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Introduction
This article takes an in depth look at road cases and their use.
You will learn more about topics such as:
What is a Road Case?
Types of Road Cases
How Road Cases are Made
Uses for Road Cases
Regulations for Road Cases
And Much More …
Chapter One – What is a Road Case?
A road case is a ruggedly built, highly functional protective container with varying wall thicknesses that is capable of withstanding the riggers and handling of shipping. They are designed to meet the rigorous demands required of cases that are shipped via cargo plane or commercial transport.
A common road case is made with furniture grade black laminated plywood with recessed steel handles, aluminum edges, and steel ball covered corners. They come with a wide selection of interiors, which vary in accordance with the contents of the case.
High quality road cases are designed to protect their contents from falls, collisions, radical changes in temperature, shock, vibrations, dirt, dust, and moisture. In addition to offering protection, road cases keep the instruments and devices being shipped secure and safe by encasing them in inserts made of sturdy materials such as various types of foam and rubber.
Chapter Two – Types of Road Cases
Road cases are designed to protect and secure shipped equipment such that it arrives ready for use. They are constructed of highly resilient materials that manufacturers carefully select and engineer. Shipping, storing, and accessing equipment from a road case requires careful planning.
Fortunately, there are an endless number of road cases in sizes, construction, and shapes to fit the needs of any type of instrument, device, or equipment. The variety of road cases is one of the reasons that they are relied on as protection and safety.
Ramp Road Cases
Ramp road cases are a unique type of road case that have a built-in ramp that folds out for easy loading of devices on casters. There are different forms of ramps for ramp road cases, with some of them being flat pieces of heavy wood while others have separate tracks that are stored under the case and slide out when needed.
The design of ramp road cases is ideal for shipping, hauling, or storing small generators, sensitive medical devices, or mobile workstations. Aside from the variations in ramps, there are several different types of ramp road cases, with several of them custom designed to meet the requirements of an application.
Workstation Road Case
A workstation road case is a traveling tool cabinet with a flat surface on top and an upright back for the placement of tools, monitors, and other electronic equipment. They have several other accessories that include worktables, shelving, electrical outlets, and various sizes of work surfaces. Workstation road cases are normally custom built to meet the customer’s requirements. An interesting aspect of workstation road cases is their ability to contain a complete recording system or video production system.
The versatility of workstation road cases makes them ideal for disaster relief, removing immunization stations, and mobile hospitals. All of the components of a workstation road case easily fit into the drawers and compartments for quick access and storage.
Trunk Road Cases
Trunk road cases are general use road cases and come in a wide variety of sizes. Unlike custom designed road cases, all trunk road cases have the same features and construction with recessed latches, steel corners, wood backed laminate, and spring loaded latches. Their one variation is the types of inserts, which are designed to fit the shape of the items to be transported.
A4A Road Cases
Previously, the American Transportation Association (ATA) published a set of standards regarding the specifications required for road cases. The ATA has become the Airlines for America (A4A), which uses the standards originated by the ATA for approving road cases.
A4A road cases are the ultimate in protective cases and are designed to be able to face the harshest and most difficult conditions. They are reinforced to meet the rigorous standards of the A4A, which requires that road cases with this classification be capable of making 100 trips without failure or damage.
For a road case to meet A4A standards, it must be able to pass a series of carefully outlined tests, which include dropping, water spray, and vibration tests. The A4A has outlined the procedures that must be followed when completing each of the tests. Strict adherence by manufacturers is necessary to receive A4A certification that manufacturers receive when they apply to the A4A.
Rack Mount Road Cases
Rack mount road cases are another form of specialty case designed for the shipping and storage of equipment from fixed racks. They can be set up indoors or outdoors, depending on the demands of an application. The convenience of rack mount cases makes it possible to operate the protected equipment without removing them from its case. They are made from a variety of materials including laminated plywood, rotomolding, and injection molding.
Workbox Road Cases
Workbox road cases are a work cabinet with several drawers for the safe storage of components. They provide easy access to work materials and come in several sizes with different numbers of drawers, heights, mobility features, and handles. All workbox road cabinets are designed with casters due to their weight. A padded door is placed over the drawers during transport to keep them from opening.
Plywood is used to produce workbox road cases due to their size. They have aluminum L brackets covering their edges with a knuckle or flat brackets on the corners. U aluminum channels support the door, drawers, and base of the cabinets.
Leading Manufacturers and Suppliers
Chapter Three – How Road Cases are Made
The manufacture of road cases takes different forms and includes rotational or injection molding and fabrications from metal and wood panels. In most cases, large complex cases designed as rolling cases or trunks are made through fabrication, while smaller cases are made using one of the molding processes. Regardless of the chosen process, all forms of road cases are extremely rugged, durable, well designed, and strong.
Fabricating a Road Case
Rivets
The two types of rivets used to construct road cases are blind and split, each of which is backed with a washer to prevent it from loosening or shifting. Blind rivets form a stronger and more secure bond than split rivets but cost more and take longer to install.
Blind Rivets
Blind rivets, also known as pop rivets, are used when the back side of two surfaces cannot be easily accessed. The back side of the rivet is the blind side. The body or shell of a blind rivet is at the top of the rivet and attached to the stem. The rivet is inserted through a hole in the pieces to be joined. A riveting tool expands the body and allows the stem to be removed. The result is two pieces being tightly joined.
Split Rivets
Split rivets or bifurcated rivets are a form of self piercing rivet that have two tails and a solid body. They can be quickly installed using their two sharp ends that work like saws to make a hole through the material. As they cut into the material, the split ends curl back to form a tight and secure connection.
Heavy Duty Staples
Heavy duty staples, used in the manufacture of road cases, are designed to firmly and securely hold fabrics and panels in place. They come in several varieties and lengths to fit any type of road case design. Heavy duty staples are used much like rivets to secure fabric, corners, and edge materials.
Road Case Corners
The performance and stability of a road case is enhanced by the types of metals used to protect its corners. The typical metals are single angle or double angle aluminum extrusions.
Single Angle
Single angled aluminum is very lightweight with exceptional strength and durability. They come in different thicknesses that range from 0.17 inches up to 0.25 inches and are used as corners for a wide variety of applications from truck beds to decorative applications. Single angle aluminum corners are normally made from 6063 alloy, which has magnesium and silicon as alloying elements.
Double Angle
Double angle extrusions have two channels into which the wood sides can easily slip with each side being supported on the inside and outside walls. Unlike single angle extrusions that cover the corners of the road case, double angle extrusions tightly secure the corners for a stronger fit.
Edges of a Road Case
Edges are placed around the lips of a road case where it opens and closes. They are designed to keep the lid and base in place and ensure a tight and secure fit when the lid is closed. Edges are used on all road cases where there are openings regardless of whether the lid and base are detached.
Tongue Groove Edge
A groove extrusion is used with a tongue extrusion to provide a tight seal between the lid and the base of a road case. They are extruded channels that fit over the edges of the sides of a road case, with one channel having a groove while the other has a rounded tongue.
Hybrid
Hybrid extrusions are similar to tongue and groove extrusions but use the same pieces of extruded channel material for the lid and base. One piece of channel is slid over the edge of the lid while the other is positioned on the edge of the base. They are designed such that they fit inside one another to produce a tight secure fit.
Slam Shut
The slam shut type of edge is a piece of aluminum channel that has been placed over the edge of the lid and base without tongue and grooves. It is a simple piece of U shaped aluminum channel that protects the edge of the sides from damage. Slam shut does not form a secure seal and is the least expensive of the types of edging.
Ball or Flat Corners
Right angle strips of metal protect the corners or edges of a road case where the sides meet. Ball and flat corners are placed at the top and bottoms of the right angle strips to protect the corners of the cases.
Wood Panels
The panels of fabricated road cases are made of plain or pre-laminated plywood with pre-laminated being the most common. Plain plywood is painted or coated with polyurethane with the coated type being the better choice since painted plywood is not as durable or long lasting.
The most used plywood is birch plywood with a thickness of 9.5 mm or 0.375 inch, which is lighter, more durable, resilient, and capable of resisting dings, dents, scratches, and moisture. Heavy duty fabricated road cases require the use of thick coated plywood to be able to withstand the demands of shipping and transport handling.
The thermoplastic laminate material for the sides of road cases is glued to the surface of the plywood and passed through pressure rollers to ensure an even and secure bond between the materials. As an extra measure, the laminated plywood is passed through a heat press to cure the adhesive.
Road Case Hinges
Piano hinges are normally used in the construction of road cases since they are long continuous hinges with multiple holes for the placement of rivets. Hinges for road cases are made of heavy duty steel, which makes them capable of withstanding constant stress.
When torque hinges, or free stop hinges, are used, they are positioned every four to six inches and act like a lid stay holding the lid of a road case open and preventing it from closing. They are made of aluminum or steel and come in various sizes to fit the design of the case.
Handles on Road Cases
Handles on road cases are normally recessed into the sides of the case. During the fabrication of the laminated plywood sides, holes are cut for the placement of the recessed handles, which are riveted in place. The handles being recessed make it possible to stack road cases and easily lift them.
Lid Stays
There are several types of lid stays depending on the size and type of road case. For smaller road cases, nylon web stays can be used since they are required to control or stop heavy lids. More robust and heavy duty road cases demand the use of steel recessed lid stays that are stronger and last longer.
Rotomolding a Road Case
The rotomolding process is a method for producing large single piece road cases from polyethylene powder and includes placing the powder in a mold that is heated and rotated to evenly distribute the powder. Road cases made by rotomolding are considered to be more durable due to the increased concentration of plastic in the corners and its uniform density. It is a four stage process that includes loading the plastic resin, rotating and heating the mold, cooling the mold, and removing the molded case.
Loading Resin
There are several types of polymer resins that are used in the rotomolding process with the various types of polyethylene being the most commonly used. For use in the rotomolding method, the polyethylene is pulverized into a fine powder, weighed to ensure the proper proportional amount, and loaded into the mold cavity.
Once the resin material has been loaded, the halves of the mold cavity are secured and sealed with bolts or clamps.
Heating Process
The mechanism for a rotary mold consists of the mold and a mechanical arm that is designed to rotate the mold on multiple axes. As it is engaged, it is moved into a heating chamber where the mold is heated to melt the resin inside it. The melted resin slowly and evenly spreads across the interior of the mold, moving into every one of the various facets of the mold cavity.
The heating process is carefully monitored. If the mold is heated too long, the polymer resin will degrade, creating a weaker road case. If it is not heated long enough, the final product will be misshapen and deformed.
Cooling Process
The cooling process takes approximately 20 minutes or more, during which the molded road case shrinks as it detaches itself from the sides of the mold. It is a very gradual process designed to avoid warping or cracking of the molded road case. Cooling includes the use of fans forcing in the cooled air and a fine mist of cool water. The temperature of the molded piece moves below the crystallization point and is partially cured.
Demolding Process
The completely molded road case is removed from the mold, trimmed, cut, and shaped for the addition of hinges, latches, lid stays, and edge U channels. Since rotomolding produces a single solid complete unit, it does not require the use of aluminum angles for its corners or the knuckles and flat corners. The single unit rotomolding process forms a very strong solid road case capable of withstanding any form of mistreatment.
Injection Molding of Road Cases
In the injection molding process, the resin plastic is melted before being compressed into the mold. Like rotomolding, the road case mold comes in two halves that are sealed together prior to having the melted thermosetting plastic pellets injected. The initial step in the process is the creation of a steel or aluminum mold, which is the key to the injection molding process. It is made to the exact dimensions and specifications of the road case.
The two types of plastics used for injection molding are thermosetting and thermoplastic. Of the two, thermosetting plastic is used for the manufacture of road cases. After it has been cured and set, it cannot be remelted or reused.
The injection mold process replaces the rotation of the mold from the rotomolding process with pressure. As with the rotomolding process, the mold has two halves clamped together tightly to withstand the pressure from the process.
Feeding in the Hopper
The first step in the injection molding process is to heat the resin pellets, which begins by feeding them into the heating barrel through the hopper. There are several varieties of hoppers used with gravity types located above the beginning of the barrel being the most common.
From Barrel to Mold
The resin pellets fall into the barrel that contains a helical screw that rotates and moves the pellets down the barrel toward the mold. Located along the barrel are heaters that melt the pellets as they are moved along the barrel. The force and speed at which the melted pellets are pushed into the mold spreads them along the surface of the road case mold much like what happens in rotary molds.
Any air that may be in the melted pellets is forced out by pressure through vents and parting lines that have been tooled into the mold design.
Cooling Heated Resin
As with rotomolding, the heated resin has to be allowed to cool in the mold. The amount of time varies depending on the consistency and type of plastic. To assist in the cooling process, water is cycled over the mold such that an even and uniform cooling temperature is maintained. During the cooling process, the screw retracts in preparation for the next injection.
Demolding Process
During the demolding process, the mold is opened, and the completed road case is removed. In some cases, there may be runners, material that has gathered on the edge of the mold, that have to be removed. The runners are mechanically or robotically removed as a part of the finishing process.
Injection molded road cases do not require metal edges or flat or ball corners. They are a single shaped unit made of heavy duty plastic. Aluminum edges may be added to the lid and base as well as metal hinges, latches, and handles. The solid uniform shape of molded road cases does not require the use of rivets to join sides.
Chapter Four – Road Case Accessories
Although all road cases have the same function as a means of protecting and securing sensitive technical equipment, each type of road case has accessories added to specifically match the requirements of the items being transported or protected. When a manufacturer is developing a road case for a customer, they have several add ons they can offer to make the case fit the conditions of its use.
Road Case Casters
There are several versions of casters that are used in the design of road cases, with ones for the four corners and ones for one side of the case. The different types of casters are determined by the size of the case and the weight of its contents. The main function of casters is to provide easy movement and handling of a case.
Spinner Casters
Spinner casters can rotate 360°, which makes it possible to move a road case in any direction quickly and easily. They come in several sizes and types capable of handling any type of road case. Spinner casters are attached using a metal flat bracket or a corner bracket.
In-Line Casters
In-line casters move in one direction and can be recessed into a road case.
Locking Casters
Locks on casters are normally found with spinning casters and make it possible to permanently place a road case while accessing the contents.
Retractable Handles
Retractable handles are available for smaller road cases such as sample cases, trade show cases, and design cases. Road cases with retractable handles come with one or two sets of casters depending on the size of the case and are easily maneuvered using the handle.
Foam Inserts
For certain designs of road cases, foam inserts are common and a necessity as a means of protecting the content. They are designed to stabilize and support the contents of the case during transport and storage as well as prevent jarring and impact. To meet the special needs of military equipment and medical instruments, foam inserts are precision cut and tailored to meet the needs of the items to be protected.
There three common types of foam used to produce foam inserts, which are:
Polyurethane Ester Foam – Polyurethane ester foam is an open cell foam with excellent memory and soft compression. It has high tensile strength and can easily be shaped and formed. Polyurethane ester foam can be used with delicate or fragile items that break easily and are good for irregularly shaped items.
Polyethylene (PE) Foam – PE foam is made through the polymerization of ethylene and is a closed cell foam that is resistant to the effects of water and has excellent strength and rigidity. It easily returns to its original form after being compressed. During its production, PE can be altered to be anti-static for shipping and storing electronics.
Velour Foam – Velour covered foam sheets have a very soft feel that resembles velvet and are used as liners for delicate and sensitive equipment. The high density of velour covered foam makes it ideal for storing and supporting heavy instruments.
In addition to using foam for the manufacturing of inserts, it is placed inside the lids of road cases as additional support and protection.
Chapter Five – How to Choose a Road Case
Road cases are an ideal solution for the transport of technical instruments and precision devices. They provide the necessary security, protection, and assurance that guarantees a piece of equipment will arrive at its destination intact and ready for use. When making the decision to purchase a road case, it is essential that certain factors be considered in order to select the right case for the shipping application. In most instances, manufacturers provide easy online guides to assist in the selection and designing process.
Road Case Size
Standard road cases make it possible to purchase a road case that can be used for any conditions. This type of case is normally in the shape of a trunk and comes with or without padding depending on the style of case. Standard road cases are a form of utility case that can accommodate any type of device. They do not have specially designed foam inserts or drawers and are for general use. They are one size fits all cases.
When selecting a standard road case, it is important to find one that fits the job for which it is being purchased. A careful selection process can help avoid getting a road case that is too small or too large for its use. The best way to prevent making a poor choice is to measure the typical items that will be stored in the case.
Measuring Road Cases
Unlike standard road cases, specially designed road cases require accurate and precise measurements. Manufacturers publish the dimensions of their cases online in order to make it easy for customers to make a selection. These predetermined measurements are the beginning point for the selection process and serve as a reference.
To order the ideal case for an instrument, it is necessary to measure its maximum length, width, and height to fit the rectangular shape of a road case. Additionally, customers can provide pictures, CAD renderings, or drawings of the items to be shipped such that producers can cut and shape foam inserts.
Since most devices include additional components, power buttons, decks, switches, and controllers, it is necessary to include the shape and dimensions of those items as well. By including their dimensions, the design of the road case can be all inclusive and capable of containing all of the features of an instrument.
Long Lasting Cases
All road cases are made of materials that are built to last as well as endure any form of harsh stressful treatment. This aspect of their design is the main reason for their popularity. Road case manufacturers are well aware of all of the conditions a road case may need to confront during its useful life. All of these multiple factors are included in the creation of a road case design.
To ensure the longevity of a case, the initial materials are carefully selected to determine the type of use a road case will face. Light duty cases are designed for storing of materials and infrequent use while heavy duty cases are used for carrying heavy items, are in constant use, and meet A4A standards. The type of use of a case determines the materials for its sides and the types of interior foam protection.
Road Case Certifications
Established road case manufacturers have their road case products certified to meet the standards of the A4A. Although an A4A certification is the highest form of certification, other agencies also certify cases for dust, water, and impact resistance. An extended part of A4A certifications includes Military Standard 810G indicating that a road case is approved for use by the military.
An approved and certified road case manufacturer is capable of producing any type of road case that meets the standards and requirements of the United States government, the Airlines for America Association, and the Department of Transportation (DOT).
Conclusion
A road case is a ruggedly built, highly functional protective container with varying wall thicknesses that is capable of withstanding the riggers and handling of shipping. They are designed to meet the rigorous demands required of cases that are shipped via cargo plane or commercial transport.
High quality road cases are designed to protect their contents from falls, collisions, radical changes in temperature, shock, vibrations, dirt, dust, and moisture. In addition to offering protection, road cases keep the instruments and devices being shipped secure and safe by encasing them in inserts made of sturdy materials such as various types of foam and rubber.
Road cases have served as a valuable tool for the transport and shipping of sensitive instruments. Their design qualifications ensure that devices shipped using road cases will be able to optimally perform when they arrive at their destination.
Although all road cases have the same function as a means of protecting and securing sensitive technical equipment, each type of road case has accessories added to specifically match the requirements of the items being transported or protected.
The manufacture of road cases takes different forms and includes rotational or injection molding and fabrications from metal and wood panels. In most cases, large complex cases designed as rolling cases or trunks are made through fabrication, while smaller cases are made using one of the molding processes.
Leading Manufacturers and Suppliers
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