Help with foam cut outs

[Outdoorviking]

I consider myself to be a fairly self-sufficient ,mechanically inclined individual but I need some assistance with this one. I have probably a half dozen various sized Pelican and Hardigg cases with foam. I have seen many images of custom cutouts for various items to hold in place in the foam of these type of cases. Is there a simple way to trace an item and cut out without building a hot-wire device? I have tried the "use a razor" method with not so great results. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[washington taco]

If cutting basic shapes you can use differant size pipe. When I was in school I worked in a shipping department and we would cut foam with pipe by sharpening the edge and pushing it into the foam. You can use square or round tube.

 

[spressomon]

My Pelican and Hardigg cases were ordered with the pluck it type foam. I just traced around the object using a felt tip market and plucked away.

Presumably you have solid foam/non-pluck it pre-scored foam? Aside from making a die and even that won't work if you don't want to cut all the way through vertically...a really sharp knife is about your only means. Cut around the perimeter of the shape and then criss-cross within the border small enough you can carefully pluck away until you get the depth you need.

 

[jmkoz]

Electric carving knives work well for guitar flight cases etc. so should do the job for you. Just need to keep the blades nice and straight.

FWIW
John

 

[NLXTACY]

If you are using pluck foam on your Pelican then make your life simpler. The pluck only gets pulled by the square, not a section of it. So marking in felt only helps you take off more than you want to. Its best to just use toothpicks and place them into the joints nearest the object you are plucking for. Then push down the foam going from toothpick to toothpick. Push down just enough to get it started. Remove the toothpicks then go back and push all the way through. Easy peasy. I had to start my new job a few years ago by pulling pluck foam on nearly 100 of the largest cases that Pelican makes. I had many repeat items so I made a template as a grid. Took me under a minute to pull the foam.

 

[1911]

... Its best to just use toothpicks and place them into the joints nearest the object you are plucking for. Then push down the foam going from toothpick to toothpick. Push down just enough to get it started. Remove the toothpicks then go back and push all the way through. Easy peasy

+1, that's exactly how I did my pluck 'n pull.

Also, you can buy just the pluck 'n pull foam for any size Pelican case.

 

[Krink545]

On a rifle case i normally trace it with a sharpie pen then cut it with a fillet knife which works well as does the electric carving knife

 

[Scott B.]

A trick I learned (talking with folks from Hardigg) is to put the foam in the freezer for a while before cutting it. Also, use a serrated blade to cut the foam (bread knife.)

 

[mudbutt]

A trick I learned (talking with folks from Hardigg) is to put the foam in the freezer for a while before cutting it. Also, use a serrated blade to cut the foam (bread knife.)

^^^Yep.....

If you are so inclined, soak it in water first. Wring out the excess, freeze, carve away with sharp knife/electric knife.

When you are done, toss it in the dryer on the lowest setting.

 

[slowtwitch]

From the Home Shop machinist forum:

First off make a shallow wooden box that is deep enough to hold your items and a neat fit inside the drawer or tool box. Thin plywood is plenty good enought for this. Drill holes, 1/4" or so at 2" grid spacing over the bottom of the box.

Get some knitted cotton as used to make t-shirts, the colour is your choice. Carefully spread this loosely over the top of the box and glue it down the sides. It must be secure and avoid wrinkles. Spray it lightly with water and set aside, you want it damp(ish) not dripping wet.

Now get your treasured items and spread them on a flat surface arranged how your prefer. Cover them with a layer of cling film but leave it slack.

Now, turn your box upside down and place it over the items and reach for your can of expanding polyurethane foam. This is the stuff they sell for filling gaps around draughty window frames etc.

Inject foam into the holes and squirt it around to ensure the space above your items gets really filled and you dont want any voids. Pretty soon it will start oozing out of the holes so slap a sheet of metal, board or whatever on and weight the whole business down. If you used thin plywood you should brace the sides as there is quite a bit of pressure exerted by the expanding foam.

Now relax, tomorrow you will have a nicely formed insert for your tool drawer (in the colour of your old t-shirt).

I specified putting cling film over the items but I have never found this necessary, and I have made a few inserts for optical items in my telescope cases, as the foam does not penetrate the knitted cotton. Dampening the fabric accelerates curing of the polyurethan and it might be what stops the foam pushing through the fabric.

Note that because the items were put on a flat surface your finished drawer insert will provide a flat top surface even when the items are in place giving the possibility of stacking inserts, but I have never done this.

 

[rusty_tlc]

...

Now, turn your box upside down and place it over the items and reach for your can of expanding polyurethane foam. This is the stuff they sell for filling gaps around draughty window frames etc.

....

That would be fine for a tool box but poly foam is rigid, for a travel case you want something that gives to cushion the contents from impact and vibration.

 

[mikelite80]

For work we just send a CAD over to our foam company and they cut it. Is that cheating? Think they mostly use water jet and CNC Routers. Depends on the item and density of foam being used. Alot of things use a more rigid foam to get the shape then that is covered in thin layers of a soft foam.

For alot of things we just use the Pelican pick n' pluck foam. After a few you get the hang of it pretty quick. A white or yellow paint marker also can be helpful when trying to visualize the layout. For some really fragile things we've used those expanding foam pack to get a tight hold, then pack that in a Pelican with foam.

 

[crusader]

If you go the "picn-n-pluck" route, you might find this to be cheaper than the stuff sold by Pellican. I have never used either, so I can't comment on any comparison between the two.


[EDIT] Hmm...maybe not--I see that those are the price EACH PIECE and not for the entire quantity. [/EDIT]

 

[Harald Hansen]

We get equipment packed in Instapak Quick "foam-in-a-bag" at work from time to time. It works well, but I have no idea about the cost.

 

[JackW]

I use either a knife made from a section of serrated bandsaw blade (like a meat cutting blade) or a small Makita trim router.