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Gee, that will be one heavy case.
I assume you plan to use boards of plywood, maybe 8mm thick.
(In that case you could step on it, no metal reinforcement required)
Be sure to add wheels to it as this is going to be heavy as a rock.
A case made of aluminum sheet metal just may be a lighter alternative, and it might look more elegant and less spacy as it´ll be easier to form rounded shapes.

As to padding: I´d go for very soft (!) foam material covered with a plush fabric. You´ll figure out a way to give it a shape that´ll fit the horn snugly.

How about Kevlar-resin? Should be pretty strong.

One of the neater ideas I've heard for a rolling case is to use a large wheeled garbage can and foam around the tuba. One guy with a MW 182 (very small) even uses this setup for his flight case and says it has worked for him.

That would be a light weight solution.

MA

Bill Clark out in Denver had a case built (for his Holton BAT) out of Carbon fiber. It resembles a large doghouse. He said the material came in sheets like plywood, about 1/4" thick and very light & strong. I have not been able to learn where the stuff can be obtained. You could probably find him by googling the "Queen City Jazz Band".
I built a case for my Yorkafone out of thin plywood and 2x6 lumber which has survived several airline flights; perhaps I will take some photos and post them one of these days. On the first two trips the wheels were damaged. Since then I have removed the wheels and used a folding hand truck instead.
The object of the game is to support the tuba at its strong points and keep the pressure off the weak points such as the bell and the valve tubing. For some ideas, see "packing a large tuba for shipment":
http://www.galvanizedjazz.com/tuba/BigConn.html

I built a hard case for a Miraphone 186-sized tuba out of 1x2 and 1x4 oak with a 1/4" plywood skin. I covered it with black naugahyde and trimmed the corners with aluminum trim. I also put 4" industrial-grade casters on it. I used foam blocks in the interior that held the tuba by the body and let the bell float in air, but before putting it on a plane I would insert a soccer ball in the bell to keep the edge away from the case. It was tapered so the body end was smaller than the bell end.

It wasn't really all that heavy, but moving it up and down stairs was too much, and there aren't many cars into which it would fit. It now sits in the attic.

Ray Grim used to have a case made in Germany that held a 186 at an angle that made it extremely compact. It would be challenging to fabricate. I think his finally succombed to too much air travel and too many years.

I don't own an enclosed vehicle that would carry a case big enough for my Holton--not even the motorhome because it would not fit through the door.

There was a discussion on the old Tubenet about case engineering that addressed a wide range of issues. It may take a while to find it using the limited search capability, but it would be worth the trouble.

Rick "who has learned how to carry tubas in dent bags without making dents" Denney

Hello all,

I have experience in aluminum fabrication and I've wanted to build an aluminum case for a long time. I would use 1/8" aluminum and standard padding or whatever is available. Put wheels in the bottom and handles for pulling and carrying. Make an inside compartment for storage and maybe a place to slip a music folder. I'd use a TIG welder to give smooth seams and re-enforce interior seams by tack welding 1/2" angle to help keep things sturdy. I'm not sure what the weight would be but it should be lighter than wood...

Is anyone interested???

Regards, Tim

Definitely interested; I need one for my Holton BAT. What would you expect the final cost to be?

TheEngineer wrote:What I need to figure out:

Padding (what to use, where to get it, etc)

Check with a good fabric supply store in your neighborhood. I found one near me that stocks upholstry supplies. They have a really nice sellection of high quality form rubber and velour. You can shape the form where needed with an electric carving knife and a disk sander. Spray on contact cement will hold the velour in place on the foam and attach it to the inside of the case.

I am rebuilding the original wooden case that came with my Holton 345. I have already stripped it down and reglued all the split seems. Now I am going to coat it with a covering of fine fiberglass mesh, both inside and out, to reinforce it and make it stronger. That way it will stay fairly light-weight. I bought all new hardware for the hinges and latches and I found the same wheels that Johnson cases use so it will roll around easily.

TheEngineer wrote:...a lid position stop (right word?).

I believe you are referring to the "valance", the interfacing rim around the opening that aligns to two halves as the case is closed.
_______________________________
Joe Baker, who learned that when considering a similar project, which was subsequently abandoned.

Joe Baker wrote:

TheEngineer wrote:...a lid position stop (right word?).

I believe you are referring to the "valance", the interfacing rim around the opening that aligns to two halves as the case is closed.

So, when you close and latch the lid, you have a "co-valant bond"?

TheEngineer wrote:As to the lid stop, I was actually referring to the part that holds it in a position that's part way open, whatever that's called is what I'm putting on there. I shouldn't need anything to help align the halves as long as I weld correctly.

Gotcha. I'd be inclined to use a gas strut like they use on car hoods and trunks these days. How cool would that be: you free the latches and the lid just rises to an open position all by itself!

FWIW, I'd still want a valance. The pieces of a good valance interlock in such a way as to give greater structural integrity. All the torsion that is applied to a case of this mass will work to distort the halves, and to do so unevenly. The valance causes each half to reinforce the other when potentially distorting forces are applied. Think of it this way: the best case makers in the world still use a valance. If they weren't necessary, why would case makers use them?

Valance or no valance, I'm intrigued by your project, and look forward to reading more about it as it progresses.
__________________________
Joe Baker, who has made a case for using valances when... making a case.

If you can find a company in your area that uses aluminum in their fabrication they might sell at a discounted price for a small project. I used to work for a firetruck manfacturer and they sold scrap metal all the time.

An aluminum frame covered with plywood would still be heavy... I like the idea of an all aluminum case and allowing the 1/8" skin to actually be a structural part of the case. Using a hydraulic press to form & bend corners would reduce welding and help maintain strength. You'd still need some internal bracing & re-enforcing but you could scale down a bit and use angle instead of boxed tube.

I've never seen a case made from all aluminum so I can't say for sure that everything would work properly. As stated in previous posts, the testing process would need to be pretty extensive to prove it's capabilities of flight protection. Something I'm not willing to do with my tuba... For me, I wanted to build a case for my King 2341 and get away from the two cases it originally came with! No plans for flying, just a solid case to protect it from myself and daily travel around town.

Maybe someday I'll get around to my project...

Regards, Tim

TheEngineer wrote:Oh, 1 more thing, does anyone know where to get some crazily strong latches? I still need a source for those.

Try this website:

http://www.odyssey-parts.com

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I am thinking about making something like this for the York Master that I bought a month ago. It is a copy of the old York in this photo, so why not?



Some one posted this photo here a while back and I thought this case was really nice.

The best padding material that I have been able to find is sold as "Kneeling pads". It's a resilient plastic foam about an inch thick. You can cut it easily with a sharp knife and glue it onto wood. Here is one source:
http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN ... eeling_Pad

Joe Baker wrote:FWIW, I'd still want a valance. the best case makers in the world still use a valance. If they weren't necessary, why would case makers use them?

Most of my case have had latches like this. There's a stub on the lower half the fit into the upper half to aling the latch halves on 2 aixes. Never had much trouble with them.


I wouldn'y use a full length, paino style hing. This structur will be strong enough to use an interior hinge. Something like this.

I used these on a toy box that has a strong lid/frame. The hinges are completely inside when the box is closed, and it'll open with the back flush to the wall. For a case, you need the height of the top away for the wall, but when closed, the hinge would be conceled. That makes them less likely to be damaged.

Also solves the issue of the case opening too far, since this hinge won't open more that 90*. No need for another stop. Most hold in the open position too.

Hey Engineer,
I am looking forward to seeing your tuba case construction details. You may get a chuckle out of my own crude attempt, but it works for me:
http://www.galvanizedjazz.com/tuba/tubacase.html
I wonder about the use of aluminum rather than wood or carbon fiber because aluminum tends to become permanently deformed upon impact, while wood tends to bounce back. But I am sure that you will find a way to design around that.
I sure would like to learn how to work with carbon fiber! Any suggestions?

TheEngineer wrote:I'd use those but I don't see that fitting in to the design (with the frame and all). I've never had great luck with things that are completely hidden, they always break and you have to take everything apart to fix it.

Dunno. When I did the box It too some planning to get them to work, but I pick the hinges first, and designed around them. You build the to halves, then align the hinges. You might need mounting blocks for them. I think I did. You just weld a short piece of tube to the frame where the hinges mount. I think Metal would work better than wood since the screw are less likely to pull out. That was my concern on the wood, that the weight of the lid was too much for the screws into the wood. With your tube, you could use a nut and bolt(or machine screw) and it'll be much stronger.

FWIW, I used 4 of them. The lid is 2ft x 4 ft. frame is 1x1 pine, covered with 1/4" plywood.
It was originally just a box with a screwd on lid, sort of a shipping crate. I made it witha singkle sheet of plywood and scrap 1 bys. Later needed a toybox, so it was remodled. Added a full frame to the lower box, and moved the lid frame. Took some work to make the hinges work, but they were better than other stuff I could find.

I'll get you a picture of the hinges in use so you can see what I mean.