Custom Parts Protection: 2″ Thick Foam

Custom parts protection can be made at CNCROi.com using a variety of materials, but in this case, we’ll use 2″ thick pink foam that will be routed to spec!

The reason we are using pink foam for this specific project is because it’s abundantly available in a variety of thicknesses, machines like air and weighs just about nothing for the customer to ship back and forth from their various industrial plants.

It’s hard to notice but CNCROi.com is using a very specialized bit for foam now at our shop, one that the bit supplier really had no idea would be great for this material but one that I had idea that it would and wow, far nicer production with this new bit compared to the video below.

If you don’t notice much of a difference, it’s because at 1″ thick foam, also used for custom parts protection, either bit produces a fine result, but once you get a bit thicker, the other bit starts to produce lots of roughness for some reason while this one is so great, it shreds the small pieces of foam into dust instead of globules.

Of course, lots of prototyping was required to make this material work as a fantastic custom parts protection foam, we tried tons of foam, different technologies and bits and finally cracked the code on this stuff.

What I really enjoy about machining foam is that it’s so easy on our machinery, we are literally cutting air at CNCROi.com and that’s fun, considering we have 12 000 pounds of machine plowing through it!

Foam is quite challenging, because it can’t be held-down very well once cut, it really quickly loses suction, and that’s why in the video and photos of this custom parts protection production, you’ll see washers with screws to hold it down, in addition to having two vacuum pumps going full tilt to prevent this foam from moving around during the cutting process.

Each video showing me at CNCROi.com cutting this “same” foam is actually showing a progression of experience, learning what works and what doesn’t, and through trial and error, producing a better and better product each time – and yes, there is ALWAYS room for improvement in form, fit and finish.

https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/741590856

Of course, these custom parts protection foam inserts were fine the first round, the customer loved them, but I told them that each time, I’ll try to improve upon them however slight, to get something better.

I hope you notice that the biggest change that has occurred in this round of custom parts protection production are the edges, notice how incredibly clean they are compared to earlier videos, it’s almost like they were sanded, and that’s the look and result I’ve been after for well over a year with this material.

Go too fast, you are removing chunks, go to slow, and you are literally burning this foam right up, it’s a very fine line and I’m so happy that I got it almost perfect for the customer at CNCROi.com regarding this custom parts protection application.

The foam for this custom parts protection does look a little rough on the top, this is because this is an upcut bit, but that fluff is very easily removed by hand, it really looks worse than it really is, as my goal cutting this was material removal, and that means lifting it out as soon as it’s made.

As this material is relatively thick, it’s best to cut it all in two passes, though the pockets I make are done in one, and the holes in each one thereafter as the material is already cleared-out of the space.

You can really see how fragile this foam really is, those are washers with screws holding it down and they went right into the material like it wasn’t even there… tricky stuff to “nail down” for sure at CNCROi.com.

All this fine foam particulate is no problem for my machine or more importantly, the vacuum system in the head of the router, it sucks it right-up, the finer this is, the better, and that’s the major leap this bit had advantage over the old one, the particulate is basically sanded and as such, weighs nothing and doesn’t damage the foam when it’s removed to form the custom parts protection.

If you are wondering about what other types of foam CNCROi.com works with, here’s another, aerospace grade no less, that we use for similar applications to this custom parts protection except we use our laser, that wouldn’t work with this pink foam as it would catch fire way too easily.

There is no real best way to do something, just the most optimized given the machinery that I have in the shop, the problem with using the waterjet with this stuff is all the particulates of mud that would get everywhere inside and out of this, so the router wins in this case!

The major advantage of a laser for custom parts protection is that the foam can be had in lots of different colors and very fine details come out great, I’m not limited by the bit diameter.

The disadvantage with the laser is that I’m using fire to cut stuff, and fire + foam = shop burning down… not something I want to have happen.

Of course, CNCROi.com can also produce hard plastic custom parts protection inserts too, here’s one using just that using our old router, it has since been replaced by our 12 000 pound beast.

Hard, soft or in-between, CNCROi.com can produce amazing custom parts protection inserts for shipping or between plant processing however you wish to just about any spec.

CNCROi.com uses it’s router for a whole host of custom fabrication projects, the reason why we upgraded to a solid gantry system was actually for that reason, having a static gantry means that we don’t have to worry about vibration, which can cause unintended consequences when it comes to making custom products for our customers.

A great example of this is thermoforming molds which we make, and is actually something to consider if you have A TON of packaging inserts to make, as in some ways, the results are superior for the price, of course, it all comes down to volumes and timelines.

But high precision thermoforming molds is something we are doing more and more of, and what I enjoy most about that process is the refinement that it allows us to achieve at CNCROi.com for other projects that may seem unrelated but actually are.

If you are wondering what are other projects we do at CNCROi.com using our router that really shines when it comes to our big beast of a router, it’s actually custom generational banks I make over at my other business SandboxRanch.com.

I guess in a way, custom parts protection for coins is right up the alley for industrial parts too, they just cost a lot more and are in fewer quantities.

The reason why I’m basically doing these custom parts protection foam inserts two at a time, sometimes one, is because I’m still refining my settings, again, trial and error, and no better time to do that at CNCROi.com but when I have A LOT of something to make and can take advantage of it to tweak the code to make even better items for my customer.

These look amazing, the best custom parts protection foam inserts I’ve ever made and guess what… next time they will be even better!

Need custom parts protection solutions? Contact CNCROi.com right now.