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Custom toolbox / charging station pics..

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R

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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
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:
 
T

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#2 ·
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.
 
DJ1978

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#3 ·
Same thought....

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
 
DJ1978

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#5 · (Edited)
Charging station.

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..
 
R

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Discussion Starter · #7 ·
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
 
DJ1978

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#8 ·
Construction

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.
 
D

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#9 ·
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.
 
B

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#12 ·
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!
 
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D

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#14 · (Edited)
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...
 
D

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#15 ·
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:
 
A

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#18 ·
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.
 
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