Your DNP DS40 or DS80 is an expensive and vital bit of kit and as such it deserves to be protected and cared for. If you are an event photographer doing onsite printing it needs to travel to event locations be they indoor or outdoor. One of the most common travel solutions is a flight case, and these can usually be purchased as an accessory from the printer supplier.
As an alternative, here is a DIY solution using “off the shelf” materials which takes less that an hour to do and comes in at just under £100 (2011 prices).
Material needed:
- 4U flight case, with either 300mm sleeve, or 360mm. In this example I have used the 300mm sleeve to minimise the size, however the slight downside with this size is that you have to unplug the power and print cables from the back to make it fit. With the 360mm sleeve the cables can remain plugged in. These cases can be found in abundance on ebay and you can see from the picture below where mine came from. They are currently (Jan 2011) £86.99.
- FFA Concept Raw Aluminium Corner (L)1000mm x (W)20mm x (H)20mm from B&Q which are currently (Jan 2011) £8.84.
- Stick on velcro 20mm x 50cm.
- 6 wood screws 12mm.
Construction
The DNP printer fits pretty snugly into a 4U flight case, (particularly the 300mm sleeve version), however without securing it in place it will move around inside and could get damaged.
The first thing to do is to cut the aluminium corner to length so that it fits inside the sleeve. Three evenly space holes need to be drilled in one side with the velcro stuck along the other side. There needs to be two of these lengths.
The first length can then be screwed into position on the bottom of the flight case. See the image below.
The other half of the velcro then needs to be stuck to the bottom edge of both sides of the printer casing. You will note that importantly this does not cover any of the ventilation holes
The printer can now be positioned in the flight case and the hook and loop of the velcro pushed together against the first length. That is one side secured.
The second length can now be hook and looped up and fixed into position with screws.
There you have it the finished job.
You will see that I have offset the printer to the right which gives space for the print catcher and also the power and printer cables.
