Pelican case's Pick 'N' Pluck Foam?
 

I bought the Pelican 1610 case for my XL2 a while back and its working great! Except for one problem, foam dust. It seems that little pieces of the foam from where you "Pick 'N' Pluck" it out of are getting onto all of my gear. Does anyone have any solutions to stop this dust, besides buying the padded deviders? any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advanced.

You could get some fabric and cover all the foam in fabric. requires some sowing but i have seen people do this

ok...it sounds silly but we always vacuum our new pelicans and do a good shake to get rid of the left-overs from the cutting of the foam.

Until we started doing this we had that stuff in every nook and cranny of our gear.

Thanks guys. I think I will try to vacuum the case out before I do anything else.

Just bought a Pelican 1400 case for my Pana NV-GS400 and accessories. Cut the pick 'n pluck foam (good job I'm not dyslexic) as carefully as I could. Pruned any residual tufts of foam and, following the above advice, vacuumed the case and foam, including the lid and base pad. Even tapped the case up-side down over a piece of paper to make sure I'd got everything out.

After a short period of use flecks and specs of foam were again shedding onto the gear. I guess the mere action of removing and putting back the equipment is enough to generate fresh foam dust. I know some people wrap their cams and lenses in plastic bags, but the mere fact that there is foam dust around I find disconcerting, especially when one of the reasons I purchased the case was for protection from dust.

Unfortunately there is no padded divider set available for the 1400 case. However, both Pelican and LowePro do slim, soft cases with configurable dividers, that are designed to fit in a 1400. I'll probably go with the LowePro (Omni Sport) as its slightly deeper (and cheaper).

There are sealants/adhesives made for foam rubber that come in an aerosol can.

Do the plucking, then give it multiple coats. It will keep the stuff from falling apart, and if you do a real good job, it melts the foam back together where it was cut and you can't even see the grid pattern anymore.

Wow, thanks guys. I am just getting ready to purchase a 1500. This comes in handy bigtime..

D

Just want to throw in there that those interested in buying Pelicans should also look at the Storm cases--I've been a convert for a few years now. They are similar in many ways but the latches on the Storms are much quicker and easier to work, especially in the cold where fingers are sensitive. Plus they have rubberized handles which are nicer to carry. Prices are similar.

Thanks Charles. I sent a message for a dealer in my area..

The cheapest and best place online for the Storm cases is http://www.cases4less.com/list_case_storm.html

Unfortunately, where I'm working abroad there are'nt that many options and I was lucky to find a Pelican case in a cam shop sale - it had probably been sitting in the window for ages. I'll likely still go for the LowePro covertible, soft-case, as I quite like the concept. My needs are largely for protection whilst travelling and from sand/dust storms, the type that hang for days, get into your AC and coat everything with a fine, gritty dust. I guess theoretically, securing your gear in a big wedge of foam provides better impact protection than dividers, but I cant see myself in such high-impact situations, other than the possibility of dropping my case down an airport escalator.

This said there is no LowePro dealer in my locale, most resellers dont ship here and for the few that do the charges plus duty effectively double the cost of the case. So, I'll probably wait till I'm back in the UK.

Meanwhile, I'll give the foam sealant approach a go.

Nate, could you provide a bit more info on the brand/type of aerosol sealant you've used. No doubt there is a wide range of such products and knowing my luck I'd probably pick one that dissolves the foam, case and gear !

Just a bit of FYI...If you're not already aware, as it ages, the foam in some of these cases degrades badly. There's a chance that if the foam is doing this, it'll continue to "shed" no matter what you do to clean it up...

That crossed my mind also. The case has the newer latch design but doesnt have the metal fitting on the lock holes that I've seen on images of the latest models, but I dont know how old that makes it. Guess I could ask the supplier. Even so, I'm not inclined to pay through the nose to have a replacement foam set shipped out.

I'd still like to try the foam sealant approach, or see if maybe I can get my hands on some closed cell foam, at least as a provisional solution.

Again, I'd be very grateful if someone could advise on suitable sealants and grade of closed cell foam.

Does closed cell foam also perish with time and can it simply be cut from sheets as is, or is it advisable to the seal the edges also?

Apologies for my ignorance in such matters - "mouthing at the foam" you might say.

Does the case have a 'purge' valve on it? It would likely be located under the front handle. This is a valve that allows for depresurization when the case is at altitude. THe older cases DON'T have one, as I recall.

A quick fix for the shedding problem is to get wrapping plastic (like saran wrap but less clingy... shippers use it to wrap shipments) and just cover the foam, tucking it down into the cavities. Yea, it'll cling a bit, but it will isolate the foam from your gear.

I bought the padded devider 1620 for my XL2 and an ENORMOUS ammount of extra stuff I load in. Travel all over with it and LOVe the dividers. Definately the better choice in my opinion.

+1 For switching to storm cases