Foam - The flexible material is perfect for shaping into any shape you want. The handy thing is that foam is the thickest material the Mr Beam can currently cut.
This creates numerous new possibilities. We present one of them in our blog article. Cut case inserts to measure .
Customize your camera case
We would like to present one of them to you today. For this, we equip our new camera case individually with foam inserts that Mr Beam cut for us. Of course, you can also design other insoles, such as for tools or a measuring device that you want to protect with it. You can now find out how we did it.
Create a laser file for the case insert
This time our focus is on creating the laser design rather than assembling the laser results.
Of course, before you get started, you need to know how much space you have available. In our case, we first note the inside dimensions of our suitcase and create a rectangle in Adobe Illustrator including the rounded corners accordingly.
Whatever you ultimately want to create a foam tray for, you then need to somehow bring the size and shape of the objects to be placed into the graphics program of your choice. For simple objects like a lens, finding out the size of the basic shape is enough to create such a shape in Illustrator.
If you have a more complex object, such as a camera, you can use two different variants.
Measure objects for the case insert
The more accurate one is to put the object on a scanner and cover it for scanning. It is best to cover dark objects with white paper and light objects with one of your foam boards that you want to cut later.
However, if you don't have a scanner at hand or the object is too large, you can also take a photo of the object from above and place a ruler next to it so that you can later estimate the size correctly. To get a more accurate result, you can place the ruler roughly level with the top edge of the object.
Finalize file for lasering
No matter which variant you have chosen, you must next insert the scan or the image into the graphics program. Then simply scale the scan to the original size. In our case, DIN A3, i.e. 420x297mm. Depending on which side you put down, you may need to flip the image.
For the photo, create a line that's the same length as the ruler, then scale the photo, so the measurements match exactly. Then you can rebuild or draw your object.
Now all you have to do is distribute the replicated objects evenly on your baseplate. This completes the first layer of the one-piece suit.
In our case, we need a total of 5 layers to fill the suitcase. Of course, not every object is the same height. For example, a spare battery only needs one layer, while this lens goes through 4 layers.
So measure the height of each object and work your way down a layer by removing the paths that no longer need to be cut at each layer.
Of course, you must save each layer before proceeding to the next.
Lasering case inserts with the Mr Beam
If you have a Mr Beam II dreamcut [S] you can simply select the laser settings for 10mm foam and increase the passes to accommodate your foam thickness. We recommend testing the settings beforehand. But then the laser process can already begin!
Install the foam insert in the case
In the last step, we only glue the finished foam separators together to form a large one and place it in the case. This completes the made-to-measure suitcase insert, and you can sort your items and stow them away safely.
The made-to-measure case insert is ready
We wish you a lot of fun and productivity with your new order, and hope you enjoyed the article. You can watch the step-by -step video tutorial on our YouTube channel.