Custom designed protective enclosures engineered to suit your application
There are many factors to consider when ordering a custom case. From the type and thickness of exterior panels, hardware and construction methods to the many interior options. To simplify this for you, we have developed a product family that encompasses the combinations that are most common and most effective. The three categories are Heavy Duty, Medium Duty and Light Duty.
Heavy Duty Cases:
Designed to protect your valuable equipment during commercial shipping and in harsh environments
Our toughest and highest-performance case, this category is best for heavy items or sensitive/expensive equipment that will be subject to the rigors of transportation by commercial carrier. Thicker panels (0.75” or 0.50”) and recessed hardware are standard features, as are heavy-duty casters. The laminate panels in this category are riveted for strength and ease of repair/upgrade. If a rigidized aluminum case is the chosen option in this category, 0.063” is the panel thickness that is utilized. Additionally, we use extruded polyethylene (etha) foam for the interiors due to its high-density and long life.
Medium Duty Cases:
A strong enclosure for occasional shipment made from lighter materials to reduce weight
This category is less costly than the heavy duty line due to thinner panels used in its construction, but remains well-suited to protect medium to heavy weight payloads. Panel thicknesses of 0.25” or 0.375”, recessed or surface hardware, and stapled and glued construction are typical in this case category. Here, the option of 0.050” aluminum panels provides medium duty strength; with the lightest possible weight for our rigidized aluminum cases in this category. Choices of etha or polyurethane foam are offered depending on the protection requirements.
Light Duty Cases:
Constructed with light-weight materials, ideal for items carried by hand and transported in personal vehicles
Not everyone needs or even wants the level of protection offered by our heavy and medium duty cases. Light duty or lightweight refers to both the construction of the case and its intended application. In order to achieve the lower weight of the case, thinner panels (0.25” or 0.125”) are used. Typically these cases will be manufactured using our stapled construction method, have surface mount hardware and use polyurethane foam for the interior. Light duty cases are perfect for sales samples, small electronics, hand tools, or anything that is usually transported by hand or in personal vehicles.
Interiors
Interiors can range from a paint only or foam lining to a complex custom cut foam insert. ECM uses high quality polyurethane, polyethylene and cross-link foams in a variety of thicknesses; anti-static foam is also available for static-sensitive applications.
Options
In addition to superior interior design, ECM offers a complete range of interior components, including partitioning, drawers, keyboard and control slide outs, rack-mount hardware and trays. Virtually anything you need to build into a case.
Case Hardware
Case hardware (corners, latches etc.) is manufactured and tested to the highest industry standards. All hardware is attached to the cases using our break-stem blind rivets, this ensures that in the event of damage in the field the parts are easily drilled out and replaced, avoiding costly down-time.
How Do You Choose?
What case best suits my requirements?
Here are a few examples of some of our client’s choices and the rationale behind the decisions:
Cases for a Lighting rental House
A major lighting rental house uses 0.50″ high pressure phenolic laminate (Formica is an example of high pressure phenolic laminate). This customer needs the robust performance of a 0.50″ laminate and our full riveted design because of the damage that commercial shipping and rough handling inflicts upon their cases. This client will use only recessed hardware and will have custom hardware manufactured if necessary.
A Large AV Rental House
A large AV rental house generally prefers 0.25″ and 0.50″ ABS laminated plywood for their cases. There are a wide variety of colours available in this material that are utilized to suit a company colour scheme. Because of the ubiquitous nature of this material in our industry, it remains the economical choice for most purposes. This client prefers our full riveted construction because of the ease of repair. They use a combination of recessed and surface mount hardware; whichever is suitable to the task.
A Marine Instrument Supplier
A marine instrument supplier prefers our TIG welded 0.063″ rigidized aluminum in their cases due to the high strength, light weight and corrosion resistant properties of this material.
A Large Computer Rental House
A large computer rental house prefers to use our lighter duty, stapled and glued construction for the majority of their cases. A combination of recessed and surface mount hardware is used in their designs. Their products are handled by their own staff in their own vehicles; therefore they will not be exposed to the rigors of commercial carriers making this the ideal choice for the application.
A Sound and Lighting Production Company
A sound and lighting production company uses our special-order “Hexagrip” material because of its exceptional strength and clean interior-coating. We are able to engrave the company’s logo, equipment type, case number and other information on the outside of each case which helps them reduce confusion while prepping shows.