When it comes to transporting your lights, what is the best way to keep them protected? In this video, I share with you the best DIY way to make a cheap, but effective case!
Protecting your gear is incredibly important to ensure the longevity of your gear’s quality. There are a ton of options when it comes to buying protective cases, but there are also some great wallet friendly DYI options!
Plastic Bin Cases
If you are at a point where you have more lights and gear to transport than will realistically fit into soft bags and cases, you may find yourself considering the option of bins that can hold more and provide you with the option to stack and fit more into your transport space. This is where plastic bin cases come in handy!
Packaging
When you buy your fixtures they most likely come in a cardboard box. Some people tend to take these cardboard boxes to every gig and that may work well for a short while but after a few gigs these boxes are typically going to be falling apart and causing more hassle than they’re worth.
Rather than exclusively using these boxes to transport your fixtures or throwing them out, hang on to them as the first piece of your DYI case.
Bins
The second piece to your plastic bin case is the plastic bins! These can be found easily at most hardware stores. You will want to get one that fits one or more of your fixtures inside plus their packaging.
Putting It Together
Creating your DYI plastic bin case is really just as simple as taking your plastic bin, placing the packaging strategically inside, placing your fixture snugly inside the packaging. If you are packing and unpacking these bins frequently the key is to just be gentle with the packaging as you remove and replace your fixtures and you will find that the packing will last a long time and serve as great protection for your gear.
If you find that there is extra space around your fixtures packaging that may cause it to slide around within the bin you can easily take DMX cables or something of the like and pack it around the sides to further secure everything. If the inside packaging starts to get a bit banged up from use, you can always take a bit of foam and use that to replace the inside of your bins as you go along for continued protection.
Conclusion
This method of using your fixtures packaging placed inside a plastic bin or something similar is really going to provide fantastic protection for your lights and other gear as you go from gig to gig. They are a much more cost friendly option than your typical road case and are also a lot lighter weight when it comes to moving them around. If you have a good amount of gear to transport but not a huge amount, this option is the perfect happy medium for protection and transport and will ensure your gear lasts as long as possible to get the most life out of it and is well protected throughout all use.
