Cart advice?

Liam Hall said:
These are the best designed carts I've seen:

http://inovativcarts.com
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AT $2800 USD they darn well better be. My R&R was like $125 when I bought it. Just used it again yesterday. I can load over 200 Kg on it and it's still easy to push and control (as long as where it's going is flat!).

The Inovativ carts are precision machines, the R&R is stamped and bent steel. But I'm just hauling stuff, not building a workstation, so the R&R is just what I'm looking for.
 
Thanks Jim.

Yeah, the wheels(front casters really more than anything) were the weak point of RnR carts. The frames are more than capable of supporting over their weight rating. Trust me, I've had them loaded down with way more than 500 lbs and the frames were just fine(The R16 is rated for 600 lbs, btw).

Josh, have you taken the wheels off the axels and lubed them lately? The cart that lives in my truck had become an absolute b!tch to push or pull with a load on it, not to mention making a horrible sound. Pulled all the wheels off last week and sprayed the roller bearings down with white lithium grease. No more noise and rolls easily, now.

I look at the Inovative carts as more of "Set Carts" and RnR's as "I need to move a whole lotta stuff from my vehicle/point A to point B". I like toys, and I looked at the Inovative carts, but none of them fit my needs. They're set carts to work off of, not haul a truck full of gear in one trip.
 
Bang on regarding the Innovativ. . .they're for people who need to WORK OFF of their carts, not really meant just for transporting gear.

I'm pretty sure I lubed up the wheels when I first assembled the cart, and even then it wasn't much better. I can try again, I suppose, but I really think it's one of those "it is what it is" situations.
 
Josh Bass said:
Bang on regarding the Innovativ. . .they're for people who need to WORK OFF of their carts, not really meant just for transporting gear.
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But it is nice to have a solution which covers both needs.

I find that I am doing quite a bit of off cart work lately shooting interviews. With a baby pin mounted to my cart, and then a dual baby pin arm mounted to it, I can run dual monitors with waveform and vector, and match up to 4 cameras at once. It's a real time saver, and just so darn convenient.
 
That's fair if it's necessary for your work, for many of us it isn't. I even work off my cart as a prompter operator but the little shelf system that Multicart makes does me fine for that, same situation for sound guys who are working on simpler gigs. I think of those innovativs as more for DITs, ACs, camera carts, that kind of thing. Anyway. Rocknroller with Magliner wheels. That's the thing we want. Who wants to go into business with me? MY role will be guy who contributes nothing but criticizes other people's work while collecting profits.
 
Jim Feeley said:
Some people have built their own shelf mods for RnRr carts. Seems like you can make a better shelf...and one that will fit on the R16 and similar beefier RnRr carts. One guy on Amazon, J Copeland, posted a comment with details and pix of his mod. The most-clever bit:

If I could weld I would not need their shelf kit at all, but I can't. I was able to use their support bars and by turning them 90 degrees and adding a horizontal support between each handle (12" threaded rod with a piece of copper pipe I had to cover the threads) I made a quick on, quick off top shelf... held totally in place by gravity. Having the shelf setup also really makes the cart feel and respond better as it eliminates the slack in the handles, and holds them solidly.

A detail picture:
View attachment 117256

Link to his comment (and followups from others with useful info):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-...viewpnt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B003AYLJXU#R3175IQOF0YBV

And this guy has a couple more ideas for more-elaborate mods:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4Hj0VLENtc


Copeland's shelf doesn't have a lip/rim, and that's a bummer. Of course you can build one, but it's a bit more work. Perhaps a nice shelf from filmtools or backstage could be used?

About wheels: I've seen RnRr carts with their newer Ground Glider casters (standard on the R16 and R18 carts, optional on some others). They're better, imo, than the current standard RnRr wheels.
View attachment 117260

And of course I like Magliner carts (don't own, but use regularly). But I'm thinking of getting an RnRr (or similar) for small jobs where what I need will fit into our small car (ie- not the van); those carts pack up fairly small.

If anyone else knows of good mods (and preferably has made some good mods) to lower-cost carts, please post!
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That looks like a good idea! Thanks
 
Finally watched the YouTube video that Jim linked to. Genius! I'm going to see if some of my friends at my local car audio shop can do some minor welding for me.
 
[Edited and corrected after lunch hit my stomach and memories coursed my brain]
I usually end up working with Magliner Gemini Sr. carts and shelves... Those are a bit over 5-feet or so long (factoring in the gak we have hanging on the ends) and we often have two-foot wide shelves on them. They usually fit in the elevators.

But when I think about it, when we've both had a cart and faced a small elevator, we used smaller carts (usually Juniors or a less-elaborate RnR'r)...because people who have more foresight than I called/planned ahead.

What sort of cart are you contemplating?
 
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Elevator interior space depends. Some are bigger, some are smaller. Generally they are 5 to 6 feet deep. I sold my senior cart some years back for this very reason.
 
you definitely can not fit a fully extended r&r (even the older/smaller models) into all elevators, especially with stuff in bags on either end or sticking out longer than the cart, which often happens. sometimes its an office shoot and theres a freight elevator but I guess there are instances where that isnt the case. i think the mag Sr. is longer than an extended r&r (again even the older ones)? and with those you cant partially compact them like you can an r&r. a compacted r&r or mag jr. should fit into just about any elevator unless its some specialty thing just meant to get a single person/wheelchair up/down.
 
firehawk said:
What is the longest cart that can go in an elevator?
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Depends. Elevators aren't really "standardized", as far as interior space goes. I've fit a fully extended RnR 12 with the deck extender and I've been in ones that we couldn't fit even just fully extended. BUT most commercial building, we can usually fit a fully extended RnR 12, even if we have to slightly pick it up and partially slide it in, because you can't quite make the turn.
 
Jim Feeley said:
[Edited and corrected after lunch hit my stomach and memories coursed my brain]
I usually end up working with Magliner Gemini Sr. carts and shelves... Those are a bit over 5-feet or so long (factoring in the gak we have hanging on the ends) and we often have two-foot wide shelves on them. They usually fit in the elevators.

But when I think about it, when we've both had a cart and faced a small elevator, we used smaller carts (usually Juniors or a less-elaborate RnR'r)...because people who have more foresight than I called/planned ahead.

What sort of cart are you contemplating?
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I'm looking at a RnR R12 or something similar but adding a top shelf. I don't really need it to be collapsable. I am also looking at something like this to have when I don't need the larger cart https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/211697-REG/Luxor_TC111B_TC111_32_x_24.html

Thanks everyone. I clicked helpful on all of you
 
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