Understanding What Road Cases Are All About

By Jason Hamilton


Road cases refers to a certain kind of shipping container that is designed specifically for protecting lighting and audio production equipment, motion picture equipment, and musical instruments. There are many other pieces of equipment and instruments that are shipped using road cases. The instruments are usually sensitive and need extra protection to prevent damage. The protection is necessary when the equipment is being moved from one place to another or mishandled.

These containers have many other names they are referred by. ATA case, flight case, and roadie case are among common names that are in use. Different types of professionals in the entertainment industry are the ones who commonly use these containers. A person can have these containers in numerous numbers based on the quantity of the equipment one needs to transport.

Many of these containers are made from panels that are joined by plastic or metal extrusions, metal, or molded plastic. Typically, a case is made of panels that are composed of two layers. The outer layer is usually made from ABS or fiberglass laminate. The outer layer is then attached to a middle layer of cabinet-grade plywood. The middle layer may vary in thickness from 3/16 inches to 1/2 inches.

Some of the cabinet-grade plywood in use include maple, poplar, or birch. These two layers together make the laminate panel. In high-grade cases, the laminate layer is made using composite materials. The inside of the case has shock-absorbing filler. There are different kinds of fillers, including polyethylene and polyurethane foam. The filler has cavities that are shaped in the same way as the instrument that is supposed to be placed inside the case.

Also, the case can be mounted with panels or racks instead of shock-absorbing filler. These panels or racks hold the instrument in position inside the container. Besides being fitted with shock iinsulators, racks or panels are attached to the walls of the case. Stamped sheet steel cases corners are applied in reinforcing the corners of cases. Nickel, chrome, or zinc finishing is applied on the corners.

Prior to the production and distribution of these containers to buyers, it is mandatory that they are tested. Among the tests carried out are, impact or drop, penetration, vibration, water resistance, stackability and vibration tests. From the mentioned tests, drop tests, stackability and vibration are the most emphasized. A case weighing 50 pounds when stacked up will be dropped 160 times from a raised platform of 30 inches during drop testing.

Drop test also involve 80 edge drops from a height of 36 inches and 40 corner drops from a height of 36 inches. For cases that weigh 100 pounds, the height is reduced to 21 inches, while those that weight 150 pounds have the distance reduced to 18 inches. The height continues to reduce as the gross weight of the case continues to increase.

A weight of 135 kg is placed on every face of the container for 24 hours in stackability test. A weight of 6 kg is dropped on the feeblest point on the case from a particular height in penetration test. For every test, specific results must be attained. In the process, damage is not permitted. Incorporation of the casters into the containers is done for easy transit.




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