Product Selection

The case style choice is made on the basis of appearance, function and price.

• Appearance- This involves considerations of color and shape. Depending on the end-use of the case, the appearance or image that the case provides may be a very real consideration.
• Function- This involves the operational characteristics of the case. Includes considerations of the level of protection the case needs to provide, the use environment and ease of handling.
• Price- Matching your expectations of the case performance with your budget.

The size of the container should be selected so that there is adequate space around and between the packaged items. See the Container Sizing Guide to learn how to calculate a container size.

The options which Atlas offers are telescoping handles, wheels, custom foam cushioning, shelves, dividers etc. Not all options will be available on all case styles, so select a case style that can be fitted with the option(s) you're after. The Products page will give you a good overview of the cases we offer.

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This will help you estimate the thickness of the cushioning foam and the overall inside dimensions of the case. This section is important if you're packaging fragile equipment. 1. What is going to be put into the case? How big is it? (What are the dimensions?) When you measure an item or items to be put into a shipping container or case, measure the length, width and height. Include any portions of equipment which may stick out to one side or another. How much does it weigh? What is the value of what is going to be in the case or container? One way to figure out how much you can afford to spend on a case or shipping container is to ask yourself "What happens if what's in the case gets broken? What will it cost me to fix the damage or replace the item?" There is a point where performance becomes more important than cost. 2. How will the case be handled? What is a reasonable expected drop height? If shipped via UPS, Federal Express or common carrier, assume a reasonable probability that the case/container will be dropped according to the following table.   Drop Height Table Total Weight of Case + Item(s) Type of Handling Expected Drop Height (H) 0-20 Lbs One Person Throwing 36" 21-50 Lbs One Person Carrying 30" 51-200 Lbs Two Persons Carrying 24" 201-500 Lbs Light Mech. Equipment Handling 24" 500-1000 Lbs Medium Mech. Equipment Handling 18" 3. What is the Fragility of the most fragile item in the case? The fragility of an item, measured in G's, is simply the greatest deceleration that it can undergo before it suffers damage. G's are measured in terms of gravitational accelerations. At 10 G's, an item will experience a force equal to 10 times gravity. At 50 G's, 50 times the force of gravity, etc. The fragility of an item is a measure of an item's ability to withstand the shocks experienced in a normal shipping and transportation environment. Since fragility is only rarely determined empirically, it is usually neccessary to just work with a good conservative estimate. The following table provides a rough guideline for estimating fragility.   Equipment Fragility Table Classification of Equipment Safe Shock Level, (Gmax) Extremely Delicate Inertial Navigation Equipment, Airline Gyroscopes 12-18 G's   Very Delicate Electro-Optical and Precision Test Equipment, 18-25 G's   Fragile General Electro-Mechanical, Medical and Laboratory Diagnostic Equipment, Memory Storage, Spectrometric Equipment, Computer Monitors, Printers, Color TV Cameras, Control Consoles 25-50 G's   Moderately Fragile Oscilloscopes, Solid state electronics, Radio and TV communication gear, VCR's 50-80 G's   Rugged Printed Circuit Boards, Refrigerators and Washing Machines, Microwave Ovens, Portable Radios and TV's 80-120 G's   Very Rugged Most small appliances, household dishes and glassware. Greater than 120 G's 4. Calculate the minimum space that will be needed for the packaged items. Use the following formula to calculate the foam thickness required, based upon the expected drop height, H and the Fragility, Gmax. T= (3.5 x H) ÷Gmax Add this foam thickness to the top, bottom and all sides of your equipment to determine the minimum inside dimensions of the case. If you have to compromise in selecting a case, its almost always better to have a little more foam thickness than too little.   Now, heres an example: Problem: Select a cushion thickness and target case dimensions for a computer monitor having outside dimensions of 20" wide x 24" front to back x 24" high. The weight of the monitor is 60 lbs. Assume you're going to be shipping the case via truck back and forth across the country. 1. The estimated fragility of the monitor is (from table above) 40 G's. 2. Assuming 20-40 lbs for the case weight gives us about 80-100 lbs for the loaded case. From the drop height table, the estimated drop height is 24" 3. Plugging this info into the formula above: T= ( 3.5 x 24") ÷ 40 = 2.1 inches ~use 2" 4. Add two of these foam thicknesses to the Length, Width and Height of the monitor to get the target inside case dimensions. L = 20 + 4 = 24 W = 24" + 4 = 28 H = 24" + 4 = 28 A reasonable target case size would have inside dimensions of 24" x 28" x 28" High. 5. Select a case. Because there are no standard size molded cases meeting these dimensional requirements, a custom ATA case would be the right choice in this situation. A case with inside dimensions of 24" x 28" x 28" is the minimum size. This example is intended to give you a basic understanding of the sizing of a case. For optimum results, give us a call or fill out our feedback form and we'll work with you to pick just the right case for your application.