Team 1727 REX is excited to share our pit design for the 2024 season! Cheap, easy to transport, and charges 10 batteries simultaneously, what more could you need (wink wink).
Features
- Sub $1000 budget
- 10 battery simultaneous charging
- Lighting
- 2x8’ of table space
- Shelving for 48 storage bins
Materials
- 2x 46x24.5" Husky Cart: $500 each (Home Depot gave us 50%)
- 3x 1/2" Birch Plywood Sheet: $57.94 each (Lowes donated for free)
- 1x Rivnut Tool: $34.55 each
- 2x 25pk 1/4-20 Rivnut: $10.44 each
- 1x1" Aluminum Tubing, 1/8" Wall Thickness: Used existing stock
- 1x8" Aluminum Sheet: Used existing stock
- Various 1/4-20 hardware
- Various 8-32 hardware
Battery Insert
By removing just three of the drawers, we opened up space for a custom laser cut polycarbonate insert that can hold 10 batteries, with plenty of room to mount chargers of your choice in the back. We used three of the 3 Bank Chargers that we had from our previous battery cart, though there is plenty of room for chargers of your choice.
The chargers are mounted in the back as well the SB50 connectors next to where the batteries sit using 8-32 hardware we had on hand. To install, we drilled out the rivets holding the drawer slides and drilled a hole in the back right of the cart to feed the power strip through. We had originally planned to rivet the sides of the insert to the cart but it slid in very snug so we opted not to.
Lastly, a grommet was 3D printed to protect the power strip cord going through the top of the cart.
Cart Structure
The surrounding cart structure is nothing more than 1/2" Plywood attached with 1/4-20 bolts and rivnuts. The plywood was cut using a track saw, but a table saw would also work fine. Before assembling, we painted all the wood black to match the Husky Carts. We purchased a wrench driven Rivnut Tool from McMaster-Carr mostly due to price, though I really can’t recommend this for any more than assembling the cart. It was much harder to use than lever-style rivnut tools, but got the job done on a budget. We installed 6 rivnuts on each side and 8 on the back which was more than enough to hold the structure. The handle and power strip that come with the cart also need to be removed before attaching the wood.
The top of the cart is supported by a frame made with 1x1" aluminum tubing and aluminum gussets made on our CNC router. LED light strips mounted underneath provide great lighting in the pit.
This pit design is by no means perfect, but our team (and many others) cannot justify spending thousands of dollars on roadcases or other fancy pit setups. With the donations we received from Home Depot and Lowes, we spent less than $600, and we’ve managed to create a functional and cost-effective pit setup that meets our team’s needs and budget constraints. Feel free to use our design, including the CAD files below.
