Compressed or 'relaxed' ?

[Stephen DOUGLASS]

17 hours ago, Alex West said:

Like this...?

 

Alex West

Exactly what I'm looking to do Alex. Would you mind expanding a bit on materials used, and forming methods, only if you don't mind sharing. Thanks.

[Alex West]

2 hours ago, Stephen DOUGLASS said:

...expanding a bit on materials used, and forming methods...

Stephen

 

Sure.  The purple is a cotton brushed velvet.  Any soft fabric like a crushed velvet will do.  The plain panels are card with a double sided adhesive sheet on and the velvet covering them, then mitred and Copydexed on the reverse side.  It's also possible to put a thin layer of some kind of foam in there to cushion the panels a little but that's not essential (and may well not be possible due to the tight dimensions).

 

For the 4 vertical posts, I used some spare cheap timber of an appropriate dimension.  The key dimension is the closed length of concertina.  Deduct this length from the internal width of the case at about half the depth of the case and then divide the result by 2.  That gives you the required width of the timber.  Take off a little bit for cloth and any squidgy material you might use.  You don't need the fit to be so tight that it's a struggle to get the concertina in when compressed.  Snug is perfectly OK.

 

Because the Nanuk (or Peli or WHY) case is slightly tapered, you need to saw the timber so that a sloping face is against the side of the case and you have a vertical face against the concertina end.  The width of the timber only needs to be sufficient to "bind" against the peaks of the concertina end without clashing with any of the buttons or hand rails.

 

I round over the top of the timber to give a nice look and a "lead-in" to feed the concertina in, then only cover two sides of the timber with velvet.  Glue the velvet to the timber with Copydex and the timber to the case with a good contact adhesive.

 

Is that sufficient?  I can send you some photos of an intermediate stage if that helps (send me your email address in a Private Message if you like

 

Alex West

[d.elliott]

with respect to strapping an instrument, using a nail or screw, Fancy doing that to an Aeola, Edeophone, or indeed any vintage instrument? 

 

Dave

[Theo]

2 hours ago, Alex West said:

For the 4 vertical posts, I used some spare cheap timber of an appropriate dimension. 

 

I've used blue styrofoam on place of wood.  It is hard enough to keep its shape in typical usage but has the advantage of being a little more resilient than wood.

[Alex West]

41 minutes ago, Theo said:

 

I've used blue styrofoam on place of wood.  It is hard enough to keep its shape in typical usage but has the advantage of being a little more resilient than wood

Easier to shape as well.  Good call Theo

 

Alex West

[Alex West]

2 hours ago, d.elliott said:

with respect to strapping an instrument, using a nail or screw, Fancy doing that to an Aeola, Edeophone, or indeed any vintage instrument? 

I've seen a simple man's tie used as a strap before - no need to fix it to the instrument surely...

 

Alex West

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

I can understand the thought of compressing bellows with aid of leather straps, and screw or tack sounds a bit violent; however, by the use of very fine little screws ( good quality) brass finish, done with care, and a small tool box. I would certainly not envisag a standard big hammer for this job!😄😄😄😄

[d.elliott]

I am a simple man, I still have ties from my working days, but why not just get a good box and block it in one of the ways as discussed, no need to reinvent the wheel. or deface a valuable instrument either. 

 

General Lud

[Stephen DOUGLASS]

3 hours ago, d.elliott said:

I am a simple man, I still have ties from my working days, but why not just get a good box and block it in one of the ways as discussed, no need to reinvent the wheel. or deface a valuable instrument either. 

 

General Lud

It should be simple David, and I have sensible boxes to put all of them in. The problem I have, is that Hurricanes continue to form in the Atlantic. Living in the NE USA we are prone to extreme weather, so I keep all my 'toys' in the finished basement so that I can keep the humidity and temperature steady throughout the year (pipes are particularly grumpy in low humidity). A couple of years ago, we had major floods and I had some water in the basement, my neighbour's weren't so lucky (& we are all on high ground). From that point I decided to keep the instruments in 'waterproof cases'. I will be following the suggestions above on how to proceed with 'blocking' and lining them.

[alex_holden]

10 hours ago, Stephen DOUGLASS said:

It should be simple David, and I have sensible boxes to put all of them in. The problem I have, is that Hurricanes continue to form in the Atlantic. Living in the NE USA we are prone to extreme weather, so I keep all my 'toys' in the finished basement so that I can keep the humidity and temperature steady throughout the year (pipes are particularly grumpy in low humidity). A couple of years ago, we had major floods and I had some water in the basement, my neighbour's weren't so lucky (& we are all on high ground). From that point I decided to keep the instruments in 'waterproof cases'. I will be following the suggestions above on how to proceed with 'blocking' and lining them.

 

Another option is to store your sensible hard case inside something waterproof, e.g. the plastic barrels canoeists keep their gear in.

[Richard Mellish]

You don't necessarily need to use the same case for storage whilst in the house and taking out on trips. You could have a waterproof one without blocks and a travelling one with blocks. Whether that would be worth the bother only the owner concerned could decide.

[chris rowe]

webbing strap with Velcro

[Takayuki YAGI]

24 minutes ago, chris rowe said:

webbing strap with Velcro

Same here.