Foam For Shadowboxing tools

[miccontreras]

I'm a newbie to this site. I did a search the other day and found a link to a website that sells closed cell foam pretty cheap.

http://www.closedcellfoams.com/polyethylene.htm

I wanted to see if anyone has used this stuff before. I was thinking of doing the 2.2 lb charcoal polyethelyne, but wanted to get any feedback on whether that stuff works well or not.

I'm not a huge fan of the shiny surface of that type of foam, but it seems that is pretty commonly used for this purpose.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated. I apologize if this has been discusssed before.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[mkdive]

Sorry I don't have any experience with that product...but I thought it was interesting that Sears is even selling shadowing kits for their tools now....

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_SPM243872439P?prdNo=11&blockNo=59&blockType=G59

or you can go straight to the manufactures site here:
http://foamfittools.com/

the manufactures website even allows the custom designing of the shadowing liner for the tools you own!

 

[mrholeshot]

I did a tool box back in the 70's , What a waste of time, money and space. I would only do this if I one thing to use those tools on and never had to add to the set.

 

[Boost Creep]

yeah, i really like it but with as often as things are changing in my toolbox it wouldn't be worth doing for me

 

[Stuey]

If I were to foam my drawers, I'd order from these guys:

http://www.toolfoam.com/

 

[warmpancakes]

wow I thought I was OCD

 

[ihredo4]

I can see the value of the foam if you are working in aircraft or some other similar industry. For a farm or shop box I just don't see it. It would be fun to take the collectible or odd tools that you don't use and store them in a box with the foam. It does look nice though.

 

[nissan_crawler]

Wal-Mart, blue camping mat. Cheap as hell, works great.

 

[g0ldfing3r]

Wal-Mart, blue camping mat. Cheap as hell, works great.

Very nice. Just wondering, how did you cut it? Hot knife?

 

[nissan_crawler]

OLFA utility knife.

 

[spartyon8]

I used the foam gym floor mats (look like puzzle pieces).

 

[fordbroncodave]

a couple little things i'll throw out there.

maybe an alternative to rubber would be the matting from under carpet in a home or office.

who says it needs to hold the tool in the foam? get a thin layer of matting from under an office floor and cut it to size of your toolbox drawer. next, lay it on the floor in the garage and place all your tools on it the way you want them to be. cut the tools out 1 by 1 with a utility knife or similar tool.
place it back in the drawer. use small rare earth magnets to hold the tools in place. 2-3 magnets per tool. you can usually get those from a hobby shop or surplus store for cheap as well as the material to cut the tools into

 

[Bootybug]

Man, what a rip-off for foam. My hat is off to the guy to buy WalFart matt. it would cost me 100 a drawer for FOAM. LOL. OLFA knife for me. Thanks bud.

 

[Sancho]

I did this to a few of my drawers, got my foam from "The Foam Factory" I used 2.2lb charcoal in 1/2", 3/4" and 1/4" white for the underlay.

If you've ever worked on/around aircraft or military shops this is very common. It does cost a lot of space but it is priceless for always knowing where a toll is going to be, and being able to tell if everything made it back into the box or not after a job. The loss of space is offset by the need to buy more toolboxes, not always bad. The foam is also oil/mildew resistant which helps if your in a uninsulated shop at least around me.

Lastly I've used it on my road box such that the tolls aren't crashing around.

I paid ~$45 for 3 4'x8' sheets in the sizes listed above.

 

[miccontreras]

Thanks for all of the replies. Yes, I have a mild case of OCD. Not planning to do all my drawers, but certainly planning on doing some for better tool control. Ended up finding a place in Kansas City that had good pricing on crosslinked polyethelene foam similar to what Cascade sells. Just saved quite a bit in shipping buy buying locally. Now I will put the cutting skills to the test. Hopefully, I'm not throwing away some boogered up foam next week.

 

[Sancho]

Use sharp blades, and change them often! Good luck!

 

[fordbroncodave]

the thinner the material the easier it will be to cut and make it look nice.

 

[EdT]

Tried similar on my tool board years ago (not foam, stickers). For me, it only helped me ID what tool(s) I had neglected to put back and didn't seem to make me guilty enough to address my tragic personality flaw.

 

[Pro-Painter]

I used the foam gym floor mats (look like puzzle pieces).

That is what I used also, Just flipped over to the bare foam side. It does take up a lot of room but IMO it is worth it. I never spend more then 5 secs looking for a tool anymore.

 

[bww_mnm]

That is what I used also, Just flipped over to the bare foam side. It does take up a lot of room but IMO it is worth it. I never spend more then 5 secs looking for a tool anymore.

That's impressive and I have some foam laying around.

 

[Bootybug]

I like the raised foam on the right; makes perfect sense and looks great too.

 

[Matt M PA]

I understand the reason for cutting the foam and knowing if a tool is missing. But, I just couldn't do it in my box...too many tools in some drawers and I would not like the wasted space. Plus, if I buy a new tool...I have to start over again.

How about using that non slip shelf lining stuff? It would keep tools from sliding about.

 

[Regnar]

I found 2 great ways to do this.

One was scan in all the tools and cut out on a CNC router.

The other way involved a little more work but using a trim router with a wide plexiglass base. What was nice is you can set the depth of the cut to what ever you need for the tool. Some dont need to be buried in a inch of foam and some need a little more depth than one layer of foam can provide. Its also pretty easy to move the router around.

Here is a picture of both methods.