Useful Information Regarding Road Cases

By Jason Hamilton


A specific type of shipping container that is modeled particularly to protect motion picture equipment, lighting and audio production equipment, and musical instruments is known as a road case. Road cases are employed in shipping other numerous pieces of instruments and equipment besides the ones mentioned above. Protection is necessary since the instruments protected are normally sensitive. Thus, protecting them becomes essential in the process of moving them to a different place or when they are handled a lot.

The containers are also addressable by other names with the most common names being roadie case, ATA case, and flight case. Different professionals in the entertainment industry make use of the containers. It is possible for one to have many of these containers based on the amount of equipment to be moved.

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.

While the equipment is in the container it may be held into place by panels or racks apart from using shock-absorbent filler. Shock insulators function to attach the racks or panels to the inside of the casing. Sheets of stamped steel are used to reinforce the corners of the container. A finishing made of zinc, chrome, or nickel is added to the reinforced corners.

Before production or launch into the market, testing is done to these containers. Impact/drop, stackability, water resistance, vibration, and penetration are among the tests performed. The very severe tests done on the cases are stackability, vibration, and drop tests. Drop test comprises of 160 face drops from a distance of 30 inches for a case of 50 pounds in weight when loaded.

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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