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delliottg
Site Supporter
Location: Duvall Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2011 Posts: 4604
Real Name: David
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I bought a nice case from Plano that comes with both egg crate foam top and bottom, as well as a layer of pick & pluck foam in between the other two. I just spent a chunk of time to fit both my new Henry & Rita's Circuit Judge inside the case. While the guns are held securely, I'm less than happy about how the foam looks. I tried several different ways of cutting the foam to shape, but none of them really worked well, and the whole thing just looks...ragged. A brand new razor knife didn't cut it well, a pair of scissors did OK, but left scalloped cuts everywhere, a bread knife (freshly sharpened) did OK, but tended to leave vertical cut marks, my pocket knife did OK, but still left ragged edges, etc. I don't have an electric carving knife, I've heard they do well.
Assuming I can find new foam to replace the one I've torn up (both the top & bottom egg crate foam are fine, it's only the center piece), what's a better way to go about this? I've seen people do hot wire foam cutting, but that's for hard foam, pick & pluck isn't hard.
_________________David Unique Treen
Last edited by delliottg on Fri Jul 05, 2019 3:15 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:48 pm |
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A.O.
Site Supporter
Location: Tacoma :( Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2011 Posts: 2408
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My case builder .com
Fun website.
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Thu Jul 04, 2019 4:47 pm |
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RocketScott
Site Supporter
Location: Kentucky Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2015 Posts: 11082
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Hot knife https://www.ar15.com/forums/ar-15/Cutting_Gun_Case_Foam__lots_of_photos_/4-292695/I have no experience with it but you might be able to salvage what you have by spraying it with plastidip from a rattle can. It bonds the pluck foam together
_________________ You may be right, I may be crazy, but it just may be a lunatic you're looking for
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Thu Jul 04, 2019 5:11 pm |
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Arisaka
Site Supporter
Location: Tacoma Joined: Sat May 4, 2013 Posts: 6214
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I did the plastic-dip rattle can thing. Took 4 cans for a rifle sized case, and that shit ain’t cheap
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Thu Jul 04, 2019 5:22 pm |
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Traut
Site Supporter
Location: Downtown Newcastle Joined: Sat Mar 5, 2016 Posts: 3446
Real Name: Traut
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Don't know if they are still made, but "old fashioned" electric carving knives work great for that. You might check the thrift stores. Look for electric fish filetting knives too. Barring that, bread slicing knives work to, if the serrations are fine enough.
Another trick is to go to the fabric store and get some felt or other material of choice and lay it over the foam in the case. Push the guns into the recesses. Smooth out the puckers and tuck in the edges and you can end up with a pretty swanky looking set up. Crown Royal purple felt or red look grreat. So do dark blue and gold/yellow. Pick what Miss Rita likes.
_________________ I always thought growing old would take a lot longer.....
So, when does that "Old enough to know better" shit kick in??? I've learned that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everyone off is a piece of cake.
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Thu Jul 04, 2019 9:59 pm |
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mmalleck
Site Supporter
Location: Bellevue area - WA Joined: Wed Jan 9, 2013 Posts: 1435
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I bought a cheap electric knife for cutting foam for chairs. Worked great, for straight and slightly curved cuts. Not sure it would work all that well for detailed cuts around firearms.
I bought a Black and Decker for $15 bucks. Amazon - BLACK+DECKER 9-Inch Electric Carving Knife, Black, EK500B
Last edited by mmalleck on Thu Jul 04, 2019 10:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Thu Jul 04, 2019 10:10 pm |
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delliottg
Site Supporter
Location: Duvall Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2011 Posts: 4604
Real Name: David
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Traut wrote: Don't know if they are still made, but "old fashioned" electric carving knives work great for that. You might check the thrift stores. Look for electric fish filetting knives too. Barring that, bread slicing knives work to, if the serrations are fine enough.
Another trick is to go to the fabric store and get some felt or other material of choice and lay it over the foam in the case. Push the guns into the recesses. Smooth out the puckers and tuck in the edges and you can end up with a pretty swanky looking set up. Crown Royal purple felt or red look grreat. So do dark blue and gold/yellow. Pick what Miss Rita likes. I like this idea!
_________________David Unique Treen
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Thu Jul 04, 2019 10:20 pm |
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NWGunner
Site Supporter
Location: South Seattle Joined: Thu May 2, 2013 Posts: 12474
Real Name: Steve
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You had him at thrift store... Good luck, David!
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Thu Jul 04, 2019 10:28 pm |
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hartcreek
Location: Union Gap Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2016 Posts: 1722
Real Name: Randall Knapp
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I do not understand why you are cutting egg crate foam in the first place. I just put my firearms in my cases and they stay put when I close the case.
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Fri Jul 05, 2019 9:16 am |
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Mr. Q
Site Supporter
Location: S. Everett Joined: Thu May 2, 2013 Posts: 3042
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I personally think pick and pluck looks terrible. Get the foam you have to cut and use an electric carving knife. Those work great!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Fri Jul 05, 2019 10:01 am |
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delliottg
Site Supporter
Location: Duvall Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2011 Posts: 4604
Real Name: David
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Mr. Q wrote: I personally think pick and pluck looks terrible. Get the foam you have to cut and use an electric carving knife. Those work great! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk We just looked for one at the local thrift shop and couldn't find any. We did find a nice piece of 5' diameter table cloth that's sturdy enough that I think will take care of Len's idea to basically upholster the inside of the case with. Probably have enough to do my AR-15 pistol case too, because it's pick & pluck looks like crap as well. hartcreek wrote: I do not understand why you are cutting egg crate foam in the first place. I just put my firearms in my cases and they stay put when I close the case. Go back & read the OP, I'm not cutting egg crate form, I'm cutting a thick layer of pick & pluck foam that's between two layers of egg crate. If I remove the pick & pluck, there's about a 2" - 3" gap between the two pieces of foam, and I don't want my expensive and nice looking guns hitting one another when they're rattling around inside the case.
_________________David Unique Treen
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Fri Jul 05, 2019 11:58 am |
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delliottg
Site Supporter
Location: Duvall Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2011 Posts: 4604
Real Name: David
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Taking up Len's idea, here's what it looked like before I began: Raggedly pick and pluck foam, wasn't happy with it at all. And after running to thrift store to find fabric (circular table cloth). I like the green, and it feels like it'll be somewhat durable. Took about an hour to figure out what to do, get the fabric cut and placed. It still needs spray adhesive to stick it down to everything, so it's not done-done, but at least you can see what it's going to look like. I think I have enough fabric left over to also do my AR-15 pistol case, because it looks almost as raggedy.
_________________David Unique Treen
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Fri Jul 05, 2019 3:10 pm |
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MadPick
Site Admin
Location: Renton, WA Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2011 Posts: 52020
Real Name: Steve
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That looks nice!
_________________SteveBenefactor Life Member, National Rifle AssociationLife Member, Second Amendment FoundationPatriot & Life Member, Gun Owners of AmericaLife Member, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear ArmsLegal Action Supporter, Firearms Policy CoalitionMember, NAGR/NFGRPlease support the organizations that support all of us.Leave it cleaner than you found it.
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Fri Jul 05, 2019 3:15 pm |
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Olympia173
Site Supporter
Location: East Olympia Joined: Fri May 30, 2014 Posts: 490
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I’ve seen instructions online for a hot wire foam cutter using guitar string or other thin wire. Run an adjustable electric current through it to heat it up and it will cut very precise lines in foam.
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Fri Jul 05, 2019 3:45 pm |
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BadKarma
Site Moderator
Location: Duvall Joined: Tue Sep 13, 2011 Posts: 8660
Real Name: Jaime
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Olympia173 wrote: I’ve seen instructions online for a hot wire foam cutter using guitar string or other thin wire. Run an adjustable electric current through it to heat it up and it will cut very precise lines in foam. Brian did a write up. I will try to find it.
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Fri Jul 05, 2019 4:24 pm |
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