Transporting platforms/Flats

So the more I think about this, the more I think, get those kids a couple furni dollys and let them get a taste of convention center and hotel pushes. 1/4 mile is nothing ! Ah, the glamour of show business.
 
Here ya go. Build a couple of these. I cannot tell you how many Nike shows and Opera sets and units of plywood and piles of crap I have pushed through parking lots, convention centers, world headquarters.... This is not in scale I drew it in Foxit PDF Reader so keep your drafting comments to yourself. Simple construction screw and glue in all the obvious places. Yes, please be sure to install straight casters on one end and swivel on the other it will help keep control of the load, just like a real panel cart. The gussets are critical as kids will always wind up pushing on the upright instead of the flat that is lying on this thing.
Hope this helps.

P.S. you can make this narrower. if you only go 32" wide rather than the full 48" it will fit through a standard door. Just remember the narrower the tippier so a variety might be in order.
 

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Here ya go. Build a couple of these. I cannot tell you how many Nike shows and Opera sets and units of plywood and piles of crap I have pushed through parking lots, convention centers, world headquarters.... This is not in scale I drew it in Foxit PDF Reader so keep your drafting comments to yourself. Simple construction screw and glue in all the obvious places. Yes, please be sure to install straight casters on one end and swivel on the other it will help keep control of the load, just like a real panel cart. The gussets are critical as kids will always wind up pushing on the upright instead of the flat that is lying on this thing.
Hope this helps.
@mrb604 Have you seen Van's post? ? ? Be sure to include a full length glued and screwed stopper strip along the the edge opposite the near vertical support to prevent loads from slipping off due to vibration and REMEMBER to push LOADS NOT the near vertical back-stop. I'm sure @Van will provide further details if you have any questions. (Thanks Van!)
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
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And Van doesn't say, but I'd plan on at least 6" casters for those -- and buy them at a wheel shop, not Harbor Freight.

Locks are good too.
@Jay Ashworth & @mrb604 6" with locks (brakes) or locks (to keep them rolling straight)? [I'd assume the former with rigids on one end & swivels on the other]
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
Van
Curious why you are not recommending a diagonal instead of just a gusset?
 
And Van doesn't say, but I'd plan on at least 6" casters for those -- and buy them at a wheel shop, not Harbor Freight.

Locks are good too.
4-6"
Van
Curious why you are not recommending a diagonal instead of just a gusset?
'Cause that's the way I always built them... Back in my day we didn't have extra 2x4 we did everything with gussets. Sometimes we stack up layers of veneer and made our own plywood... and We Liked it! :angryoldman:
 
We made some custom casters that go into the leg receivers on our portable staging. One stage becomes the dolly for a few of them. The weight is low. No windage issues. We ratchet strap the stack to keep them from sliding.

That said, we also build and sell custom carts for staging, rolled dance floors, pit railing systems, meat racks and cable carts.

Ted
 
https://www.globalindustrial.com/p/...ruck-with-plywood-steel-deck-1200-lb-capacity
I find these to be the most useful and flexible. Can load lumber, panels, flats and platforms. And you can remove the inner bar and move garbage cans. I have to load and unload up and down a serpentine loading ramp, and this design works best for me.
I like those too! The big wheels are great. I have modified them in the past; making a taller rail for the outside. they tend to poke through 4' and 6' wide flats.
 
Thats a great idea! We remove the bar and just slide in some 6' 1" pipe into the holes to stabilize wider loads.
 
We have a fleet of the standard 2'x4' carts... and a few of these. http://www.nuwavescaffold.com/Introducing.html

FYI, at some point a kid will get hurt doing this. No way around that. When I taught HS I had a student get hurt moving things on a cart one building over, let alone a few thousand feet push. I'd also worry about the supervision thing. So.... good luck.
 
On a thousand foot push you will want to tie down your load. So hratchet straps and or teach the kids the truckers hitch. Whatever cart you end up with you will need to securely store it so that may affect your choice of carts.
I would keep wheel chocks handy when moving the cart, as you may need to stop and adjust the load on the slope.
I like flatbed garden wagons for things other than flats/plats.
 
Y'all haven't lived till you've loaded a 50-80 12' X 4' studio flats into the back of a 24' Penske at your shop which sits right at the end of the Columbia River Gorge. Want to talk about Wind and getting hurt? Yow.
 
I once had wind catch a flat I was carrying and ding my boss's car. Not good.
@kicknargel In the mid 90's I found myself in a Berlin scenery shop finessing a couple of "Tommy" pinball machines in storage between the end of a run in Offenbach and a proposed run in Berlin. A truck similar to those seen transporting plate glass in North America backed into the dock with a load of what they termed their standard "large" sheets of plywood. I was stunned by the size and was told they had "standard" size sheets and "standard large" size sheets. If I'm recalling correctly, their "large" sheets were 2 Meters x 4 Meters; 6' 6" x 13' 0'' by quick math / conversion in my head. The plywood was being transported through the narrow secondary streets of Berlin racked vertically on edge 2 Meters high x 4 Meters long. The rack was located outside the rear wheels with its lower supporting surface approximately 4" above the pavement, the stack of sheets were maybe 6" thick in total and canted slightly towards the truck's centreline with its open box used to tote the remainder of the shop's order; smaller dimensional lumber, cartons of hardware, hinges, bolts, pails of glue, paint, etcetera.
All of the shop's workers were busy in their shop, I was closest to their dock when the truck backed in and first to rush to the driver's aid when the wind gusted the moment he'd released the clamps securing the sheets in position. It was all two of us could do to hold his load from blowing over while he was frantically bellowing in German for others to come to his aid. I understood / spoke nary a word of German beyond: Thank you, good morning, good evening and good night but after his load was temporarily re-secured, then off-loaded undamaged, I understood his hearty handshake in appreciation of my efforts. Those were some mighty big sheets of ply and they were most definitely a handful when the wind hit.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
Used to work in a Big Outdoor Theatre. Everything built on dollies, usually 4x8s or several strapped together when larger ones needed. Once we had a multi-set musical playing and another one building. One of the guys fiigured out that we had more sq. ftg. of canvas in the air than the Mayflower. And it got across an ocean. Every time the storm clouds appeared and the wind picked up everybody dropped what they were doing and ran around like maniacs tying things down. Ahhh, outdoor theeter!
 
Wait, you said high school students? Shoot, that means you've got bodies to burn. Four corner those thangs (6 man if they're freshmen) and tell em to hike. Call it a team building exercise. .

Until one of them gets hurt and you have a lawsuit on your hands. Whatever accident insurance the school carries to cover the students probably doesn't apply to the 1/4 mile between facilities
 

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