Zero Halliburton Case Restoration: Foam Cutting

[Beevo]

I do too, but I can cut neater round holes when my dexterity is being controlled by the drill press.

 

[msautman]

I've owned the same Zero Halliburton case since the '80s as well. I still have the serrated that came with the case. The trick I learned from a professional foam cutter, who worked on these cases, is to spray the foam with water and then freeze it till it's solid. The knife can then make precision cuts. I just pulled my case out of storage (sans foam). I'm going to buy some new foam and give it a try with this method.

 

[DREW WILEY]

I don't get it. Moisture will prematurely break down the foam. Sounds like that "professional foam cutter" didn't own the right tools at all.

 

[Beevo]

A long time ago in a state far far away I tried the water trick, and had poor results. Might depend on teh amount of water being applied?

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I got this Zero Halliburton aluminum case in 1985 and have replaced the foam 3 times. Last time I went to use it the foam had fallen apart.
The last three times I used a long knife to cut the foam. It never came out too well.

This time I thought I'd try to cut the foam with a hot wire.

I got the replacement foam from www.cobrafoaminserts.com. They sell exact replacement for the four original pieces of foam that came in the case when it was new. The foam was a perfect fit.


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this gray foam looks like polyurethane foam. PU foam will deteriorate over time, will get brittle,crumbel,turn to dust and will make a mess. The better foam to use is polypropylene foam. PPfoam is far more stable than PU foam but needs to be kept away from sunlight because it issensitive to UV radiation, which is rarely a problem with closed storage and protection cases.