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My upright cart - work in progress


Blas Kisic

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post-5487-0-04843300-1423189352_thumb.jpSince JW asked me to post these pics here, I will oblige…

It's my first upright cart (having used a Magliner Junior until now) so I decided to go very deliberately and avoid, if possible, any mistakes. Didn't win on that front, but am happy with my efforts so far.

 

The cart is based on a StarCase rack unit, which had previously been housed in my studio (R.I.P.) to which I added 20" wheels donated from a wheelchair I bought for $60, and a pair of 6" casters I got at Home Despot.

 

Oscar Crispin (known to Agamemnon Andrianos, Chris Howland and Travis Cote and others) fabricated the base for the wheels and the rear handle - and I'm quite pleased with his work.

 

The rest was mostly trial and error (though I was convinced I knew where everything would go…) and now it's pretty much ready to go - I'm just waiting for an articulating arm to arrive for my laptop, which will be running Boom Recorder.

 

So here are the pics - feel free to comment the good, the bad and the fugly (the latter of which there's plenty, I assure you) and, if you care to suggest any improvements, by all means.

 

Cheers,

BK

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A few questions, Blas: 

 

1. I am very familiar with the StarCase racks, thought about using one once but declined, and I'm wondering about your rack being black. I believe the aluminum rack was available only in clear anodized but the steel rack is black. Is yours steel or aluminum?

 

2. Did you consider NOT having the rack enclosed on the sides (with the panels you have installed) or do you like the closed box/case concept? Thinking about this, I imagine the panels provide some shear and strength to the rack which might otherwise bend and become tweaked more easily.

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A few questions, Blas: 

 

1. I am very familiar with the StarCase racks, thought about using one once but declined, and I'm wondering about your rack being black. I believe the aluminum rack was available only in clear anodized but the steel rack is black. Is yours steel or aluminum?

 

2. Did you consider NOT having the rack enclosed on the sides (with the panels you have installed) or do you like the closed box/case concept? Thinking about this, I imagine the panels provide some shear and strength to the rack which might otherwise bend and become tweaked more easily.

 

Hi, Jeff.

1) I used an existing steel rack. If I were buying a new one, I think I would have gone with aluminum.

 

2) The top and bottom surfaces are steel plates, screwed into place, and they do add structural integrity. The only addition to the bottom, which Oscar insisted in adding –seeing the massive weight of the gel battery– is a steel bar underneath the plate, just to make the area under the battery more rigid.

 

The side panels, though, are made of chip board, basically a highly compressed cardboard-like material. So, AFAIK, they don't add much to the structural integrity - i.e.: they're mostly for tidiness.

 

Indeed, I like the closed-wall concept, and I like the fact that I can remove them for maintenance and/or reach a certain piece of equipment. The rear is still wide open, though, and I've asked my wife to make a curtain of sorts from some Duvatyne we have. The idea is to have Velcro patches on the rear and on the Duvatyne and, once all the gear is patched and ready to go, it can be stuck into place. Maybe it would be smart to do the same for the sides, as well…

 

But now you got me thinking that maybe those panels do contribute to the structural rigidity, because I don't remember that rack ever getting tweaked, and neither in the last couple of days, when I've rolled it around and pushed it up the ramps into the van. I think I'll call StarCase in the morning.

 

Incidentally, I need something to stop the mixer drawer from sliding out. Does any of you know what they call those knobs/levers they use in airplanes to stop food carts from wheeling out of theyr recesses? I need something like that, but don't know what they're called…

 

TIA,

BK

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I was wondering if the grey plastic tube was for booms, and was reminded of my own cart where a similar setup turned out to be impractical with lower ceilings - until I swapped it for Toolflex clamps.

Then, I saw that it's for the antenna mast, and I think this is a brilliant (robust, lightweight, *and* cheap) solution. Curious for some real-world usage reports of this!

 

What kind of boom holder do you have? No pics from that side so far...

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Peter,

The antenna mast works great. I have the same setup on my Magliner Jr cart, and it's always been rock-solid.

 

As far as the boom holder, I have a setup that Backstage Equipment sells. Here's a couple of pics. I made that bracket from an alumimum rail that I bought at Home Depot. I'm sure it can be made to look tidier and maybe painted black, but right now it's basically one step beyond "proof of concept"… I've already resigned myself to the fact that this project will never be "done" - I just hope I'll have the energy to keep tweaking it to suit my needs.

 

I got the articulating arm last night, and am planning on installing it today. After searching for three weeks, I finally pulled the trigger on a monitor arm (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DQ3679Q) not knowing for sure whether it was going to work. From what I've seen, I got lucky: it's well built, you can adjust the friction in the joints and, most importantly, the mounting surface can be set up hrizontally. I'll be happy to report once it's in place.

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The rubber bobber/clamp for the fishpole needs to have the bolt protected so that it doesn't scratch and damage the fishpole. I did a bobber once on one of my carts and recessed the bolt so that the pole only touches rubber. In your case, you could just put a band of rubber or fluffy Velcro padding that covers the bolt.

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Thanks, Peter.

I'm very pleased with the articulating arm. I'm sure it can be better, but given my skills and resources it's better than I expected.

Every joint in the arm (except for the ball joint on the platform) can be pulled out in a second with a flick of your thumb. For travel, I would take off the whole thing, leaving only the socket that's permanently connected to the cart.

 

As far as the boom holder, to be honest, it's so tight that I never use the velcro strap. I have k-tek CF booms; I don't know if other brands are thinner, but for mine it's quite sturdy.

 

Tchuß,

BK

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  • 6 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks!

I should post some more recent pictures. It's already seen duty on quite a few sets. There are a few improvements I'd like to make, all in due time, but for right now it's serving me well.

The main complaint is that it's quite heavy, and having hard caster wheels doesn't work - so in the next couple of months I'll be installing pneumatic wheels.

 

Cheers,

BK

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I purchased it via Amazon, for about $80. It's called "Mount-it!":

http://www.amazon.com/Mount-It-Single-Joint-Articulating-Monitor/dp/B00DQ3679Q

Its best feature, IMO, is the fact that you can take the arm apart for storage and transportation.

I built a bracket out of aluminum, to bolt it to the cart, and a sheet of plywood as a base for the laptop.

Cheers,

BK

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