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How To Travel With LCD Gaming Screen?
johnpagenola asks: "My 17 year old son will start traveling this Fall to fencing tournaments, but he needs his gaming fix over the weekend. How best to travel with an LCD screen to protect it from damage? Is there a way to put together a storage device for LCD with speakers, SFF system unit, keyboard and mouse?" Other than "buy a laptop," can anyone suggest some travel-proofing tips for such a set-up?
Buy a pelican case and carve out some nice foam indentations for the monitor, keyboard, etc. It's an air tight, waterproof seal with all the fixings.
I use a Pelican Case when I ship my stuff. They are fantastic.
If he wants a gaming screen for an XBOX, one company is developing this.
http://www.willowdesign.com/
They have a large number of monitor and LCD display cases. They also have a specific line for the Apple Cinema Displays as well.
/// Zoid.
Other people mention Pelican, but that company appears to be rather half-assed about the way they make road cases - they seem to be a -lot- more interested in selling plastic flashlights. Strange.
Try instead SKB. I've been using their gear for years, with never a problem. Well-made, water-tight, light-weight, and (optionally) ATA-rated.
More serious companies include such names as Starcase and Anvil. These are heavier, and generally made out of fiberglass-laminated plywood with aluminum extrusions holding the joints together. They don't mind being loaded up with equipment and dropped off of a truck much at all - something not easily said about any plastic case. Both Starcase and Anvil will gladly build a custom box for whatever it is that needs moved, which isn't so easy with plastic.
Or, build your own. TCH sells all manner of hardware and materials for building serious road cases and racks. They've got extrusions, fiberglass/plywood laminates, and all manner of hasps, clasps, latches, and hinges, brackets, doohickeys, hoosiwatsits, and other very important widgets for case-building.
Kid-proof tablet..
Are you planning on investing a bunch of money in this or do you just want something that will work?
There are plenty of pointers above for expensive solutions, so here's a cheap solution that works for most things you want to pack.
Get a box big enough to put the screen in. Get some garbage bags. Get some Great Stuff (available at any hardware store).
Put a garbage bag in the box, put the screen in the box, now fill the bag with great stuff. Fold the bag over so the goo doesn't come out & lay the box on it's side w/ the screen laying on the bag full of great stuff.
Put another bag on the other side. Fill it with great stuff. Wait. Ta-da. Just slide out both bags together and there you have it.
Works with just about anything, totally re-useable, and works pretty damn well.
Never trust an atom. They make up everything.
I used to design LCDs, and they are quite susceptible to electrostatic discharge. Garbage bags may not be the best choice if you want all of your pixels to still be active in the future. I'm not familiar with the ES properties of Great Stuff, but that might be worth some caution as well.