It may be a better idea to run a tire liner to prevent punctures.

Could you be more specific about " Stan " ? I am not familiar with this product. maybe show a picture, thanks.

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Inspired by this thread I found a half price magliner on eBay which had been used at the olympics in London.

My intention is to try and retain the ability to use it for its intended purpose and save my back when loading and unloading on those days i need to use a lot of gear. I'm also going to make some modifications and additions for use as a bag cart, perhaps to be able to operate it with a rack-mount case should the need present itself in the future.

First impressions, its big, perhaps too big to fit on the back seat of my car. I think i can loose a few inches off the handle and reduce the overall height of the frame, lowering the middle and top crossmembers in the process. I think i'll remove the stair sliders, dont think i'll need them and have a think about hinging or making a quick release system for the nose plate.

The first job however is fabbing up a clip-on shelf which will hang from the top crossmember. I have a metal recyclers nearby who let me rummage for scrap and i found a piece of 1/8" chequer plate which will be perfect.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I had a Rock'NRoller cart for a while and found some good and bad things about it. It was fairly compact and light weight when fully folded up. However, it felt a little flimsy under a full load. They are much cheaper than a Magliner but, as always, you get what you pay for. I had the extended top shelf on mine. The cart wasn't long in enough in the shorter mode to fit a Pelican 1650 case laying down and it was far too long fully extended to be manageable. I also felt the caster wheels were a tad bit weak with a full load, however, that being said, none of them broke. Probably me just being paranoid.

I've known guys who have owned them for years and loved them. For me, I got rid of mine after less than a year in favor of a Magliner.

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Matthew

I agree with many you points on the rock n roller. I bought this one for a two day commercial shoot at a large hospital. Most locations I was able to wheel the cart right up to where I was mixing and booming.

After I got it, I was wondering if I should have gotten the longer one. Thanks for the insight. I do wish it had pneumatic casters front and back though.

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A couple years ago i built a very low tech bag cart from material I had in the basement--1/2 and 3/4 inch plywood and a steel hand truck.

I used the 3/4 ply for the sides and bottom shelf and the 1/2 ply for the two upper shelves. The bottom shelf has a foot at the front to keep the cart level.

This cart is very stable and easily rolls over most terrain. When moving I place the bag on the middle shelf in the box like structure and it is very safe.

If I actually have a boom operator I then have the option of standing and mixing from the top shelf or sitting and using the middle shelf. The cart very easily slides into the back of my small pickup truck and rests on its back.

This picture was taken before I moved the boom pole holders to the inside of the frame thereby making the cart narrower and protecting the poles.

Like I said, very low tech but it works for me.

Bob

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No, not top heavy, very well balanced. The large bottom shelf with foot resists the tendency to lean forward which you normally get in this type of hand truck.

I have relieved some of the weight by cutting anyway unnecessary plywood, which is not really visible in the photo. Also two of the shelves are half inch ply so there's not really much weight on top even though it looks that way. The metal base and especially the tires supply sufficent weight at the bottom.

When I thought about building the cart I thought it might be too heavy because of the steel handtruck but the weight is just right, it feels very secure and handles nicely.

There is some lens distortion in the photo that causes the upper section to appear larger, in relation to the rest of the cart, than it actually is. The shelf depth is 13 inches. The cart is 22 inches wide. You can see the distortion, it makes the box look out of square, but in fact, it is square(in the carpentry sense of square).

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