Thread: Trying to build a transportable display unit.

Can't help you with the drawer slides, but Alucobond could be the answer for your frame.

Ditch the solid drawer box construction and go for the single wall metal sided drawer set. Also available in full extension. See blum metabox, or equivalent. Try the hahn, or Innobox, cheaper. The benefit is all you need is a timber bottom and back panel and then drawer front of choice, alucobond as mentioned above. Cuts the weight of the drawer by a lot. Use maybe 9mm mdf/ply bottom and back. would halve the weight of those drawers pictured.

Update.

While Alucobond looks the goods, I still need to secure drawer slides to it without things looking agricultural, and its not available in small sheet sizes, from their website there is TAIT but they wont custom make a size to suit me...

So I am geting a sheet of 10mm thick Uniboard weighs 30% less than ply; make my drawer sides from it and drawer base of thin aluminium, then get a aluminiu, box made up, glue/fix uniboard to sides and fix slides, then work out a door front that while looking professional and quality, still holds stregth.

Ive already spent big $$$ on buying 'Pelican' brand storm boxes hoping they would work but their weight was the killer, so a little more

Fascinating puzzle ...
I would be worried about tipping the contraption over as the drawers slide out ... not a problem for the first out .... but the second withdrawal could well bring the C of G over the tipping point (if top out first and middle tray next out).

Have you given thought to smaller boxes ... rather than 3 trays of 6 in one container what about a tube arrangement (3 balls in each tube.

Rob

Hear what your saying and thanks made me re think but the bottom drawer will have more weight in it (paperwork, brochures stand etc) and not be drawn out so often, so, as long as I remember to take the top one out completely then the second, then third we should be OK, one way to make an idiot of yourself but I reccon your'd only do it once.

Hi Tony,
some questions for you.
do the balls have to be stored in drawers -- could they sit on slide out shelves? In effect your "drawers" would be sides just high enough to contain the heavy duty drawer slides, with a "base" containing cut-outs for the balls, and a front panel. If you use Alu-panel for the "base" you could do away with a back to the drawer.

Why the need minimise weight if the unit will be mounted on wheels like a suitcase? Also, IME, suitcase wheels are not particularly durable.

Could you use pop rivets to the join drawer slides to Alu-panel? with 90 degree angle at the corners.

Bugga, thought I had replied...thats what the heat does to ya..... heat what heat Adelaide 42 Pt Lincoln 26


I hope the powers that be will allow this In rememberence of family members

This is what we are about. So far I have been carrying these around in 2 timber boxes and boxes alone are heavy as.
I do a lot of travelling around presenting these at funeral homes, vet practices etc and use a wagon, so I need a unit the will be strong, robust and still look presentable, so the box type thing comes to mind I need the draers to slide out wheels to move it around as per travel suitcase and handle to hold it.

The photo in my first post shows a dense foam that the spheres fit nicely into, so I need to keep them and build around that.

So my dream at this stage is 4 drawers fitting inside a lightweight structure (uniboard?) covered in an aluminium like skin with extendable handle and travel wheels.

My metal fabricator (neighbour) says once I get the structure he can build a unit that will work with a door on front as well.

I did replace the drawer slides today, pictures ones 1.25KG a set new ones still carry 25kg only weigh .65kg so theres 2.5kg saving already.

Alupanel seems very scarce in South Oz....maybe not enough power to produce it or Wetherill is building himself a storm bunker

Stealing ideas from Festool's systainer system -- I think you should be looking at stackable storage units and a trolley like this one.
The full weight only comes on when all the boxes are unloaded and placed on the trolley, meaning the weight of the individual boxes is not so critical.


an added advantage is that you'll save your back if you are only lifting and carrying a single tray at a time.

Without suggesting you go the full systainer route, specing a unit using systainers -- including the workshop storage units -- might give you more ideas to take to your fabricator

Ian, cheers for that linc, will be in Adelaide next week so do some research on them.

When you say Alupanel do you mean Alucobond? If you want to source Alucobond at the right price your first port of call should be sign writing businesses and scrap metal merchants. Sign writers often end up with large panels from signs they've replaced, some of them are drowning in it and quite happy to get rid of it. It's worth bugger all as scrap. Because this material is almost always only used on one side it's pretty easy to get a clean surface on the reverse side. And of course you can always paint it. As previously stated you could attach the drawer slides with aluminium rivets. What you would end up with is an 'engineered' look.
Unfortunately anything that is branded 'Festool' is outrageously expensive IMO.

Originally Posted by aldav

Unfortunately anything that it branded 'Festool' is outrageously expensive IMO.

I'm not suggesting that the Festool systainers are a solution -- but I think the systainer system of "stacking boxes" on a trolley with large wheels is a good source of design ideas for Tony.