Foam and cutter?

[danbroad]

Hi there

I've found an old lockbox in the garage that I figure would make a great case for camera and lenses when not out with me and the Domke.

I just need to find some decent, fairly firm foam or expanded polystyrene blocks and a hot wire cutter [or just a 9V battery and some fuse wire.]

So , two questions - firstly, anybody here have some tips on reliable suppliers of the sort of foam I'm looking for; alternately, blocks of expanded polystyrene - any sellers of these [ideally 6-8" thick]?

And has anyone made a diy hotwire cutter recently? It's been about 15 years since I last tried this, and I've forgotten the resistance of the wire I'll need to get hot with a 9V push [Ohm's law, be damned..]

Cheers...!

[danbroad]

right, well in the absence of any replies, I'll be the one to go first..

I've ordered some cut-to-size foam from eFoam.co.uk [which have an easy size-ordering template; I've ordered packaging grade foam.]

I've dug around on the internet and found these instructions...http://www.instructables.com/id/Hot-Wire-Foamcutter-Battery-Powered/

and so I'll be giving this a go. BTW, here's the legal bit: all links contain stuff you do at your own risk! If you promise not to burn down the house or choke on toxic fumes, I won't either....

[kevshore]

Have you considered the foam than you just pluck cubes out of? The type that PELI have in their cases.
Very easy to use.


Kev.

[kingbling11]

I saw a thread similar to this about a month ago, someone found a place in the US that will cut the foam for you with a Computerised design provided by you

[danbroad]

Tried that before, kev - works well, but my plans for this are a little... grander! [Hmmm....]

... hopefully nicely semicylindrical cutaways sized just right for my 200-500, 70-300, 50, 35 and 17-50.. and a nice space for the gripped camera. I always found that the pick'n'pluck foam looks a little unsightly after a few months use - always a few rectangles coming apart where they shouldn't... This is very much a home store - maybe to be packed into the car for trips, but mainly I know which lenses I'm going to take before I step out of the house...

Thanks for the advice, though. It is good stuff for its purpose.

[danbroad]

Oh, and as for the hotwire I'll be trying the 'cordless drill battery and guitar string' method. I figure I have ten fingers to get through...

[kevshore]

I'll be interested to see how you get on. Been thinking of getting a large PELI box myself for all of my gear.
I wonder if hole cutters would do a clean cut for the lenses at high speed?

Kev.

[danbroad]

Thanks, I'll let you know!

Old electric carving knives are used for foam cutting, so I don't see why a holesaw wouldn't achieve the same thing - although you'd have to keep stopping once you hit max depth, I suppose.

It's fairly easy to set up a wire cutter using any battery pack and some wire - the problems are finding the gauge of wire that has a decent enough resistance to get hot enough.

[neil_g]

another good site for foam is - http://www.foamforcomfort.co.uk/pages/packing.html

i was going to use it for this sort of thing - http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilgates/2795135579/in/set-72157606938307960/

but i never quite got around to cutting all the holes out. mind you i have more kit now too..

[danbroad]

thanks Neil!

btw, goodwood was excellent this year - albeit the busiest yet... I'll get some piccies up in the transport section..