As the title really, what mounting foam should I get for a small portable tool chest?
Also what's the best method of cutting for the tools?
I've never had to buy the foam, used to get it at work, you want high density foam, dual colour. Big dug sell it.
Router is the tidiest way to fo it. Cover it in masking tape, draw your shapes, rout and then remove tape. Perfect.
Don't forget to cut wee semi circle shapes for your fingers, when lifting tools out.
Depending on depth, Shadow Foam easy peel.
It’s multiple layers so you cut down the depth you need then peel.
I’ve done 5 full drawers in a large chest with it, great job!
I laid out the tools then cut with a scalpel.
Shadow foam, peel and pluck and similar are all good.
And you can get a good result with a pen style craft knife.
Got mine from Big Dug and it was ok quality and arrived very quickly, used a scalpel to cut mine.
The foam absorbs moisture and I have found rust on tools after the shutting the case trapping the moisture.
I chuck in any of those silica gel things you get with shoes/clothes etc into my tool-boxes to try and stop my tools getting rusty, seems to work so far
May garage is like a large damp sponge - so they are all ready rusty.... Just not well organised...
I wouldn't bother with shadow foam unless you have to transport it a lot.
You can get nice racks for spanners to go in drawers, even cheaper if you have access to a 3D printer
I have a bunch of sheets I could sell.
I thought I would do my whole tool chest, but did 2 drawers and got thoroughly bored with it.
PM me if you want to buy it
I don't get it, don't you ram as many tools as you can in their and then struggle to close the bloody thing?....
I'd need a massive tool box if I foam lined it, good god. Struggle with two tool boxes for the bike tools. Bearing press & remover is in two separate cases.
I wouldn’t bother with shadow foam unless you have to transport it a lot.
This for me. Shadow Foaming gets used at work primarily for Tool Control, and thats to stop people leaving sockets in aircraft fuel tanks.
I am not convinced the risk of riding off with an allen key still poking out your rear mech poses quite much of a risk. And the foam just makes your toolbox effectively smaller.
Line the draws with a mat, use racks and socket rails for tidiness, but I wuoldnt bother shadow foaming personally.
I have a toolbox with foam, it looks good but you can lose a lot of space.
This was V1, redid it to get more stuff in. V3 will have only a top layer in the bottom half of the box, will be compartments.
I have a 1550 for work and that is no foam, lots of clips, magnets, socket rails and elastic
Ben Cathro has a good video on foaming a tool chest.
I’d need a massive tool box if I foam lined it, good god
This. He had about the same in a mini tool chest as I do in a small briefcase sized box. Plus, what if you buy a new tool, or replace an existing one with a differently-shaped one...
I have a bunch of sheets I could sell.
I thought I would do my whole tool chest, but did 2 drawers and got thoroughly bored with it.
PM me if you want to buy it
This
I have to do it for cameras and kit at work.
Even with a decent Spotify playlist it's the single most tedious job I ever have to do.
Although I'm now thinking I could sub out the job and get a load of middle aged IT professionals to do it for free if they actually enjoy it. Unfortunately the CrossFit gym over the road didn't like the idea of paying to load out vans for us and continued to just flip tractor tyres across the car park instead.