Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Pimp my Red (Rocket) cart...

digitalfx said:
Here is our newest Rocket Cart
Click to expand...

Greg, how are you transporting your Bigfoot Carts? I assume the MacPro towers are packed in pelican Cases, or do you have some kind of shock absorption in there that allows them to travel installed in the cart?
 
The tray has a 1" rubber base...not a perfect solution but beats tearing it down everyday.
We have Sprinter Vans for transporting.

For data back-up we use a different cart that has a cartridge based RAID system. The 2TB carts store in Pelican case for transporting or shipping.
 
digitalfx said:
The tray has a 1" rubber base...not a perfect solution but beats tearing it down everyday.
We have Sprinter Vans for transporting.
Click to expand...

Are you putting your Bigfoots inside travel cases, or just simply securing them via straps, bungees, etc inside the Sprinter Vans? The good thing about the Sprinter Vans is that the suspension in them is very good and will absorb a lot of the bumps nicely. Probably why you're okay. A vehicle that has poor suspension, especially with a bad means of securing the cart inside the vehicle would be more prone to computer component damage.
 
This is gonna sounds like a weird question, why do you mount your UPS above the Mac Pro, general racking convention is the UPS is always at the bottom. Any specific reason or it just worked out that way.
 
The cart in my first post requires the mac tower at the bottom. Its a slide out tray, for easy service. If you notice the rack rails dont go to the bottom.

In the cart above, the only place the mac fits is in the bottom as its wider than standard 19' rack.
 
It's not hard to figure out an isolation platform that you could build and roll the rig onto in your truck. The suppliers of vibration isolation componets include the formulas in their catalogs.
 
I love this thread. Keep 'em coming. I'll be sharing when mine is done.
 
Anybody having problems with the wheels on their Red cart? We've had a lot of issues with them coming loose and deflating. We replaced all of the nuts and bolts to try and get better performance but still have to keep a constant eye on making sure they stay inflated. We feel we are not overloading the cart with weight or using it in an unusual way. Just curious if anyone else has had this issue and done anything about it.


Jim
 
I ran some numbers and presuming a new Mac and a copy of FCS, this setup looks to be about $14,500. Wow! What sort of day rate do you get on that? 3 day week or 6 day week? If you don't mind me asking. It's certaintly an awesome piece of kit, I appreciate you posting the specs/setup like that. Any idea what price they'd be thinking for the lid?

Oh, and why not leave the monitors inside the lid during transpo?
 
  • Thread starter
  • Moderator
  • #36
I'm not sure who this is directed at Shawn but if it's me then those numbers are a little low. Although I am using a 2008 Macpro that I previously used as a CC computer at my home office, I also previously owned the Red cart and UPS.

As far as rentals, it depends, on bigger union commercials a cart like this can earn between $750-$1000 a day, three day weeks usually. On smaller shows I tend to work out a package deal with the camera kit, cart and myself. Still, I'm planning to keep the price above $500 a day.

The lid and tower case should go for about $1300 depending on the final design.
 
oldcart.jpg


Here's one of my old carts. The current design is a secret. :)

The top lid folds shut with all of its weight supported on the visible gas shocks... like a giant laptop lid. There are front and rear covers [as well as filter covers for those dusty environments] for shipping. This was 7 generations in and 4 generations before I moved on from this overall design.
 
Last edited:
As for equipment rentals, just a place to start:

Mac Pro tower: $200-250/day
RED Rocket™™™™: $250/day

And that's just for starters. That cart pictured above [minus HD monitors, waveform monitors, LTO-4] is $1,000/d on a 3-day week. I generally match the camera rental house's discount, but adding the other gear to it raises the overall value. Hell, a simple Mac Pro system with a RED Rocket™™™™ rents for $800/d or $2,400/w around here. Producers are used to it [or getting used to it!] and everybody is rapidly learning that a laptop just does not cut it. Remember that this stuff costs money. We're not talking about computers here guys... we're talking about custom purpose-built professional pieces of film equipment with one part from Apple. If you bought everything on/in that pictured cart at retail [including all of the backups which you WILL need], it was about $100,000. Couple that with the time it took to design, build, assemble and test all the components... man. That's no stinkin' computer.

I'm not saying gouge people - that's horrible. I'm also not even remotely suggesting price fixing. Just remember to put your systems in perspective. A Panasonic BT-LH1710 can be purchased for about $3,200 these days and rents for $250-300 per day. The software on my hard drive [that I paid for remember] cost over $20,000. And you know what? When that 1710 is still renting in a few years I'll already be a few versions ahead on my software. There's a reason we have to charge what we charge for systems like these. Almost every dollar I make on rental for my system goes into upgrading it to fix observed problems and increase performance to stay with the needs of the shows that I work on. These puppies don't make a lot of profit, but they sure enable you to do a hell of a job as a DIT when you take it seriously. :)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top