Large Custom Rifle Holster or 1st Attempt At A Custom Gun Case

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  • thperez1972

    ESSAYONS
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    Dec 28, 2015
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    So I decided to try my hand at making a custom rifle case. I had a Plano All-Weather case and I picked up a 2'x4' sheet of 2-1/2" of kaizen foam from Home Depot for $30. The kaizen foam is layered. You can cut to a depth and peel the layers off to created the cavity. Or that's what's supposed to happen.

    IMG_9210.jpg

    The end product doesn't look too bad. I didn't do a good job of space management. I cut the rifle space before trying to see where everything else would go. Ideally, I should have used a 42" case to make sure I had room for everything and room to add some more stuff as needed.

    IMG_9211.jpg

    One issue I had was the layers did not peel cleanly. I tried to flatten the cavity as best I could but it is far from perfectly even. I used a box cutter to cut the cavities. A few times I took the blade out of the cutter to shave the bottom on the cavity to make it as even as possible. It works for my purposes but it's sure not something I'd try to sell. The silver is from the sharpie I used to mark the outlines of the items.

    IMG_9213.jpgIMG_9214.jpgIMG_9215.jpg

    The hole in the foam is cut for clearance for the remote switch for the light. I have a bit of foam left over. I may try to find a pistol case to use it in.
     

    Magdump

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    I may go pick up some of that foam. I think I’ve seen that used in other things, has more of a expanded plastic feel instead of foam? I could put some of these dry boxes to good use with some of that.
    Not sure if my cutting method would work as well. I like a thin serrated blade for cutting the acoustic style foam. I use a bread knife like a saw and it makes for quite a neat cut with no ridges left behind. Through the foam at a 45, much like cutting a board with a handsaw, then position to a 90 when coming to a corner.
     

    Blaize

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    Not too bad! Two tips I can offer. The first is flip it over. That way the side that you used the marker on will be face down and you won’t see the lines, it will just be the reverse of what you have laid out.

    second, try an electric filler knife! It is the best thing I have found to cut out the foam and have clean lines. But this only works if your cutting all the way through. So you can use a thinner piece, cut your outlines then lay it over a solid uncut piece.

    But yours looks pretty good though! Nice job
     

    rcm192

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    Last edited:

    thperez1972

    ESSAYONS
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    Dec 28, 2015
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    I may go pick up some of that foam. I think I’ve seen that used in other things, has more of a expanded plastic feel instead of foam? I could put some of these dry boxes to good use with some of that.
    Not sure if my cutting method would work as well. I like a thin serrated blade for cutting the acoustic style foam. I use a bread knife like a saw and it makes for quite a neat cut with no ridges left behind. Through the foam at a 45, much like cutting a board with a handsaw, then position to a 90 when coming to a corner.

    Yes, there's some give but not anywhere close to the pluck-n-pick foam. I used the box cutter and it cut through with no issues without any sawing motion. A lot of the aesthetic issues on the side wall of the cavities are due to multiple cuts. I'd cut to a depth and want to cut deeper. Rather than lengthening the blade and running along the edge of the existing cut, I would sometimes reach into the existing cut and cut more. But I used the 45/90 method you described and it worked fine.

    Not too bad! Two tips I can offer. The first is flip it over. That way the side that you used the marker on will be face down and you won’t see the lines, it will just be the reverse of what you have laid out.

    second, try an electric filler knife! It is the best thing I have found to cut out the foam and have clean lines. But this only works if your cutting all the way through. So you can use a thinner piece, cut your outlines then lay it over a solid uncut piece.

    But yours looks pretty good though! Nice job

    I did the "flip over" before when I was cutting through the foam. In this case, there is no bottom foam sheet. The cavities do not extend all the way through the foam except in the place where the remote light switch sits. I cut each cavity to a depth and whatever was left of the original 2-1/2" depth became the foam under the item.

    Which Home Depot did you get your foam from. Did you have to order it or was it in stock at the store?

    I had to order it and shipped it to a store at no charge.

    Check out foambymail.com for future projects...so many options!

    If the foam that you purchased is open cell foam it will hold moisture long term. Cheaper cases often use open cell where as the better quality manufacturers will used closed cell (like Pelican).

    https://www.foambymail.com/custom-packaging.html

    https://www.foambymail.com/closed-cell-foams.html

    This is closed cell foam. But I thought about creating a small cavity for a pack of decadent.
     
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