I'm thinking of getting one of those Kinchrome pelican-style cases (the yellow ones), for my eyepieces and other goodies. I'm just wondering is the foam in these safe for optics?
I'm thinking of getting one of those Kinchrome pelican-style cases (the yellow ones), for my eyepieces and other goodies. I'm just wondering is the foam in these safe for optics?
If it's pick and pluck foam it will degrade in a year or more. Some of the cheaper pluck foams leave a sticky residue as they break down.
Most foam rubber will give adequate protection against bumps and drops.
Clark Rubber sells an extensive range of foam and higher density rubbers you can peruse when you want to change the foam out.
I hate these foam cases especially the square pre cut ones, 1. because once used you can't put the bits back to re arrange for a different layout and 2. they fall apart.
ME I prefer to make my own dividers, this is an OLD layout now much changed but the dividers made of . see link.... can be moved again and again in a case
Also plenty of room for air flow and no chemicals like foam
Image 1. Foam case stuck with the layout
Image 2, change as many times as you like as you expand
My 2c worth.
If you can afford it Pelican + Trekpak = efficient and reconfigurable storage
The images are of two cases I have had since 1980 before with foam and after with Trekpak
But you can always try to get second had cases and retro fit them
Ukastronomer (Jeremy) was ahead of his time in making his own dividers from corflute
Won’t scratch eyepieces or aluminium parts, easy to cut with a craft knife, won’t shed fibres or dust, contact adhesive will stick it in place, doesn’t hold humidity or dew, and dust and grit won’t get trapped in it.
What are you using on the bottom/top of the case? It's easy to shape length and width of corflute cells, but the depth... Otherwise eyepieces will be laying very loosely there.
What are you using on the bottom/top of the case? It's easy to shape length and width of corflute cells, but the depth... Otherwise eyepieces will be laying very loosely there.
Agreed the cases as-is are too deep.
I made a false bottom using some wooden strips and 3mm MDF, with a layer of 3mm EVA foam rubber over that - all scraps from other jobs. The false bottom simply sits there rather than being screwed or glued in, so that occasionally I can lift it out and empty any dust that has accumulated under.
The inside of the lid of mine are filled with “egg crate” foam which holds everything in place when it’s shut.
One case is quite shallow and has 1.25” vixen eyepieces lying on their side, as the 1.25” ones are vixen SSW and SLV which are all about the same size, which made it easy to make one case to hold them all plus diagonal and a couple of adapter rings.
I have a second case for larger things - finder scopes and my sole 2” low power eyepiece, this one I made a bit deeper.
You could alternatively stand eyepieces on their ends in the case - it would hold more - but it makes it hard to tell which is which.
What are you using on the bottom/top of the case? It's easy to shape length and width of corflute cells, but the depth... Otherwise eyepieces will be laying very loosely there.
the case came with a foam layer I covered with 100% lint free cotton from a VERY old pillow case
Thanks for the responses guys. I found some more threads on the subjects here and it sounds like the Kinchrome is a safe bet.
I've also found a Pelican 1555 w/ foam for low-mid 300's on ebay. Size-wise it looks like what I'm after, sounds like a good price as far as Pelican goes, am I right?
The corflute and trekpak looks interesting, but I can get by with foam. Just wanna make sure that foam will not stuff up my optics as I heard some foam does.
What you can do if you are locked down at home for 14 days of quarantine and have no clear skies? Make corflute dividers for eyepiece and binoviewer boxes. Much better than foam inserts. A sheet of corflute, painters tape - that's all what you need.
