HI
I am looking for ideas for a homebuilt customer charging station
and pitbox. If anyone has pics of what they have made, I'd be
happy to see some. I want to make a new charging station for my two milleniums and power supply and something other than my plano box for my tools. :)

Things I am looking for is interesting charging stations (custom made lexan or wood boxes) with integrated power supplies..

Pit boxes (other than your normal plano setup) etc...

Hope peeps got stuff to see :) Thanks!!!!:wave:

Mits, one of the more noteworthy that I have seen....is a 30-36 inch long tool box. Kind of looks like a multiple pistol box....but the guy has his chargers, power supply, batteries, etc lined out in the box. He cut out foam exactly as needed. Sorry......no pic.

I have thinking about doing the same thing... something light that houses the chargers and has an area that the dischargers are permanently mounted. like on a fold up shelf. and you just set the battery on on a shelf or in a cubicle to charge ... let me know what you come up with and I will do the same.
Dan

I saw a guy at the track that had a milk crate with his chargers and power supply mounted in it. It was nice.

My thoughts are one that carries like a taller toolbox.. with one handle on top or two on the sides... the face opens with one or two doors and chargers, power supply, dischargers are mounted inside. even a plug or power strip mounted so you just plug it in to your power source. units coudl be mounted on slides to pull out...
All other wires tucked neatly inside also have posts to wrap the wires you use around when not in use.
Back would open also for easy access to the connections either with a latch or two screws. Small fan mounted in the back to draw air thru the whole unit.
I have to determine the size yet..

i have a older one that is wood very nice i will get a pic.:thumbsup:

Milkcrate? WOW... hmm.. thats be interesting to see. I remember back 3 years ago at a Reedy race.. i saw a custom made plexiglass one.. folded nicely.. all see-through with a nice fan. Hmm.. he was selling them at the time for 150$ (eeek)... hehe.

Mits

If designed properly... built with a light gauge aluminum angle frame, screwed or welded together. you could encase it with a thin walled material and make it very light.
I have seen them out of 1/4" and 3/8" Plywood. but the seem very heavy to lug around after you put all the equipment in them and they look bulky.
There are light weight and very durable 1/8" panels that would make great wall material, and probably excellent shelf material also. My biggest thing it to keep the footprint fairly small. The height is not as important as how much space it takes up on the table.

I've got one that I made from 1/4" plywood. I used wood glue and 1/2" staples to hole it together. It has 2 shelves on each side, and a center section that is about 4" wide and goes from the bottom to the top. The dimensions are something like 11x11x22". My intention was to make more, and make them stackable, so I could pile several of them on a small dolly that I culd use to transport from my car to the track. The first one I have made holds my CE T35BL, a Samlex 1223 power supply, my Robitronic Dyno, a Tech America Soldering station, and has some room for some other things... I generaly put my radio in it along with some motor cleaner and towels. The box itself weighs less then 3 pounds I think. The only thing I'm not satisfied with about it, is the door and how I hold it on... once I figure out a better way I'm going to build another one that is very simmilar to replace this first proto type box.

I still use my plano for most of my tools, parts, and other small items.

I know for sure that if I put all my stuff into one box it would be too heavy, even if the box din't way hardly anything at all.

Plexiglass is deffintely too heavy for me.

My main purpose for building the box I did, was so that all my electronics stuff was in one box that would easly fit on top of a pit table with a fairly small foot print. The idea was that I could carry it from my home work area to my car, and from my car to the track and not have to box up each individual peice every time. It was taking me over a hour to pack everything up when I left home, and that was just too much hassel.

I want to build other simmilar boxes to carry my cars in. Hopefully all my boxes would stack together and individulaly none would be too heavy to easly handle.

I will get a photo of what I have now, but it's really nothing pretty, but it is functional. I think it cost me less then $20 to build.

That is exactly what we are talking about and will look forward to seeing pictures.
Thanks
Dan

Photo.. you got? :thumbsup:

I had the same idea a few years ago. The "box" contained a PC power supply, two Tekin chargers, jacks for 12 and 5 volts and a muffin fan to keep everything cool. It even had a cooling rack. You can see it and read the article at http://home.kc.rr.com/grayghost/articles/ChargerSolutions.html


Now days I carry my Millenium and Tekin 112A in a pistol box with my transmiter. My power supply (Rivergate 30amp) is carried in the bottom of a Plano box to keep the center of gravity low. I often dream of building everything into a camp kitchen I made years ago. However I would need a crew of 3 to load it in a mini van. LOL!

anyone else got any pics? :)

Sorry for the delay, the fact that there is no HTML to make things pretty, and that the photos are less then optimal.

http://garage.merit.edu/pitbox

That is where you can find 11 images of my pit box in it's current form. The images are labled so that they sort of describe what they are.

I think the box itself cost me less then $20 to make... When it's fully loaded with stuff it's probably worth about $1500 I've been using it all winter basicly and it's held up pretty well so far, except for the velcro latches... I have them hot glued to the box and that has proved to be less then ideal.

I'm about a week away from having my test track finished... when I get it done I'll have to get some photos of that too. I've been cleaning up my basement and cleaning up some used Ozite I bought and that's one of the reason I didn't get the images of my pit box earlier...

I added a photo of my test track to that folder... 780 sq. ft. of Ozite... 30 ft of straight away on one section and 25 on another. Ran my legands car on it last night, it was slick lots of dust and no rubber down on the track. I hope it will improve over time, if not I'm deffintely going to be learning alot about throttle control. :thumbsup:

Awesome!! Maybe hinges and swinging door would work rather than velcro. I am almost done with my creation. I'll have pics soon :)

RCMits

DJ:

Hi,

have you seen RChang's setup???????? I think Fred B has the same setup too.
maybe you should ask Rich about his.........


Thanks

DaWrench

Here is the box I just made recently to replace the previous one that broke in December. This one should hold up as I spent a couple weeks making it rather than just a few short hours. It holds 2 t-30's, a turbo dyno, power supply, extra charger (pitbull), light, surge protector, and a small fan.

The dimensions are 20x16x14 (inches). It is made of a soft pine and I used a thin plastic wood look alike cover on all of the pieces for protection and added strength. It has 4 levels. The bottom bottom section is only a couple inches deep as it is level with the ground to hold a flourescent light and to place part of the dyno on. The next 3 levels are at about 25 degree agle. The first holds the turbo dyno and the gell cell battery to run if off of. The second level has the two t-30's. The third level is sort of hidden. It is just above the t-30's but behind the top boarder piece. It holds the power supply, charger for the gell cell, surge protector, and a little box connected to the power supply that all of the chargers conncet to. The are hidden for protection. Ther are also clamps throughout the bax that keep all of the wiring organized and protected. I also have detachable handles for the box. The pitbul charger only is on the box on race day. There is a clamp on the bacl of it that holds it on the box.

On race day I bring out the Pitbull charger and take the handles off. On the right side of the box I have two drill holes where a small board with two rods sticking out attaches and the solder iron station sits on that way it is out of the way. I have a few more detailed pics coming soon so if interested in seeing more pics just email me. Thanx for letting me show you my idea.

I don't see a photo here... I tried to send email requesting to see the images, but the mail came back as being undeleiverable...

sorry everyone, my pit box didn't show up as an attachment. let me try it again asap, or you can just email me and i can send you a pic....

allproracing -- "You've got mail"...

OH -- I think to post pictures here, you have to upload them to some site of your own, then post the URL here that points to them... I don't think you can directly upload to the thread... (Server workload limitations for the site...)

bump! i love bringing back topics from the dead!

So do you have a pit box you'd like to show us?

There is a guy that comes here once in awhile named philb,he makes the sweetest boxes I have ever seen.The one he takes to the track even has a money drawer for parts sales.
I know hes reading this so come on Phil show these guys one of them.
I would like to build one but I have zero carpenter skills and Im araid it wouldnt look any better than a milk crate.

I just built one 20(L) x 9(W) x 13(T)and three shelves
bottom shelf holds either 10l04 or small parts, batteries and tools
middle shelf holds two small power supplies and two millenniums power bar attached to back inside and two small computers fans to keep things cool.

top shelf left empty.

the whole thing fits inside a Canadian Tire wheeled tool box.
tool box has three compartments for extra parts.

I get to the track pull out the shelf plug it in and I'm ready to go.

:thumbsup:

Originally posted by DynoMoHum
So do you have a pit box you'd like to show us?

no :P im looking for pics :P heheh everyone says they HAVE one..
but i hardly see pics!

;)

Here's a pic of my battery box. Just made it from a Plano type box I got from Fry's. The drawers are just the right height for batteries.

That's a 25 amp power supply in the center. Got that from Radio Shack for $60 (on sale). The jacks in the front are to power a VariDrive for my lathe. I'm planning on adding a few more DC jacks to plug in some fans that I can place under my motor. Note also the fan on the left to cool the batts.

Note the terminal block in the upper right corner - the power supply connects there, and then I connect all other devices to that.

Nothing too fancy, but it keeps everything in one place.

now THAT is pretty tight.. i carry 2 boxes for my milleniums.. another box that PS comes in.. then another box for my batteries.. eek! this is sweet.. ill have too look into it.. seems like everything fits in one small package.

Berrrrry Interwesting...

anyone else??

For those that do not have the saws and tools to build a nice pit box, you can go the Target or probably Wal-Mart (I found it at Target) and get a 2 shelf storage unit (kit) for around 10 bucks. Buy two and you can add a bottom shelf. Then all you need is to make is the back (I used peg board so the chargers would get air flow) and a door and handles. Measure carfully and Lowes or Home Depot will cut the door and back for you.

The storage units are call "organize-it" by Stack A Shelf. They come in 12 and 30 inch lengths. For those of us that are not real good at wood working it makes a base to work from. I used to 12 inch to make a Dyno travel case.

A racer in PA built a CE T35 and on the face were the displays of two Novak Millenium chargers. On top of the T35case were all of the buttons. And the job was so clean-it looked 100% production line quality. That was over a year ago I saw it and I rarely go to that track so I couldnt see it again.

So he had three chargers in one box!!!! It was slick.

Here is mine, not very compact though.

For parking lot races, I have a fairly fancy setup in the back of my trusty old minivan (13 years old with 173,500 miles and still ticking)..:

McLinn,thats a good idea,Ill have to look around for something like that.

I have a box that all my RC racing needs fit into. Unfortunately when I try to lift it I throw my back out. :(

Now I use two main carriers on wheels.

Someday I will design 2 or 3 boxes that sit in the back of my Focus ZX3. They will open up with everything set in place and ready to race. :cool:

BobT, after being in this hobby for as long as I have, I have accumulated a LOT of stuff. It got to a point that it was taking me three and four trips back and forth to the truck to get everything and then that many times to load it back up. I finally said ENOUGH and started looking at “what do I really need to take”.

I build my motors at home now and don’t take the dyno to the track. I built a lot smaller pit box (out of a small tackle box) and I also went to a lot smaller toolbox, it is not necessary to take ALL of my tools to a race. I bought a three-car tote bag and use two of the compartments for chargers, radio and tires. All in all I cut it down to three small boxes and still have everything I need with me to race, even some extras.

As soon as I can, I will take a picture of the little pit box I have for you guys. It carries my power supply, soldering iron, battery tape and some other accessories and has a built in A.C. outlet. When I open it up, I set the chargers in the top of it.

You will be surprised at what you can really do without at the track and it makes life a lot easier when it comes time to load up and unload.

Here's my Charging Station, 20 amp Bull Dog powers mounted 112a and 2 pit bulls, tool carrier, fan driven twin "cooling towers" for batteries, & light discharge bar.

sorry the pictures won't load.

Originally posted by McLin
I finally said ENOUGH and started looking at “what do I really need to take”.

I've tried that. But I always end up needing something I left at home. :(

Besides bringing all my stuff is half the fun! :lol:

As Mclin mentioned, I used organizer units available at any Wal-Mart to construct my humble attempt at my "Easy Pit".

There is room for the 45 amp power supply, 2 T35's (haven't bought the 2nd one yet:devil:), and the 2 Tekin chargers that I have. When I sell the two Tekins, I will still have storage in the bottom shelf. As of now, when it is closed I store my soldering station, and a few other things in the extra space for the second T35(Could be a GFX!!!!).

There is a surge protector mounted inside the box on the back wall, behind the two Tekin chargers and the fluorescent light(also available from Wal-Mart). The power strip on the back, as you may notice, has no wire running from it, that's because there is a hole drilled in the back wall of the box and power strip, through wich I have connected the surge protector on the inside to the one on the outside, giving me 12 total power outlets, 6 of which are on the outside and easily accessed, all of which have surge protection. The on/off switch on the outside powerstrip also controls the entire unit and the plug from the surge protector inside runs out the right side of the box. To do this does require disassembly of both the surge protector and powerstrip, so make sure you pay attention to how they go back together(it's fairly simple), and some soldering skil, but is nothing that the average rc'er can't handle.

The top of the unit is left unobstructed to place Computer and Dyno on, or can be used to place extra cars/car stands on. The black things on each door are stereo speakers that are wired together, to a single stereo connector protruding from the back of the pitbox to hook to the laptop for tunes. These were bought on clearance at Target for $2.50 apeice(couldn't find any cheap flatpanel speakers), and run off of 2 AA batts. They just happen to have hinges on the back that are screwed into the door. The hinges allow it to swing out and allow easy access to the batt doors until I can find a power supply to "wire in". The speakers are held firmly with velcro, to keep them from "swinging out" when the doors are opened. They are also aligned perfectly to allow the doors to close completely, by fitting into the space between the top and middle shelfs.

The entire cost, including handles, locks, hinges, and hardware was just under $50, if I remember correctly. Everything used in construction was obtained at Wal-Mart(except for the speakers), including the clock on the left side(automotive section). I also have a Dean's light bar and cut-off switch that will be mounted on the back below the power strip(except for the cutoff switch) to allow quick and easy discharging of cells, if the Turbo 35 is in use .

The entire unit takes about 5 minutes to setup, most of which involves getting out the laptop, dyno, and dyno batt, and hooking it all up.:thumbsup:

Here come the other pics.

Here's the back

Sorry wouldn't let me post any others, let me try making them smaller

Hey guys sorry about that, here is a link to the pictures......


http://929racer.topcities.com/ultimatepitbox.html

Sorry guys, Topcities/Serverpro has deleted all my files ONCE AGAIN, so the pics are no longer available. IF you are thinking of using them for a webpage, DO NOT, they give no warning as to what their going to do with your files, and are to chicken to respond to you when you ask what happened. Thanks SERVERPRO, you BLOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, what do you think about my pitbox?

I for one like it, just need to figure out how to adapt something like it for usage when I go out to the track.

I for one like it, just need to figure out how to adapt something like it for usage when I go out to the track.

What do you mean? You just plug it up, open it up, and your ready to start charging batts, soldering, etc. It goes to the track with me everytime I go. :thumbsup:

[QUOTE='drave']Hey guys sorry about that, here is a link to the pictures......

thats awesome :) id have to paint mine black.
im getting ideas now :) woo! :dude:

Interesting pit boxes! Anybody ever thought of using an SKB equipment rack case from a music store? When I was playing guitar in local metal bands (gazillion yrs ago!) ,I had one that had both sides (front & back) come off,had a power strip w/lights,and you could install shelves! The thing was sooo light (made of black rotomolded plastic),I could throw the case against a wall & the electronic contents would not break! And we threw that thing around!! The doors also had rubber gaskets to keep moisture out. Best of all,it was approved for air transport! Bear in mind that this mfgr made cases for rockets for the military,so you know it was very tough!

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/sid=030304050755068154232069382715/search/g=home/detail/base_id/38216

Check one out at your local music store!
-George Ramos
KGB Nation

thats awesome :) id have to paint mine black.
im getting ideas now :) woo! :dude:

Yeah, I thought about painting it black too, but it comes white like that(laminated fiberboard), but I figured it would just rubb off. If you can find some that's black though, let me know where

I am considering building one of these as a project. Just thought id bring this back from the grave to see if people built anything new.

ED :freak:

my this is an older post from the dead... cool :) anyone got any new pics to share?

I am considering building one of these as a project. Just thought id bring this back from the grave to see if people built anything new.

ED :freak: :thumbsup:

I saw a guy one time walk into the track with a large electronic keyboard type case in hand. I watched him pretty much as he walked around the track because I was wondering if he (1) had an Uzi in there or (2) was the entertainment for the day. I was wrong on both fronts. He also had some folding "saw-horse" type stands. He set those up, put the case on top of the stands, opened it up, grabbed a power cord, plugged it into the wall, and Voila, that was his pit area and he was all set up.

I went over for a closer look - he had everything he needed all set up in that case -- chargers, power supply, spare parts, tools, etc. He plugged in the one power cord and everything that needed power came to life. No setup, no real energy expended. I wish I had taken a picture. It was really sweet. He was set up in like 1 minute whereas it takes me at least 10 minutes.

-Rich