Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Flightcase for 16mm projector

This is topic Flightcase for 16mm projector in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Floris Vanhoof (Member # 10236) on 09-03-2018, 10:41 AM:

Dear,
I'm going on tour with a modified B&H TQ3 projector that needs to fly as checked baggage.
Does anyone has any experience with this?
Anything I should mention to the flight case builder?
Any materials you can recommend?

A trolley like flightcase for this projector would be good as the projector will be taken on the road often.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 09-03-2018, 11:06 AM:

Pelican cases.

https://www.pelican.com/us/en/products/cases

I used to carry my oscilloscope and other film gear in Pelican cases when I worked for Cinemark.

Many of the road shows I used to manage on the stage at Mercyhurst carried their equipment in Pelican cases.

Now, I carry much of my personal camera equipment in them, too.

They are Mil-Spec, airline approvable and, depending on the model, they are waterproof and can can be submerged under a meter of salt water for 48 hours without leakage.

Virtually indestructible.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 09-03-2018, 01:22 PM:

Pelican is great. I don't know if they do custom work in quantities of one, though. For that, you might need to go somewhere like Anvil http://www.anvilcase.com/

Anything custom won't be cheap, though.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 09-03-2018, 01:35 PM:

I don't think you necessarily need a custom case.

Besides, they really only customize the interior. You can do that by yourself.

You can use the Pick-N-Pack cube foam that the case comes with. You can cut layers of foam sheet using a hot knife then glue the layers together with contact adhesive. If you need something really customized, you could use a plastic bag filled with expanding polyurethane foam to mold the exact shape you want.

Out of all the Pelican (or Anvil) cases I have seen in my travels, I can hardly remember any that had customized interiors.

I've never seen anything get damaged in a Pelican case that was due to a failure of the case or the foam interior.

Posted by Floris Vanhoof (Member # 10236) on 09-03-2018, 03:20 PM:

thanks for the info.

The projector weighs 20kg.
Flightcases can transmit shock.
I'm afraid that even with protection inside a sturdy case,
if they drop it one meter, the shock can still move the parts inside.
Any recommendations welcome!

Other option is trying to get it in the plane.
But only 7kg is allowed and it’s 5 cm over size.

Or maybe I can dismantle it as much as possible,
take the largest part in the cabin,
and check in only a few well packed parts.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 09-03-2018, 04:40 PM:

Does it have to go on a plane with you, or could you mail it ahead of time? Maybe get two projectors and have them leap-frog each other from venue to venue.

Posted by Floris Vanhoof (Member # 10236) on 09-03-2018, 05:50 PM:

Mailing the projector will have the same problem: the flight case will be dropped during handling.

I just tried to partly dismantle the projector as much as possible,
but the largest pasts stay to large and heavy.

Posted by Gary A. Hoselton (Member # 3447) on 09-03-2018, 08:44 PM:

I think the B&H TQ3 should survive the 1 meter drop if it has some progressive-absorbing foam around it.

My worry would be the sound flywheel. I'd favor the earlier cast flywheel, which weighs 20 oz, for I've seen two examples of the later 3-big-washers flywheel, which weighs 32oz, bending the sound drum shaft, and haven't seen that with the cast flywheel. If you have later 3-washer flywheel, can't change to cast as sound drum shaft is longer, so remove one big washer and substitute small diameter washer(s) of equal thickness to get back to little more than 20 oz which was what shaft was apparently designed for. I can't discern any difference in sound quality with either weight of flywheel, even listening to sustained piano tone in SMPTE Jiffy test film. Perhaps the washers cost less than the cast flywheel.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 09-04-2018, 09:30 PM:

For any significant distance, drop-shipping an object of that size and weight will be a lot more expensive than checking it as airline baggage traveling with a passenger.

I'm not sure what the situation is in Europe now (I've been gone for six years), but here in the US, the legacy airlines usually charge an economy class passenger who does not have frequent flyer elite status a flat $25 for the first checked item and $50 for the second. This is regardless of whether you're traveling from LA to Palm Springs (believe it or not, there are scheduled passenger flights over that tiny distance!) or Boston to Honolulu. The longer the distance, the heavier the item, and the quicker it has to get there, the more FedEx or UPS will charge. I'm pretty sure that a 16mm projector in a flight case would end up being more expensive to ship than to carry as airline checked baggage going with a passenger for most if not all journeys.

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 09-05-2018, 07:50 AM:

Check with the airline regarding dimension restrictions; weight may be restricted from 22 to 31 KG. Excess check in baggage charges can be at a special rate If you check in as a media / production company.