Maybe it's been said before....ROLL BARS!!

[Cpl-Chronic]

Heyya all,

As the title hints, I'm looking for ideas on custom roll bars. If there's a thread that you know of, please suggest it. I bought 2 rolled steel pull handles that are powder coated a semi-gloss black. Take al look:

 

[Cpl-Chronic]

So far, I have 2 ideas that are equally appealing to me right now.
1. Use them to protect the cassettes, controls & tuner dial. Together with the speaker grills, the front would be very rugged & would survive a fall to the face.

2. Use them for a strap along the top of the box & avoid a snapped handle from my over-wieght 777Z which weighs about 40lbs!!

Anyone have a preference based on looks &/or practical advantages?

 

[redbenjoe]

in the wide world of cabinet hardware -- the variety and sizes are endless !!

 

[ledmeter]

My preference is to use them as strap brackets. It looks great and serves a cool purpose. Personally I'd use brushed metal or chrome ones though. Paint strip them!

 

[BoomboxLover48]

Strap brackets are good provided it got a metal plate inside to support/distribute the load. It should not break off leaving a hole in the case.

 

[Reli]

Heyya all,

What does heyya mean

Anyway, I think the best application for roll bars is to serve as grab handles on the side, that help you move it around on the shelf. So I would recommend finding some longer ones and mounting them alongside the speakers, if there's room.

I would not recomend making strap handles. If they're not done right, you will get stress fractures. Here are pics of how Crown does it. They are bolted to a flat metal bar underneath the plastic case. They also use a small washer on top of the case, for additional support. But as you can see, one good hit and it's over.

 

[Cpl-Chronic]

Well, I did the deed & they are now roll bars for a strap & also work as grab handles:

@ RELI: I understand your concearn about stress cracks & as you can see I used rubber washers on both sides of the plastic whick work as shcok absorbers & will absorb the stress instead of tranferring it to the case. Hopefully, this will keep away any cracks from forming. The corners of the box are really strong & actually have good reinforced posts in the corners to add to the strength. We'll have to see how it turns out once I get a good shoulder strap for it.

 

[jimmyjimmy19702010]

Well, I did the deed & they are now roll bars for a strap & also work as grab handles:

[ Image ]

@ RELI: I understand your concearn about stress cracks & as you can see I used rubber washers on both sides of the plastic whick work as shcok absorbers & will absorb the stress instead of tranferring it to the case. Hopefully, this will keep away any cracks from forming. The corners of the box are really strong & actually have good reinforced posts in the corners to add to the strength. We'll have to see how it turns out once I get a good shoulder strap for it.

The roll bars look really nice. I think for picking the thing straight up with both hands, the handles should work well. Putting a strap on and carrying it around by the strap would put strong side ways stresses on the bars and will over time IMHO result in cracks forming in the case. This is obviously just my opinion but with the weight of the 777, and the long length of your roll bars, the stresses would be quite high. I certainly wouldn't pick it up by one rollbar alone. It is afterall, a thin cased boombox.

Good luck,

James....

 

[Cpl-Chronic]

The roll bars look really nice. I think for picking the thing straight up with both hands, the handles should work well. Putting a strap on and carrying it around by the strap would put strong side ways stresses on the bars and will over time IMHO result in cracks forming in the case. This is obviously just my opinion but with the weight of the 777, and the long length of your roll bars, the stresses would be quite high. I certainly wouldn't pick it up by one rollbar alone. It is afterall, a thin cased boombox.

Good luck,

James....

Thanx for the input Jmaes & you make good points as all the posters did, of course. The pics of the damaged Crown are a perfect example of what I don't want to happen & thanx for the words of caution. The idea behind the rubber washers was that I wanted a compressible O-ring as a buffer between the handles & the plastic case. As the handles twist & sway slightly, the rubber will compress & expand to absorb any shocks or twists, etc. while reducing & controlling the forces applied to the plastic of the top cabinet wall. I think it will work OK with a strap as long as the washers last & I think they will. They are a really tough rubber designed for faucets & have lots of bounce & have a medium force compression, almost like an 'Indian Rubber' ball. IF I used metal washers & the bar itself was in contact with the plastic case, then yes, it would crack very easily from a sideways flex or force because all of the twisting & sideways flexing will be transferred directly to the plastic wall.

I believe rubber o-rings are a very elegant solution to buffer these stressers & will perform better than a plate re-inforcement behind the cabinet wall. Also, I'll take a shot of the area the bars are attached to from the inside of the cabinet. It is directly in between the corner & the corner mounting post & is heavily reinforced by the post & a plastic tab that attaches the post to the cabinet top. It was extremely difficult to insert a 3/4" bolt through the bottom holes.(see pic.) I'll try to post a video of the flexi-mounts later & how they react to stress & side ways forces.

Who knows, you & others may be right & I'll learn the hard way, like I did before, I guess. *fingers crossed*

More pics to be added later*

 

[jimmyjimmy19702010]

The roll bars look really nice. I think for picking the thing straight up with both hands, the handles should work well. Putting a strap on and carrying it around by the strap would put strong side ways stresses on the bars and will over time IMHO result in cracks forming in the case. This is obviously just my opinion but with the weight of the 777, and the long length of your roll bars, the stresses would be quite high. I certainly wouldn't pick it up by one rollbar alone. It is afterall, a thin cased boombox.

Good luck,

James....

Thanx for the input Jmaes & you make good points as all the posters did, of course. The idea behind the rubber washers was that I wanted a compressible O-ring as a buffer between the handles & the plastic case. As the handles twist & sway slightly the rubber will compress & expand to absorb any shocks or twists, etc. & not transfer the force to the plastic of the top cabinet wall. I think it will work OK with a strap as long as the washers last. They are a really tough rubber designed for faucets & have lots of bounce & compression as well. IF I used metal washers & the bar itself was in contact with the plastic case, then yes, it would crack very easily from a sideways flex or force because all of the twisting & sideways flexing will be transferred directly to the plastic wall. I believe rubber o-rings are a very elegant solution to buffer these stressers & will perform better than a plate re-inforcement behind the cabinet wall. Also, I'll take a shot of the area the bars are attached to from the inside of the cabinet. I have to re-thread the psots anyway & fix a loose wire on the right horn. I'll try to post a video of the flexi-mounts later & how they react to stress & side ways forces. Who knows, you & others may be right & I'll learn the hard way, like I did before, I guess. *fingers crossed*

More pics to be added later*

I don't think the rubber washers are going to offer much damping affect as you place the full weight load onto them. The rubber will initially feel soft on light compression but as you apply further load, it will harden up. The issue you will have is the length of the bars. I understand why you need them a certain length to allow room for your hands. If you could run a horizontal bar of the same tube size, low down between the roll bar legs that you could attach your strap to, you would virtually eliminate the sideways forces. With this arrangement , you would still have room for hand held mode but also have the convenience of a strap.

Just thinking out loud.

James....

 

[Cpl-Chronic]

I don't think the rubber washers are going to offer much damping affect as you place the full weight load onto them. The rubber will initially feel soft on light compression but as you apply further load, it will harden up. The issue you will have is the length of the bars. You need them a certain length to allow room for your hands. If you could run a horizontal bar of the same tube size, low down between the roll bar legs that you could attach your strap to, you would virtually eliminate the sideways forces. With this arrangement , you would still have room for hand held mode but also have the convenience of a strap.

Just thinking out loud.

James....

As you can see here:

The corner has a double edge making the corner very strong & resistant to cracking. Also, the bottom half of the mounting post is cannected the the wall of the cabinet with a secondary wall that completly closes off the front corner of the cabinet & that area is extremely strong & resistant to flexing or stress cracks. If you design the strap well, you can distribute tho load evenly among the 4 mounting points & the downward force of the box pulling on the strap will be similar to pulling the box 'up' by the handles & very little sideways force will be exerted on the joints. So, the rubber washers will take care of the rest, I think. Now, I have to hunt for a good strap. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Cpl-Chronic]

Look at the pics Reli posted & you can see that no flexing was built into the design of the bars for that Crown. The bar can't flex at all so the plastic is forced ot take the brunt of the force & cracks. They are mounted directly to the plastic & the base of the bar is completely embedded into the plastic case itself & it has virtually no tolerance for sideways force. If they had used rubber o-rings, it would have been harder to crack that corner. I think that is where Crown took a bit of a shortcut in it's final product even tho it is a beautiful classic:

Image

Image

Image

 

[Reli]

I agree that your loops are probably better able to withstand sideways impacts, compared to the Crown which did not have any "give".

The concern I have is that you drilled the holes....They were not molded into the case by the manufacturer. Drilling would seem to pose risks of future stress cracks, since the hole is not perfectly smooth.

If you want to add more strength, I would recommend adding a flat steel bar between the 2 washers. And then putting some rubber between that bar and the case. This could replace your rubber washers. So you would have, from top to bottom, the plastic case, a long piece of rubber under it, a flat metal bar, and your screws. The rubber would be sandwiched between the case and the flat metal bar. So that when you pick up the boombox, the load is better distributed inside the case. That is what Crown did. The only reason it broke is because the rollbar was smashed in a downward direction, which you can't do much about. But at least with an internal flat bar you could protect it from forces in other directions.

 

[stormsven]

I agree that your loops are probably better able to withstand sideways impacts, compared to the Crown which did not have any "give".

The concern I have is that you drilled the holes....They were not molded into the case by the manufacturer. Drilling would seem to pose risks of future stress cracks, since the hole is not perfectly smooth.

If you want to add more strength, I would recommend adding a flat steel bar between the 2 washers. And then putting some rubber between that bar and the case. This could replace your rubber washers. So you would have, from top to bottom, the plastic case, a long piece of rubber under it, a flat metal bar, and your screws. The rubber would be sandwiched between the case and the flat metal bar. So that when you pick up the boombox, the load is better distributed inside the case. That is what Crown did. The only reason it broke is because the rollbar was smashed in a downward direction, which you can't do much about. But at least with an internal flat bar you could protect it from forces in other directions.

. There is no way i would risk handling the heavy boomer in this setup. The plastic on top is really tiny too. Huge flat plate inside will help a lot. Still i think the plastic is quite thin for that. It would work just if the bars are going some way all round to the bottom too ( of course connected there too ) . For look is though. Love it .

 

[redbenjoe]

agree with stormsven -- the ONLY to have any lasting confidence with a strap ..
is to put it all around the bottom and sides --use your top bars as strap positioning guides -

however -- i think the big front bars -- mounted correctly -and grabbed with both hands
will hold a big box ,, well enough

 

[Northerner]

I agree... if it were mine there'd be no way I'd lift it without fitting as large plate as will fit as well as the rubber rings otherwise the upwards lift creates uneven pressure because of the flexibility of the rubber...I'd be scared to death carrying it around otherwise

But its your box/pile-of-smashed-bits so its your risk ...tho even the thought of it, when its not even mine, makes me feel slightly queezy!

 

[Cpl-Chronic]

I agree... if it were mine there'd be no way I'd lift it without fitting as large plate as will fit as well as the rubber rings otherwise the upwards lift creates uneven pressure because of the flexibility of the rubber...I'd be scared to death carrying it around otherwise

But its your box/pile-of-smashed-bits so its your risk ...tho even the thought of it, when its not even mine, makes me feel slightly queezy!

Ahh. Yeah, again you guys make good points & yes, I'm a bit brave with my stuff or I wouldn't have gotten this far with the MODS. We'll have to see what happens over time I guess. As far as the metal plate, it would be difficult to put anything substantial in behind & again a metal plates would have to be epoxied in there to not shift around & twist too. I really do think it will be OK in the long run. The double edged corners will take most of the weight as the bars are within 1/2" of the corner & the front corners are really strong & reinforced byt he mounting posts being in such close proximity & attached to the corners by a second wall.

Besides, this tank is a party guest, not a walk-about so transit time won't be that high to begin with. I will take your words of caution to heart & keep a close eye on the top panel as I use it. *fingers crossed* The original idea behind the bars is for a strap to carry some of the weight while carrying it & also keep hold of the handle for control.

 

[Cpl-Chronic]

I agree that your loops are probably better able to withstand sideways impacts, compared to the Crown which did not have any "give".

The concern I have is that you drilled the holes....They were not molded into the case by the manufacturer. Drilling would seem to pose risks of future stress cracks, since the hole is not perfectly smooth.

If you want to add more strength, I would recommend adding a flat steel bar between the 2 washers. And then putting some rubber between that bar and the case. This could replace your rubber washers. So you would have, from top to bottom, the plastic case, a long piece of rubber under it, a flat metal bar, and your screws. The rubber would be sandwiched between the case and the flat metal bar. So that when you pick up the boombox, the load is better distributed inside the case. That is what Crown did. The only reason it broke is because the rollbar was smashed in a downward direction, which you can't do much about. But at least with an internal flat bar you could protect it from forces in other directions.

If I could improve it in any way your double rubber bewtween a plate & the plastic would work very well for an added protection & would be my choice of all th3e suggestions. I would really like to try it but I can't see how to do it with the front corners so tight in space. I spent an hour fishing a 3/4" bolt through the hole which is oversized so I can squeeze it through at an angle. I drilled the hoels slightly oversize so that even twisting the bolt by as much as 30 degrees off axis, it still didn't touch the sides of the hole but the rubber washer does a good job taking up the slack. Taht way, when the bolt twists with the handle no stress is put on the hole itself. Ta-Da!! The result is you get handles that are rugged & somewhat rigid in the vertical axis but has a bit of springy bounce when pushed sideways. The back posts do bend the cabinet top a bit if you push on them but it takes significant force to really stress the cabine & when I lift form the handles they don't creak, bend shift or strain in any way whatsoever & I'm confident they will work with the right strap.

 

[jimmyjimmy19702010]

One way to see who is right. Put a loop of robe/strap through your roll bars, place it over your shoulder and lift. Carry it around for a bit and see what happens.

James....

 

[Cpl-Chronic]

One way to see who is right. Put a loop of robe/strap through your roll bars, place it over your shoulder and lift. Carry it around for a bit and see what happens.

James....

good idea, I was thinking of doing a dry run. It will be interesting & I'm willing to risk it for the rest of us. *fingers crossed* If carnage ensues I'll post it in vivid color. I've actually picked it up by the handles & carried it around already, without any grunts or groans or flexing plastic at all so far. I even lifted it up & down a few times to see if I could feel some flexing & it feels solid to me.

It'll be a couple of days tho before I try it. I've got it on the bench & re-epoxied the cabinet posts. I'm waiting to drill the pilot holes, re-thread & re-assemble.