I am looking for someway of lining a wooden transportation case I have built for my mount. I vaguely remember hearing of a "foaming" product that one could squirt into a container then impress the object you are trying to protect (wrapped in plastic) into the "liquid foam", wait for it to set and hey presto - you have (half) a custom made foam/styrene mould.
Is this stuff, if it exists, publicly available? I guess the other alternative is to find a suitably large block of polystyrene and attempt to cut it neatly?
Thanks for any hints, tips or suggestions.
Dennis
PS - I cannot use the original packaging material as it no longer fits ‘cos I have set the mount to my latitude in Brisbane.
There are several foaming products available in cans, look at your local hardware store but be warned the unset foam, as it comes out of the can, is extremely sticky and gooey, (acetone will remove it but also takes off paint) so if you're thinking of wrapping anything up and foaming around it, make sure you do it properly.
My favourite thing to wrap scopes up to travel with is an old clean doona/continental quilt and/or some old thick blankets and then a few old fat soft seat cushions to keep em in position - has worked ok for us in the past, no complaints so far (knock on wood)
cheers
Fringey
Many thanks for the tips, advice and warnings guys - much appreciated.
In terms of keeping the top flat, I was thinking of doing the job in two halves with a generous overlap, so I would cut off the non-flat, knobbly overlap portion, leaving a flat surface, one in the bottom of the wooden case, the other half in the top. That's the theory anyhow!
I'll let you know how I get on, although it won't be for a couple of weeks as we have our astrocamp this coming weekend and I'm not game to try to rush it before then!
Just be careful with the 'finished foam'. It has a tendancy to keep expanding for quite a while. One of our model boat builders put some in the bow of one boat for bouyancy, sealed it off with plywood & F/Glass, but months later the deck & hull parted company. (not enough room to expand). Just a thought. L.
Thanks Rajah - I'll be sure to line the wooden case with thick sheets of polythene before I squirt in the foam, so when I remove them after the goop has set, I should end up with a 1mm gap all around to allow for any potential expansion.
Well, I tracked down some of the expanding foam stuff in Bunnings ($5.95) and tried it but it just didn't work out - I would have needed 10 cans. Instead, I scrounged around and found some polystyrene bits and pieces which I cut and fitted inside the wooden box that I made.
Here are a couple of piccies, open and closed. In the open box, you can see the Tak EM-200 mount and fitted in the lid, various equipment cases from Richard Smiths. These house the mains power adapter (24V 4A), Tak hand control unit, CCD autoguider cable and RS232 PC control cable. The leather trowel case (Bunnings $3.75) holds the mains lead.
The box is made of 12mm exterior plywood which cost me $30 from Bunnings. A Pelican Case (as used by photographers) would have set me back around $540 so it was a no-go from the outset.
I wasn't quite up to dovetail making, so I stuck with straight cuts, like the crenellated battlements on a castle. The design was to ensure the box didn't collapse when lifted with the mount inside. Oh, almost forgot to mention the lavish use of good old filler to hide the gaps from measurement errors and slips with the saw and chisel.
Next, I joined the local gym to lift weights as the mount weighs 35kg.
(knock on wood)
nice workmanship Dennis
