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D.I.T's - Carts, Transport and Travel

J

Jay Gannon

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Looking for some insights,
How do you all transport your carts, and in particular Mac Pro's.

Moving from a laptop based setup to a Dual Mac Pro and External RAID and external screens. Looking at transport options Pelican Cases are very expensive but I can go that route, more of a thing would be bulk. I dont want to end up buying a Sprinter to drive around in, I don't have the luxury of 2 vehicles. Also carts, how do you transport them, and do you have any recommendations for easily transportable ones?

Also has anyone tried running an offload station out of the back of an SUV? Thinking tent over the rear door and a setup in the back. Thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance,

Jay G
 
You need a truck or van

You need a truck or van

Hi Jay,

I know you don't want to hear this, but you really need to be able to move the cart mostly assembled.

Most shoots move around and if you have to break down all your gear, breakdown the cart, etc. you are going to get behind, and make your director/dp grumpy with you.

I ended up buying a commercial truck.

I own a Lexus LX470, essentially a gussied up Land Cruiser, it's a big SUV, and it wouldn't work for this.

Also that lift gate is a god send. You get two mac pro towers, a UPS a well built external raid array, a couple of monitors, drives etc. on the cart, and you won't be lifting that thing into a SUV by yourself... trust me.

I hope you find an answer because I'd love not to have to take the grip/camera truck when it's just a DIT gig, but I haven't found a good answer.

Cheers,

Steve
 
Get on jobs with transpo and have them pick it up, if you can.
Other wise get a truck or one of these ugly little Ford transits...
transit-connect-13-1280_opt.jpg

Good gas milage and the cart should fit built.
 
Sounds like my rig is about the same!

Here is the set up I'm working with.
4454880340_b0bc097bfe_o.jpg

2 mac pro towers, raid, LTO, 2 24" Displays, UPS.

With all that expensive gear the only way for me is to have the best cases to protect it from the elements, especially if you're doing a lot of location work.
The cases I'm using are http://www.dinosaurcases.com/film.html
Everything is already built inside my case. All I do is pull off the lids (the front one turns into a table) and plug in my monitors. For me I'd have it no other way, fumbling with cables and rebuilding your cart every time is a hassle I don't need.
As for transport, this thing is so bloody heavy (UPS must be al least 80 LBS) a proper ramp or hydraulic tailgate is a must for me. I guess this depends on the production you're working on and there budget, my gear has always lived on the camera truck and a lot of the time that's where i'm working out of.
 
Martin Ludwig said:
i am sure adam hall is providing these cases in europe. www.adamhall.com
Click to expand...

Martin you are right, but they have delivery times up to 12 weeks, because shockmount cases are not sold that much and they always waiting till a container is full to ship it.

Noah what UPS you are using with two Mac Pros. It must be very heavy ???

thx
rainer
 
Curran Giddens said:
http://www.skbcases.com/music/products/proddetail.php?f=&id=129&o=&offset=1&c=80&s=80

I have one of the SKB shockmount cases with a dual Mac Pro rackmount. But I am planning on only using one Mac Pro and using the other slot for 4U's of vertical rack space using a CadLock Mac Pro Caddy.

http://activatethespace.myshopify.com/collections/cadlock/products/mac-pro-caddy
Click to expand...

Adam Hall no longer supply SKB Cases, Shure in UK have taken over distribution www.shuredistribution.co.uk

Still slow delivery on some items. There is also Hardigg Racks which are similar shock mounted and we also produce custom shock mounted racks along with the SKB Case and racks and Hardigg Racks.

Have alook round the site www.packhorse.co.uk for ideas - then you can go off and buy from whoever

Good hunting
 
I just ran a system out of my Ford Escort station wagon. I took out the passenger seat and ran the system from the back seat. After that I told production never again. lol. If you are running dual monitors you'll probably need to be in a cargo van minimum. You can pick up those or step vans pretty cheap. Personally I think the step van is the way to go. You have the back doors when you need to offload and the front entrance so the DP and Director can come in and out quickly. You can run a dual monitor setup on a Yeager senior and move quickly when you have too. I had my monitors hooked up with the adjustable wall mounts connected to a Cardellinni. That way I could push around without my monitors eating dirt.
 
Modular VTR/DIT cart

Modular VTR/DIT cart

+1 on the Ford Transit Connect. This will probably be my next vehicle, but until it becomes an absolute necessity, I can't part with my Focus, even though it is small. I've put all but the first 50 of my 175k+ miles on the thing, still getting 29-33mpg, I don't know if it'll ever die.

That being said it limits my choices for my mobile setup, and I'm in the middle of frankenstein-ing it together now, waiting on shipping delays and the last bits of my gear to get delivered, and working some final bugs out. But I'm building it as a two-piece version of a Bigfoot Cart.
http://www.bigfootmobilecarts.com

FYI, I looked into these, and there's no pricing info on their website. But after talking to them and FINALLY getting them to "ballpark" me an estimate, you're looking at $2600-$3000 minimum for a cart with the ability to haul your MacPro and 19" rack space. No way I'm spending that kind of money, and then pay to have it shipped from CA to the Midwest, and it would never fit in my vehicle either.

Anyway, I'll supply pictures of v1.0 of this cart once I get it all put together, hopefully within the next 2-3 weeks. Bottom section of the cart acts as a base for the casters and holds the MacPro in an enclosure similar to a shipping case, but I'm building it out of an aluminum extrusion frame with composite panels with dense interior foam padding. 4-6 connection points connect it to the standard 19" 10U Rack section I've purchased to sit on top, holding my UPS/Batteries/Inverter, External Drive storage space, Video IO, 2U for future expansion and storage drawer for cables, card readers, adapters, converters and other small accessories I'll need all the time. The top work surface will mount two monitors, one for me to operate, and the other as a client monitor facing video village.

As long as it only takes me 10-15 minutes to setup and teardown, I'm fine until I can upgrade to a larger vehicle in the future. I can more than likely acquire some space on the grip or camera truck for features or multiple company moves if speed is an issue.
 
Wow 3k for the cart? I'm looking at half that for a fully custom made and designed one with integrated shock mounted racks.
 
Jay can you post pics of your custom cart when you get it? I'm very interested in checking it out!
 
Yeah I'm still designing, so if anyone has anything that is their " I wish my cart had this" please chip in. When its done I'll throw the CAD files online so anyone can take it to a fabricator and get one knocked up. Don't wait around though I'm notoriously slow in designing things :P

And to preempt no I wont be selling them =)
 
Cart section 1

Cart section 1

I too am looking into teaching myself CAD, at least well enough to design something like this project.

This is more or less retail components I put together. The 10U rack unit is from StarCase.com. They sell pretty cheap knock-down flat rack kits, and they have these patented corner pieces that tie it all together. I was surprised how strong this is. I have T-nuts gorilla glued and pounded into the underside of the 24" x 30" cafe table top to which the frame is attached. I just received and completed mounting the table top today.

It has a 12 ga. steel plate floor. Sides are a PVC plastic. Silver 3U storage drawer at top is aluminum, was more expensive but only 6.5 lbs vs. the steel option at 18 lbs. It's also from Starcase. Below that is a 3U shelf I will use for my video IO and External HDDs. Below that is a vented filler 2U space for expandability to add a RAID in the future if needed. Bottom open section will house 2U UPS.

This whole thing is relatively light weight (don't have an official lb. total) and will sit on top of the custom MacPro case I'm having designed at the moment. I hope to hear something and be done with this by tax day. (fingers crossed)

Cart1.jpg
 
Cart is finished

Cart is finished

P1020411.jpg


My cart is finished. Because I drive a compact car, I had to build the cart to be modular. The upper rack section bolts to the lower cart base/MacPro enclosure with 4 joining plates.

The lower section is an aluminum framed, foam-lined enclosure that is honestly WAY overbuilt. I used denser and thicker foam than was necessary, but it was a custom-designed and built enclosure. It's photographed here with the removable panels off on the front and back to allow ventilation for the MacPro, and one of the side panels is removable as well if/when removing the computer is necessary, and like I said, the foam is so dense for the surface area of the computer case, it's literally wedged in there. The panels are a lightweight corrugated plastic with aluminum skins bonded to each side, which makes them extremely lightweight and stiff. Custom-machined plates on the bottom mount the 8" pneumatic, non-marking casters with locks. (they need more air) The casters can be removed and the whole thing used as a shipping case for the tower if necessary. The 25mm aluminum frame is more than strong enough to handle all the weight of the working cart.

P1020418.jpg


The upper section houses a modified UPS with auxiliray exterior batteries, a storage drawer as mentioned in my previous post, and a 3U shelf for my ioHD, which also has a rear-mounted rack panel with all the ioHD's bulkhead connectors for ease and speed of connectivity. I will no doubt add a RAID in the near future but for now it just has a filler space. Funny how without any awareness on my part, I found out Fletcher Chicago has their new Cosmos DIT workstation mirrors a lot of what I'm doing with my kit.

Wireless keyboard and mouse up top with a 23" Samsung computer monitor, and an articulated, quick-release arm for my main client 24" monitor. (facing away)

This thing's tall, can easily be operated standing, and I'll be picking up a tall bamboo hollywood chair from which to operate. I'm pretty happy with this compromise for now. Once the work allows a new vehicle purchase of a Transit Connect, v2.0 will be much different, easier and quicker to load in and out.
 
Looks like someone else Modified a UPS too! Its one of the best ways to get a cheaper better Power Solution. I use camera 24v Battery Blocks in a pinch if I can't run a small generator.
 
Very nice Chris!
Chris Very nice Chris!Ratledge said:
P1020411.jpg


My cart is finished. Because I drive a compact car, I had to build the cart to be modular. The upper rack section bolts to the lower cart base/MacPro enclosure with 4 joining plates.

The lower section is an aluminum framed, foam-lined enclosure that is honestly WAY overbuilt. I used denser and thicker foam than was necessary, but it was a custom-designed and built enclosure. It's photographed here with the removable panels off on the front and back to allow ventilation for the MacPro, and one of the side panels is removable as well if/when removing the computer is necessary, and like I said, the foam is so dense for the surface area of the computer case, it's literally wedged in there. The panels are a lightweight corrugated plastic with aluminum skins bonded to each side, which makes them extremely lightweight and stiff. Custom-machined plates on the bottom mount the 8" pneumatic, non-marking casters with locks. (they need more air) The casters can be removed and the whole thing used as a shipping case for the tower if necessary. The 25mm aluminum frame is more than strong enough to handle all the weight of the working cart.

P1020418.jpg


The upper section houses a modified UPS with auxiliray exterior batteries, a storage drawer as mentioned in my previous post, and a 3U shelf for my ioHD, which also has a rear-mounted rack panel with all the ioHD's bulkhead connectors for ease and speed of connectivity. I will no doubt add a RAID in the near future but for now it just has a filler space. Funny how without any awareness on my part, I found out Fletcher Chicago has their new Cosmos DIT workstation mirrors a lot of what I'm doing with my kit.

Wireless keyboard and mouse up top with a 23" Samsung computer monitor, and an articulated, quick-release arm for my main client 24" monitor. (facing away)

This thing's tall, can easily be operated standing, and I'll be picking up a tall bamboo hollywood chair from which to operate. I'm pretty happy with this compromise for now. Once the work allows a new vehicle purchase of a Transit Connect, v2.0 will be much different, easier and quicker to load in and out.
Click to expand...
 
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