Custom Pelican Foam

[Sonny]

So I've got a pretty small setup.  It's mostly used in run & gun and ENG type situations.  The point is that most of it fits into my petrol bag and a single pelican case.

Over the last couple of years, however, I've beaten the hell out of the pick & pluck foam insert and it's starting to fall to pieces.  I could pick up another insert, but I'm guessing the same thing will eventually happen to it.  Does anybody know who I can talk to about designing and cutting a custom foam insert?

[David Waelder]

It's a challenge to have custom foam work done economically with a single example. Pelican will be happy to do elaborate custom cutting but they want to do 100 units at a time. In case you have lots and lots of friends, here is the link from the Pelican site:

http://pelican.com/oem/

Here in LA, there is a shop that sells foam and they will perform some limited cutting if you purchase the foam from them. (They do sell case foam in a variety of sizes.) They use a large band saw to make the cuts and can do fairly intricate work. Here is a link to them:

http://www.foammart.com/foammarthome.html

Foam can also be cleanly cut with a hot knife. That's a knife with a heated blade. Most examples look like a soldering iron with an Exacto blade where you would expect to see the soldering tip. Hot knives make excellent cuts in foam but the blades in most examples are too short to go all the way through the foam that needs to be cut. One can make the surface cut with the hot knife and then hack your way through with an ordinary knife. That leaves a clean edge at the surface.

Probably most people cut foam using an electric carving knife. They make excellent cuts but it is very difficult to exactly control the electric knife, keeping it exactly vertical to make a consistent 90-degree cut through each layer. If you could rig an electric knife onto something like a drill press form, then you could probably achieve better performance. But that would, essentially, be a band saw.

If you, or a friend, has a basement workshop with a bandsaw, you could experiment at your leisure and probably achieve professional results.

David Waelder

[Sonny]

Yeah.  I figured quantity would be an issue.

Your hot blade idea got me thinking though...I seem to remember an episode of Mythbusters where one of the guys cut a big block of foam with a hot wire.  I'll have to do a little more research, but that seems like just the kind of thing I might be able to rig up myself.

[Jeff Wexler]

Foam can also be cleanly cut with a hot knife. That's a knife with a heated blade.

David Waelder

I have done this before by heating a clay sculpting blade (long, flat knife-like tool) with a propane torch. This works very well and also sort of seals the foam surface presenting a good wall for the cutout. The FUMES are quite noxious, probably carcinogenic, so I don't do it anymore. I would suggest working outdoors and hold your breath.

- Jeff Wexler

[Sonny]

UPDATE: I found a place in San Diego that will do one-off custom cut foam inserts.

www.caseman.com

Input the case and dimensions of cutouts online, then they send you a blueprint for approval before they do any cutting.

It set me back about $130 which isn't too bad considering I was looking at about $100 to buy solid foam and a hot knife kit.

The only downsides were that the form on the website could be more clear and it took about 2 weeks to get it.  The foam is also more rigid than the pick 'n' pluck, but I think it will be fine.  Besides, this wasn't exactly a DIY project I was looking forward to.

[André Boisvert]

An electric knife - two blades running back and forth - designed for kitchen use will do a pretty good job on hard and soft foam. The thicker the foam is, the harder it is to make a perpendicular cut, however. I bought mine many years ago to replace the foam thingy off the bottom of my old style VdB. Sometimes my cuts are a bit rough, but I don't need to impress anyone with my foam. It's cheap and has done the job eversince.

[stacysound]

You can also soak and freeze the foam, then cut.

[Simon Paine]

My Father is an aircraft mechanic, and his tool box is sort of what you expect to see from an over the top obsesive compulsive organised freek. (which my father is not BTW..)

But in each drawer of his tool box, he has a piece of foam in it, and he took each of his tools, heated them up, and placed them back on the foam, letting them melt into it. It leaves a really nice looking result, with every piece of equipment nested in it's own space.

So i decided to try the same thing, and pointed a heat gun directly on my MKH-60 for a good ten minutes. Once it was nice and hot (waited until it had a nice red glow) I placed it on the foam. voila. instant dead mic. But boy does it look good in the drawer.

[Eric Toline]

So i pointed a heat gun directly on my MKH-60 for a good ten minutes. Once it was nice and hot (waited until it had a nice red glow) I placed it on the foam. voila. instant dead mic. But boy does it look good in the drawer.

Sorry to find humor in your misfortune but that's a really funny line. ;-))

Eric

[FSBELLA]

So I've got a pretty small setup.  It's mostly used in run & gun and ENG type situations.  The point is that most of it fits into my petrol bag and a single pelican case.

Over the last couple of years, however, I've beaten the hell out of the pick & pluck foam insert and it's starting to fall to pieces.  I could pick up another insert, but I'm guessing the same thing will eventually happen to it.  Does anybody know who I can talk to about designing and cutting a custom foam insert?

sonny,

pelican has "velcro style" inserts that can be used instead of the pick n pluck foam. check it out.

[soundtrane]

But in each drawer of his tool box, he has a piece of foam in it, and he took each of his tools, heated them up, and placed them back on the foam, letting them melt into it. It leaves a really nice looking result, with every piece of equipment nested in it's own space.

Problem with this method is that the melted foam sticks to the tool, wasn't that the case?

I have tried making customs inserts with HEATLON. Works much better than the foam in Pelicans, it is more rugged, if that is what is required.

http://www.pinnacle-cases.com/showProducts.html?prodtypes=&seriesType=FOAM

-vin

[Simon Paine]

Sorry to find humour in your misfortune but that's a really funny line. ;-))

It's quite all right to laugh at that one Eric. Tongue was planted firmly in cheek when I typed it