Well, I have finally completed my Sig flight box. What do you think?

Let's see some of your flight/field boxes, would love to see'em. It will also help me in some ideas of how to finish setting mine up and what other components I need.

Couple questions:
1) Is it safe to keep the two external terminals connected to the battery for an undetermined or extended period of time of no use? How often should I disconnect them?
2) Do I need to remove the battery clips to recharge my 12v battery? Or can I recharge the 12v through the external terminals?

Some close-ups:

Photo 1) External terminals.
Photos 2 & 3) Wire installation for the terminals.
Photo 4) Hook for attaching pull handle.
Photo 5) Two of the tri-stock corner pieces to support the handle pressure.

That is one gorgeous flight box! I absolutely love it. I did a similar color on my Sig box, but not so much planning and obvious craftsmanship.

As I said before, once you begin flying in earnest you will want to down-size a little bit. I still have my big box, but it hasn't left the garage in over 7 months. Just too big and heavy.

Excellent job, and don't consider my comments as critcism. That box is perfect for when you have the time to take a bunch of gear and tools with you for a maiden, field repairs or a long day at the field.

You will have everything that you and everyone else needs on those days.

OH...and never disconnect the battery as long as there is no chance of the terminals touching metal or any other conductor..... and yes, you can charge through the terminals.

If you are concerned about the terminals, you can insulate them during storage.

Thats has gotta be the greatest flight box I have ever seen, love that handle.

Hey, where's the trailer-hitch?

Temporary out of funds. Trailer hitch will have to wait until next month . Or maybe I can hitch it to one of my ponies.

Thank you for all your kind words.

The box is getting kinda heavy, and not even any fuel in the container yet .

Come-on guys, let's see your flight boxes - show'em off [sm=shades_smile.gif]

Nice!!!! I hope mine looks that good when I get it. Which hopefully will be pretty soon with a new plane

I see one serious error. You need 3" wheels to tow it across a grass field!!

Not nearly as nice as yours... but it gets the job done.

I love it, one of my favorite colors - one other being blue. I see something on yours that I have been thinking of getting, and now seeing it in use I am getting one (that being the coiled fuel-line).

May not be too serious of a problem, Fastsky. The field I plan on using is always mowed, and the equipment can be set up right on the edge so not too far to drag it.

And to make these castors better is the two in the back (opposite side that the handle is on) has hand-brakes that you can set, so the box won't move when I have to work on my airplane.

I have one of the sigs boxes [:@] know all we have to do is find some one to carry it to the pit for us

Nice flight tote Tigerdude!

Mine has a handle instead of wheels to haul fuel, electric starter, 12 v battery, paper towels and whatever. Plus a tool box for everything else I need.

Wow! Totally awesome field box!
Here's mine. Complete with motorbike battery, paper towel dispenser, model airplane saddle/stand, tool pocket on side, fuel can section, two level main section, and of course AMA stickers.
This box is totally home made and designed by me. The cool part is that I am able to just keep adding different things to it. Originally it had no side pocket, no paper towel holder, no airplane saddle, and the fuel can was on the inside instead of the outside. It has its problems, and is not nearly as cool as yours, but mine gets the job done.

LT-40

tiger dude may I make two suggestions. The first would be to put an inline fuseon your battery to all power on your box. This will keep your battery from smoking and going up in flames due to an inadvertent short. This next suggestion is that you put a main cutoff swich for the battery with a switch cover over it. This last suggestion is low priority but the first one is a really good idea since you can not get into a battery compartment very fast.

Love the box LT-40. Not as cool as mine huh? I wouldn't say that, it is way cool. I love the paper-towel holder. Wish I'd have thought of it on mine.
You designed and built that box yerself? You did a great job - how long'd it take yah?

what probs could you possibly have on it?

Very good suggestions I am sure, but I don't know the 1st thing about electrical. I was only able to do the terminals cause someone drew me a plan on how to do it. I don't know what an inline fuse is and couldn't even take a guess about how to go about doing it. Or on how to do a shut-off switch. Anyone else know anything about such things and how to go about doing it?

Very nice box Tiger, however I would caution you with the battery setup you have. The binding terminlas are exposed on the inside very close to your battery terminals. If they come in contact with each other (pos- neg) it could be an exciting afternoon. The previous advice to add an inline fuse is a good one. Just remove the RED terminal (positive) from the battery and solder or crimp in the inline fuse holder and re-connect. These can be purchased from Radio shack for a few dollars. I would use something like a 10- 15 amp fuse.

Do you guys hire a 400 pound gorrilla to carry your flight box around for you? I had one that was pretty much filled like that but it got so darned heavy that I needed a fork lift to get it from the back of my car to the ground. Then I had to use two handles and carry it under me, between my legs just to the flight line. Then I dreaded moving it back to the car. I eventually set up a much smaller and much more effective one. I just decided that I would not be doing repairs at the field anyway, so what was the use of having half of my shop with me. Now, if I don't have it, I just don't fix it or fly with it.

DS.

I do give credit to Tigerdude for building one.

I think your box came out great.

Someone mentioned insulating the external terminals when not in use. A really simple way to do that would be with rubber hose from an auto parts, or hardware, store. A few inches of hose, with inside diameter similar to the size of the screw heads, would be plenty to do the job. A section slightly longer than the screw can be slipped over the screws. You really only need to insulate the positive (red) ones.

With me being advised to keep the terminals connected to the battery couldn't I simply wrap electrical tape around where the battery terminals are so none of the connections are exposed?

What does a inline fuse look like so I know what to look for when I shop for it? Can someone provide a photo or graph or web-link of one for me? I would want the solderless kind please. I am using 14amp wire so I would go with the 14-15amp range inline fuse.

Here is my field box. I vaguely remember drawing plans for it, but couldn’t say where they are now. That was 16 years and three moves ago. I am sure I didn’t do real detail drawings though. Most of it I just created as I built. The whole thing is out of Finland Birch plywood. I was a sales rep for an importer of the stuff at the time so it was a benefit. As you can see there is room for everything.

I borrowed the pictures from http://www.radioshack.com

Two different style fuse holders are available. I like the 'blade-type' better but it is just a preference. One is not better than the other.

On fuse holders the rating is the maximum fuse you can use. So, you get the 20 amp holder and use a 15 amp fuse.

20-Amp Heavy-Duty Inline Fuse Holder for 1¼x¼" Fuses, part number 270-1217

15 amp, glass fuse, part number 270-1073

20-Amp Inline Blade-Type Fuse Holder, part number 270-1213

15 amp, blade style fuse, part number 270-1082

I think the fuse holders just have plain wire sticking out. If so, pick up a package of Crimp on bu*t connectors for 14-16 gauge wire,
part number 64-3109

No soldering required.

Yes, you can definitely do that. I looked at the picture again. Your battery is actually pretty secure in its foam. I doubt that it would ever move enough to touch anything, but there's nothing wrong with taping up for added protection.