Professional_Tool_And_Equipment_News_February_2021 - 50

BIG TIME BOXES

Seeing the big picture
with a portable diagnostic cart
Automotive diagnostician Mario Rojas prefers to keep his toolbox mobile, with a diagnostic
cart that holds everything he needs and more, including a massive 4K TV.
by Brittany Vincent, Managing Editor

ome technicians rely on
massive toolboxes to
store the cures for what
ails their customers' vehicles. Others, like Autobahn
Performance's Mario Rojas,
whittle everything they need
down to one specialized box -
or in this instance, a cart - to
streamline the process.
Diagnostician Rojas has been in the
automotive business for seven years.
During that time, he's used a variety of toolboxes. But while his 76 " workhorse is great
for storage, he " rarely " goes in it. Instead,
his pride and joy is a custom Harbor Freight
diagnostic cart that features a 43 " 4K TV
as its major set piece. It also happens to
hold all the tools that help him do his
job, day in and day out.
" I have several boxes, but the main
one I work with the most is my diagnostic cart, " Rojas says. " It allows me to do a
lot of things at once, like [reading] email,
looking up service information, looking up
wiring diagrams, and using a PicoScope
simultaneously. "
The cart is " nothing out of the ordinary, " says Rojas, but he's made a few major
modifications. He's been using his setup for
about two years, and it's gone through a few
iterations. His favorite part of the setup, by
far, is its latest addition: the TV.
" I went from a 27 " monitor to this and
it's a huge difference, " Rojas attests. " I get
to do a lot of things all at once ... that I
have not been able to do before. [Before],
it was very cluttered and cumbersome.
Now, with the big screen, I can just throw
a couple of windows around and click in
and out of all the things that I'm doing. "
You might think pushing around a cart

PTEN

FEBRUARY 2021

Mario Rojas

Shop: Autobahn Performance
Location: Oakland Park, Florida
with a TV might be difficult in a shop.
That's not the case, according to Rojas.
" I can no longer go underneath cars that
are fully lifted, " he says. " I do have to go
around them. That's the only disadvantage,
but overall the movement is the same. "
Rojas says it's still easy to keep the cart
portable, even with a large screen. He has
added a power bank (which gives him two
more hours of disconnected runtime) with
an extension cable to ensure he's never too
far from a hookup. He says he needs the
extra juice to power his PicoScope 4425
four-channel scope.
" Without [my cart], using the scope

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would be much more difficult, " says Rojas.
He also uses a one-channel, batteryoperated handheld uScope in tandem
with his PicoScope, in addition to keeping
plenty of pull sensors on hand, as you can
" never have too many of those. "
For Rojas, trying something new has
paid off. " [A] huge thanks to Trained by
Techs for basically exposing me to all of
this, " says Rojas. " It really did start with
them for me. Also, thanks to [Trained by
Techs'] Brandon Steckler for teaching me
and getting me to where I'm at, which lead
to this diagnostics cart being made. "
Want to see more photos of Rojas' box?
Visit: VehicleServicePros.com/21207393
Want to show off YOUR Big-Time Box?
For more information, email
Editor@VehicleServicePros.com.

http://www.VehicleServicePros.com/21207393 http://www.VehicleServicePros.com

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