Do plastic cases protect a console as well as a flight case?

Answer: Protection comes from foam, not shell hardness. A 10 mm gap and 30 mm corner blocks let foam take the drop, leaving the shell residual load.

Why can a console case not follow a standard size?

Answer: The panel is 1200 mm wide, its rear edge 60 mm above the front. The cavity grows 300 mm and the lid needs a 60 mm ramp.

Will three-high stacking crush the lid?

Answer: 240 kg for 24 hours with under 2 mm of deflection. Overload comes from mixed stacks, where timber on moulded peaks at two layers.

What happens when it rains at the wing?

Answer: An IP67 shell keeps showers out if every latch is closed and no cable tail sits in the gasket. Set the lid face down when open.

How many stops will one case survive?

Answer: Latches and gaskets are rated on 300 cycles, a 60-stop tour is 480, so plan one gasket change mid-tour.

Touring: Plastic Cases as Console Case Alternatives

Quick answer: Plastic Cases earn their place on a lighting console when the empty shell weighs under 12 kg, the lid holds open in wing draughts, and three units stack in a 13.6 m trailer.

Why Plastic Cases Fit a Lighting Console
Shape and Weight: 300 mm Longer Than a Standard Case
Load-In Rhythm: Lid Openings in a 90-Minute Window
Truck Stacking: Bays and Layers in a 13.6 m Trailer
Wing Space: Landing and Turning in a 1.8 m Walkway
FAQ

1. Why Plastic Cases Fit a Lighting Console

A 60-stop tour opens and closes the console four times a day, plus a load and an unload, which comes to 480 lid movements. A plywood flight case absorbs impact and can be repaired on site, but it pays in dead weight: 26 kg empty for a 1.2 m console, 105 kg loaded, past the 50 kg two-person limit. Plastic Cases with a 4 mm wall and 12 mm ribs bring that to 11 kg empty.

The console is also the least regular object on the truck: the panel slopes from 120 mm at the front to 180 mm at the rear, the fader block sits 30 mm proud, the connector panel sticks out 45 mm. A console case is built around those three numbers.

Item	Plywood flight case	Rotomoulded case
Outer size (mm)	1350×850×450	1280×800×420
Wall (mm)	9 ply plus aluminium extrusion	4 moulded, 12 ribs
Empty weight (kg)	26	11
Loaded weight (kg)	105	62
Handling	Ramp or three people	Two people

A 4 mm wall sounds thin until you count ribs: six across the base, six across the lid, a double curve at each corner. Drop tests to the IEC 62262 IK08 rubric leave a dent but no split.

2. Shape and Weight: 300 mm Longer Than a Standard Case

A 1200 mm panel at 700 mm deep needs a cavity of 1210 by 710 mm, so the usual 600 by 400 case is irrelevant. The finished shell runs 300 mm longer than a case of similar volume, all of it in corner bumpers and hinge blocks.

Plastic Cases navy console case open on a steel bench, foam blocks and coiled cable, two latches and a folding handle

Handles follow the centre of gravity, not the centre of the case. The console balances 420 mm back from the front edge, so the side handles sit 110 mm behind the midpoint, each rated to 40 kg static pull. One person fore, one aft, and the case stays level over 13 m.

The weight splits as 11 kg shell, 3.2 kg foam and 38 kg console, 52.2 kg total; the 10 kg gap to the loaded figure is accessories and cable. Two people take 26 kg each between truck and monitor position, a load a crew will carry without setting down.

Aluminium extrusion is where plastic cases win by default: a timber case carries 6.5 kg of extrusion and rivets that returns nothing at load-in.

3. Load-In Rhythm: Lid Openings in a 90-Minute Window

Lighting gets 90 minutes from truck to power-up, and the console sits 28 m from the stage. Unload to power is 22 minutes, of which 9 minutes is case handling; the rest is levelling and cable. Fewer openings is not the goal — each one needs a reason.

Stage	Minutes	Case action
Truck to floor	4	Two-person lift, four feet levelled
First opening	3	Stay at 105 degrees, power and data out
Self-test, lid closed	2	50 mm gap at the rim for cable
Pre-show check	3	Full open, desk lamp and backup drive

The third opening is where tours get hurt. If the stay has not locked, a wing draught folds the lid onto the faders, and a panel repair costs two dark days. A stay needing a 10 mm lift before release is why plastic cases survive tent roofs and crosswinds.

Strike runs in reverse: cable out, lid closed, truck. Thirty seconds checking the faders are parked saves three reworks across 60 stops.

4. Truck Stacking: Bays and Layers in a 13.6 m Trailer

A 13.6 m trailer gives 2.45 m of internal width. Two bays of the 1.28 m by 0.8 m console case take 1.6 m, leaving 0.85 m for the walkway. Layers follow the lid rebate: two for timber, three for moulded, the third carrying only identical units.

Plastic Cases black case corner close-up, double seal groove at the rim, grey foam pad in the tray, pebbled wall texture

Stacking relies on four moulded locating bosses. Feet of the upper case drop into the lid recesses with no more than 5 mm of play, so a strap cannot pull the stack out of line. Straps cross the top edge, never a handle.

Top load is rated at 240 kg for 24 hours with the lid deflecting under 2 mm, stricter than three-high stacking, because the real load is the truss leaning on the stack overnight.

Configuration	Layers	Top load (kg)	Anchors
Timber case	2	80	Aluminium corner blocks
Moulded case	3	240	Four moulded holes
Mixed stack	2	60	Needs a spreader board

5. Wing Space: Landing and Turning in a 1.8 m Walkway

Wings often sit 1.8 m from the set, and an 0.8 m wide case needs 1.6 m to turn, leaving 200 mm of margin. In practice it goes in at 45 degrees on 50 mm skids, which cut friction and keep the base off the stage paint.

A tent roof over a monitor position may leave 0.9 m of headroom while a top-opening lid needs 1.1 m. Those venues want removable hinges, so the lid comes off and stands against a wall; the set costs under 5 percent of the case.

Exposure runs two hours per show, with wind, rain and dust. Sealing follows the IEC 60529 IP67 rubric, a double-lip gasket compressed 30 percent, a drainage channel at the rim. A 50 g desiccant pack takes humidity from 80 percent to 55.

Conclusion

The console alone defines where Plastic Cases can replace a flight case: a long footprint, an off-centre balance, a lid that opens fully in a wing. Three tests decide it — two people carry it 13 m, the stay holds against draught, three-high stacking deflects under 2 mm. Pass all three and the swap works.