Custom foam for pelican case

[Lapeer20m]

I spent the past few days trying to cut custom foam for mavic. I want to carry mavic with arms open and iPad inserted in the remote controller.

I'm a handy guy. I tried several methods but none look professional: hot wire foam cutter, electric turkey carving knife, scroll saw, and cnc machine with various router bits.

I tried room temperature, frozen, wet first then frozen,....

None of these methods makes what I would consider a desirable cut.

I found a local foam company that cuts foam with a cnc water jet. As long as the price is reasonable I will have them cut the foam. I already made an autocad file.

 

[scrib74]

what about a laser cutter?

 

[Lapeer20m]

So I gave it one last try with the Hotwire and the results were pretty good.

I have to finish the 3D portion, but the cutouts worked quite nicely.

I first overplayed vinyl decals on the foam, then traced around that with the Hotwire.





The end result is rather nice.



I'll post photos after the finishing touches.

 

[Ping^Spike]

Mate, that is seriously impressive

 

[Aerial Boundary]

I bet it would work even better with denser foam, and foam that doesn't have all the perforations to facilitate picking it apart by hand.

 

[Lapeer20m]

After plasti dip

 

[Lapeer20m]

It is amazing how small mavic and the controller are when folded compared to open.

Here is this new pelican compared to my original hard case: (this pelican is not for me, it's for work)







I definately recommend plasti-dipping foam. Especially this type as it is the pick/pluck type which makes it more fragile than ordinary foam.

 

[Black Burban]

This is my pick and pluck first attempt. It works for now but I'm not sure how long it will last. This is a Pelican 1500 case.

 

[matth1000]

Yep definitely spray with 6 or 7 coats of plastidip. Works really well.

 

[MavicPro2]

Nice job man, but was it really worth all that effort to just fold the MP up..?

 

[Black Burban]

Nice job man, but was it really worth all that effort to just fold the MP up..?

Honestly it never occurred to me to try an unfolded configuration.

 

[MavicPro2]

Honestly it never occurred to me to try an unfolded configuration.

No I'm struggling to understand why you would either?! The mavic footprint unfolded isn't that much smaller than a P4P so why not just get one of those instead if portability isn't your primary reason for selecting a drone?? Just seems a while lot of messing around to carry a drone that is designed to be folded.

 

[mmcnel99]

What is plastidip and where can it be purchased?

What is the benefit?

 

[dsd317]

What is plastidip and where can it be purchased?

What is the benefit?

It's basically a spray-on rubber coating which can be peeled off of hard surfaces when not needed. Can be purchased at most hardware/automotive stores....and even walmart has them.

Plasti Dip® - PLASTI DIP®

 

[matth1000]

When you spray it over the foam it kinda sticks and melts the top layer of foam together.
It makes for a really nice finish over the surface and it looks like like one solid bit of foam after a few coats.
All the gaps between the pick and pull foam disappears

 

[matth1000]

 

[mmcnel99]

Cool! Thanks for the info

 

[Five-O]

I never thought about plastidip, but I did make my own foam cutter for my firearms. I replaced the foam commonly sold it Pelican cases and replaced it with closed cell foam. Closed cell foam is way better than the foam commonly sold in Pelican style cases, it does not retain moisture.

 

[Case K]

I spent the past few days trying to cut custom foam for mavic. I want to carry mavic with arms open and iPad inserted in the remote controller.

I'm a handy guy. I tried several methods but none look professional: hot wire foam cutter, electric turkey carving knife, scroll saw, and cnc machine with various router bits.

I tried room temperature, frozen, wet first then frozen,....

None of these methods makes what I would consider a desirable cut.

I found a local foam company that cuts foam with a cnc water jet. As long as the price is reasonable I will have them cut the foam. I already made an autocad file.

View attachment 17341

Nice work... but... why store/ transport it spread eagle?

 

[Lapeer20m]

No I'm struggling to understand why you would either?! The mavic footprint unfolded isn't that much smaller than a P4P so why not just get one of those instead if portability isn't your primary reason for selecting a drone?? Just seems a while lot of messing around to carry a drone that is designed to be folded.

It's for a fire department. The idea is that mavic will be faster to deploy if it is unfolded and iPad is already in the controller and connected.

Also, it is less likely to get broken by some numbskull who is not that familiar with the device trying to fold it up incorrectly.

A phantom 4 standard doesn't have any significant advantages to mavic as far as flight characteristics or flight time.

The p4p does have a much nicer camera.

Mavic is a "practice" drone for the department to get familiar with while they plan and budget for a matrice 210.