Frames for sound cart

[Arn]

Hi everyone,

 

Does anyone know where to buy these frames in europe?

I like the fact they are small on one side.

These are from Greg Sextro's cart from the gallery of soundcarts.

 

I am located in belgium..

If someone has advice for finding these wheels, please do so..

I am going to make a quite similar cart.

 

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Arne

 

[Jeff Wexler]

Looks like 80/20 profiles were used on Greg's cart frame. I believe the company more accessible in Europe for very similar aluminum is a company called ITEM. Maybe Greg even used ITEM, I don't know for sure. Either way, the individual pieces (called"profiles") have to be cut to proper dimensions and then assembled using hardware also purchased from the company for their profiles. I built several carts using 80/20 stuff primarily because I didn't want to have to rely on a welder or a fabricator to do the cart ---  I chose a building method that I could do myself.

[Pignouf]

I think your best bet would be to look at www.item24.de, they specialize in extruded aluminium. Well documented, you can find loads of information on their site about weight distribution and stuff.

I think some guys on this forum already used their services Rails for building cart? in the DIY subsection of this forum).

 

Another option could be using T-slot or V-slot profiles (with lots of possible joinery and other options from openbuilds), commonly used in diy 3D printing and CNC machinery. Probably less documented than item24 above, so no real idea how solid it will be for heavy duty jobs. I've built some enclosures with 20x20 profiles from Ratrig and they feel very strong already, so I guess if you'd use larger profiles, you'd be ok.

 

As for wheels, look into any decent bike shop, you'll have enough choice for small, strong and light wheels (in the picture you posted, it looks like a 20"-ish bike wheel). Look into BMX rims if you want strength, they are designed to take some abuse.

[vale]

I also recently build my second cart (the first one with aluminum frames, divided in two parts for an easy transport) buying pieces from Motedis.

Here some pictures.

For the wheels, I've bought from eBay a "bike follow cart" that has a couple of 16" wheels.

Anyway, if you have any questions feel free to ask.

Valentino.

 

 

[pindrop]

Very nice, what profile and sizes did you use please?

[vale]

1 minute ago, pindrop said:

Very nice, what profile and sizes did you use please?

 

30x30mm in my case for the main frame.

Then I also used some 20x20mm for the internal frames of the upper part (if you zoom in the pictures, you can see they're smaller).

[pindrop]

3 minutes ago, vale said:

 

30x30mm in my case for the main frame.

Then I also used some 20x20mm for the internal frames of the upper part (if you zoom in the pictures, you can see they're smaller).

Thanks, is the width across the front (in the direction of travel) narrower than what I assume is rack width on the side, in which case that is clever for narrow doorways?

[vale]

14 minutes ago, pindrop said:

Thanks, is the width across the front (in the direction of travel) narrower than what I assume is rack width on the side, in which case that is clever for narrow doorways?

 

Exactly.

The side part, the one where I mounted all the rack things is 495mm, the rack is screwed directly into the profiles, so I don't have to add the rack strips width.

The width in the direction of moving is just 42cm and I'm able to go through almost every door. 

Below two pictures of both that narrower sides.

[pindrop]

Nice thanks

[The Immoral Mr Teas]

From a non-carter (editor/fx recordist) very nice looking. And that gets me thinking - if I did eventually construct something from a zuca bmx style or similar - sideways would be a good alternative. Something flexible enough to have 19" racks above the wheel for studio use then alternative layouts for exterior recording. Nice, cheers! Jez

[IronFilm]

8 hours ago, vale said:

Anyway, if you have any questions feel free to ask.

 

I love how you've got locks on the drawers! Handy to keep all those little pieces secure if you pop away for lunch break, or if you van gets broken into, etc

[Matt Bacon AMPS]

Arne, I use aluminium profile to construct the frames of my carts (www.instagram.com/soundcart). If you read and adhere to the detailed information provided by the manufacturer you will be able to construct a very strong cart. Pay attention to the types of fasteners available as not all are equal! Some can loosen over time so read up!!

 

Many aluminium profile manufacturers offer CAD files. If you have the time to teach yourself CAD design first you’ll be able to design your cart before any costly mistakes in the real world!

[Jeff Wexler]

Matt Bacon certainly has fine-tuned the use of aluminum profiles for cart building, his carts are truly fine, very rugged with several functional designs and configurations. What Matt says about the overall construction and choice of fasteners is very important --- as an early adopter of this method of cart building (in my case, using 80/20 materials), I had to learn the hard way what fasteners to use and what would hold up over time with what our production carts have to go through on the job. I did finally end up with very solid carts that have not required any ongoing tightening of the fasteners, etc. The main advantage, for me, as I have said before is that I did not have to rely on outside fabricators with welding heli-arc equipment and skills. A welded frame may be somewhat more solid than the ones constructed from individual pieces and fastened together, but it has not been a real problem. As for the idea of mastering CAD and ordering exactly the right profiles, I didn't go that route ----  maybe just too lazy but I know that Matt did lots of pre-design work which probably saved him a lot of grief. Good luck with whatever you decide to do!