2005 MOB BOX-ON-WHEELS

BACKGROUND:

Forgive some of the details I may have gotten incorrect below as this was over a decade ago, and I wasn't one of the Show Assistants.

The Show Assistants in the MOB were responsible for building the props and providing the theater part of MOB shows. This often involved building spectacular props to bring onto the field. To aid in building a new prop every week, they often re-used a wooden box with wheels as a frame. Cardboard or other decoration could be added to fit the needs of the show that week. It was affectionately called, "Box On Wheels". Back then the MOB still lived in the basement of Central Kitchen, now known as the OEDK. The Show Assistants would wheel it over to and back from the stadium for rehearsals / MOB-Over / etc. The box would sit outside underneath a tree bewteen games, so this did limit assembly time if it rained the days before the game. It was also too big to bring on away games.

ORIGIN:

A bunch of MOB engineers sit around at Chuys one weekend discussing the upcoming season. One person brings up the box-on-wheels (BOW)

Wouldn't it be great if the BOW was tall enough for even the tallest MOBster to stand under it?
Wouldn't it be cool if the box fit in the freight elevator?
Wouldn't it be cool if it fit in the back of a truck bed?

Hmmmmmm

During the next week our structural engineer drew up plans for the BOW and we planned to meet on Saturday morning to go shopping at Home Depot and then back to the bandhall to build. We wanted to make this a gift, surprising the rest of the MOB, so we worked on the loading dock behind the bandhall to minimize the number of people to see it.

DESIGN:

Two boxes independent of one another that can fit in the elevator and in La Cucaracha room in the bandhall. The boxes should be able to connect and disconnect easily. The back of the box needs to have a free space at the bottom so if someone falls while inside, they just fall out instead of getting run over.

BUILDING:

THE FIRST DAY, our initial Home Depot run was fun. We ended up with a bunch of wood and a bunch of supplies. We all brought our toolboxes too. Here we are setting up:

Most of the first day was spent cutting wood, moving wood, measuring wood, and cutting wood, and some assembly. We also had to make some more runs to Home Depot and Lowes for more materials.

By the end of the first day we had two box frames that needed bracing.

THE SECOND DAY began with bracing. There was lots and lots of screwing too. (you with the dirty mind, go away) We braced, and braced, and braced some more. Of course we had to run back out to Lowes for more screws.

By the end of the second day, we determined that we needed another couple days to work. We still needed casters for the bottom and the caster stores aren't open on the weekends. But, we had two solid boxes ready for casters and water sealing.

**** ONE WEEK LATER ****

THE THIRD DAY we started off with 3 goals.
1. Attach casters
2. Attach two boxes
3. Water seal it
Turns out it was a bit tougher than we thought. The first day we attached all the casters. It took longer than expected, of course. Since the posts weren't 100% level, we used some plywood squares to shim the boxes. Plus we had to run to Home Depot and Lowes to buy more materials.

At the end of the day we had two boxes on wheels. Yay!

The FOURTH DAY was easy. Now that everything was all figured out, all we had to do was attach the boxes. We used some 2x4's as spacers between the boxes, and then put eyebolts in them. The final step was to put a bolt through all the eyebolts, and voila one huge BOW. Check out the video to see how well it rolls even with two people standing on it.