An ATA Road Case for Dummies

extruded aluminum edging

Right up front, we'll admit that we'd never heard the phrase "ATA Road Case" before reading through today's nominee. We'd never heard of one, but we had used one... If you aren't familiar with the product, no worries: it's a shipping container that meets the protection standards of the American Transportation Association (ATA), and we've used one in the past to ship electronics while flying. It's possible (although unlikely) that eHow.com's Jeff O'Kelley, who claims to be a photographer, has used one... but it's for darned certain that he never built one. That makes him an unlikely candidate to write "How to Build an ATA Road Case"¹ for OurPastimes.com.

After reading through the "directions" O'Kelley dumped on the 'net back in 2009, we had some questions. So we browsed the website of a company called DIY Roadcase Store. That's where we learned that, although Jeff found a set of specifications you can  consult for building your own box, he didn't quite know how to translate them into instructions. 

Here are a few examples of where the young web design-slash-"communications" graduate had... problems:

• For starters, Jeff says to assemble the case out of plywood, although he doesn't specify a thickness (commercial cases use one of three sizes: ¹⁄₄-inch, ³⁄₈-inch, or ¹⁄₂-inch). He does, however, tell his readers, "Using 1/2" wood screws, assemble the plywood pieces to construct the basic case and lid shapes." Apparently Jeff is unaware that half-inch wood screws don't hold plywood together... especially if it's half-inch plywood!
• Once you've "assembled" a basic case shape, Jeff says to, "Apply the ABS plastic laminate... secure to the outside of the case with spray adhesive." Uh, Dude? You can buy plywood with the laminate already applied.
• And then there's, "Using aluminum rivets, secure aluminum edging to all edges and corners of the case and lid." Your joints are already weak because of those useless wood screws, Jeff; this isn't going to make them strong. Just because you harvested the phrase "tapered aluminum edging" from your source doesn't mean you have the slightest idea what it means!

No, Jeff, the case is not built by screwing together plywood sheets and then slapping on laminate and aluminum corners. The laminated plywood fits into slots on the corners (see the image above), making a metal framework, and then it's riveted in place. All the exposed edges have metal edging that wraps around the wood to protect it. We sincerely hope that no one was stupid enough to try to follow these instructions over the more than eleven years it's been in the eHow.com canon. Wannabe DIYers would be far better served to visit the DIY store mentioned above or look into buying a case sold by Jeff's one reference. They're a far cry from the pile of scrap plywood and aluminum that would the the likely result of anyone trying to follow the instructions written by our Dumbass of the Day.

¹ The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   ehow.com/how_5074889_build-ata-road-case.html

DDIY - STORAGE