# Hand trucks in California



## HERO (Sep 1, 2007)

Crazy Question, but I'm gonna ask anyway.....can I use a hand truck to help me bring my books into the test room in California? Will the proctor stop me at the door? Did anyone in California have any problem with these things?

This is an example of what I'm talking about:

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores...uctId=100071520

Thanks,

Mark


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## mudpuppy (Sep 1, 2007)

I saw someone at the April exam in Owosso, Michigan with a hand truck loaded with four clear plastic tubs full of references. There were no restrictions listed on our registration information about anything like this, but I can't speak for CA.


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## maryannette (Sep 1, 2007)

I'm in NC. I tried a hand truck for practice exam and it was clumsy. I switched to a luggage cart that folds up and is easier to store in the test room. On the luggage cart, I used 2 plastic milk crate containers with bungees to hold everything. I also had a huge plastic trash bag packed so if it was raining I could cover everything and keep it dry. If you can get everything on a luggage cart, I suggest switching from the hand truck idea.


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## benbo (Sep 1, 2007)

In California it doesn't matter what you use to transport the references, as long as they can fit on or under your table without going into your neighbors area. I think I had about 4 feet - shairng an 8 foot table if I remember.

This begs a second question - do you really need ALL those references? Maybe for civil, I don't know.

I brought a milk crate and a backpack for electrical, and I think I used maybe five books. And for most of the exam I didn't need references at all. But it is nice to have a fwew extra, but you can get innundated if you bring too much. I'm just not sure what too much is.


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## thartley (Sep 1, 2007)

Ace Hardware (at least in my area) has this folding hand truck on sale for $20 right now. Supposedly on sale until the end of Sept. It has a 150 lb capacity. No bungee cords included.

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.j...hId=21550685634

I checked it out - the weak link in the design is probably the nylon/plastic gearteeth on each wheel assy. They mesh with the aluminum gearteeth on the aluminum platform which cause the wheels to fold out when the platform is folded outward. The nylon/plastic compound will probably get chewed up by the aluminum if the wheel is banged hard against a curb or something. If this happens, the wheels won't stay in the open position.

I bought one anyway, despite the problem noted above. I have been looking around for a lightweight product like this and even the expensive ones ($100 +) use a similar approach for opening the wheels out, and reviews on the some of the other carts have noted the same problem.

I think that an improvement/retrofit would be to drill a hole through each wheel assy. and into the metal frame with the wheels in the open position. Then use a pin of some sort to 'lock' each wheel into the open position. If you did this before the teeth got chewed up, it would help prevent the damage in the first place. I'm considering using the metal hooks of a bungee cord for the pins. That way the cord will keep tension on the pins to keep them in place without being cumbersome. I haven't gotten around to doing it yet.

The cart mentioned in the first post can be converted into a hand truck, which would be more maneuverable than the four-wheeled one. And it will be useful around the house for other things. Just make sure to keep the tires inflated.


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## Road Guy (Sep 1, 2007)

something that we can add to this thread.................


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## Tina (Sep 1, 2007)

I took the test in California and brought a luggage cart with two crates on it. Both crates were full with books. And I can only say I'm happy I brought in all my references. I used at least 2 codes that I had never looked at before to answer quite a few questions on the test. I took the structural PM.

You can use a hand truck, but as benbo said, it needs to fit under the table.


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## Trashman (Sep 1, 2007)

I took the exam at the LA County Fairplex. Just your references had to fit under or on the table in front of you. The proctors in my area were letting us put any carriers or carts we had up against the wall at the end of the row if we wanted to. I'm pretty sure I saw carriers similar to the one you are talking about. It does raise the question of do you want to manage all those references during a timed exam?


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## HERO (Sep 5, 2007)

Trashman said:


> I took the exam at the LA County Fairplex. Just your references had to fit under or on the table in front of you. The proctors in my area were letting us put any carriers or carts we had up against the wall at the end of the row if we wanted to. I'm pretty sure I saw carriers similar to the one you are talking about. It does raise the question of do you want to manage all those references during a timed exam?


It wouldn't hurt. I plan to bring about 20 books for my Fire Pro PE. When I took the mechanical PE, I brought about the same quantity of books. The only difference between the Fire Pro PE and Mechanical PE is that Fire Pro books are much more bigger and heavier than my mechanical books. If you or any of the engineers in this forum have a better solution, please speak up!


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## HERO (Sep 5, 2007)

Thank you all for your prompt responses.


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## Tina (Sep 5, 2007)

HERO said:


> It wouldn't hurt. I plan to bring about 20 books for my Fire Pro PE. When I took the mechanical PE, I brought about the same quantity of books. The only difference between the Fire Pro PE and Mechanical PE is that Fire Pro books are much more bigger and heavier than my mechanical books. If you or any of the engineers in this forum have a better solution, please speak up!


I agree. I never planned on taking all my books to the exam, but since the books I really wanted to take didn't fit in one crate and I had to take the second crate anyway I thought what the heck and took all books with me (even the ones I had never looked at before). I'm so glad I did. I answered several questions with references that I hadn't planned on bringing.

Yes, it's right, you don't have time to read the references. But you might be able to find what you need in the index and voila you got the answer. There are indeed questions on the exam that can be answered just like that. I would have kicked my butt if I hadn't brought those books.


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## thartley (Sep 6, 2007)

thartley said:


> Ace Hardware (at least in my area) has this folding hand truck on sale for $20 right now. Supposedly on sale until the end of Sept. It has a 150 lb capacity. No bungee cords included.
> http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.j...hId=21550685634
> 
> I checked it out - the weak link in the design is probably the nylon/plastic gearteeth on each wheel assy. They mesh with the aluminum gearteeth on the aluminum platform which cause the wheels to fold out when the platform is folded outward. The nylon/plastic compound will probably get chewed up by the aluminum if the wheel is banged hard against a curb or something. If this happens, the wheels won't stay in the open position.
> ...


Edit:

I checked out my cart more closely and it turns out that the gears are not made out of nylon/plastic. All the gears are made out of a cast metal that is not aluminum. The gears attached to the wheels are just painted black to match the wheel mounts. I still think it would be a good idea to retrofit the cart with holes and pins to reinforce the wheel mounts when in the open position. All in all, not a bad price for what you get. The sale supposedly ends Sept. 30th.


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## thartley (Sep 6, 2007)

thartley said:


> Ace Hardware (at least in my area) has this folding hand truck on sale for $20 right now. Supposedly on sale until the end of Sept. It has a 150 lb capacity. No bungee cords included.
> http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.j...hId=21550685634
> 
> I checked it out - the weak link in the design is probably the nylon/plastic gearteeth on each wheel assy. They mesh with the aluminum gearteeth on the aluminum platform which cause the wheels to fold out when the platform is folded outward. The nylon/plastic compound will probably get chewed up by the aluminum if the wheel is banged hard against a curb or something. If this happens, the wheels won't stay in the open position.
> ...


Edit:

I checked out my cart more closely and it turns out that the gears are not made out of nylon/plastic. All the gears are made out of a cast metal that is not aluminum. The gears attached to the wheels are just painted black to match the wheel mounts. I still think it would be a good idea to retrofit the cart with holes and pins to reinforce the wheel mounts when in the open position. All in all, not a bad price for what you get. The sale supposedly ends Sept. 30th.


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## MA_PE (Sep 6, 2007)

I took all my references in a hockey equipment bag (new not yet used for hockey equipment and it went on to a full life as my son's equipment bag) that has an integral metal frame with wheels on one end. I took STR1 and had probably 3+ milk crates worth of references/codes stuffed into the bag.

FWIW, if you have access to al of the codes referenced on the STR1 exam I'd suggest schlepping them along to the test. As Tina said, you nenver know when you might get an easy slam dunk question by having the code handy. IMHO, if it can get you 1 question answered it's worth lugging in.

My :2cents:


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## HERO (Sep 15, 2007)

Thank you all again for your input. I apprecaite your best efforts!

As a suggestion, EngineerBoards.com should consider a sticky on book carry-type equipment for the engineers taking their PE exams.

Mark


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## HERO (Sep 15, 2007)

Tina said:


> I agree. I never planned on taking all my books to the exam, but since the books I really wanted to take didn't fit in one crate and I had to take the second crate anyway I thought what the heck and took all books with me (even the ones I had never looked at before). I'm so glad I did. I answered several questions with references that I hadn't planned on bringing. Yes, it's right, you don't have time to read the references. But you might be able to find what you need in the index and voila you got the answer. There are indeed questions on the exam that can be answered just like that. I would have kicked my butt if I hadn't brought those books.


Here's my attitude on the books.......if you need it, bring it.


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