Flute/whistle case construction demo

[fearfaoin]

Inspired by Jon C's thread, I decided to build a locking flute and whistle case from a Vaultz CD travel case. I thought others might be interested, so I took pictures of my progress. Here's what I did:

Here's some of the materials used. I bought the Vaultz CD travel case from Best Buy. It was around $43, and is larger and squarer than the one Jon C got. It also has combination locks, like a briefcase, and a handle as well as a shoulder strap. The foam sheet is from Walmart's craft section. It is the length and width of a twin bed. They also had foam in couch cushion sizes, which I should have bought instead, I just didn't know how much I'd need. Turns out, the foam was just the right thickness for the case, so I only used about an eighth of the sheet. Oy. By the way, foam smells funny when it's been packaged for a while. You have to let it air out for an hour or so. I also bought the spray glue from Walmart, but I ended up having better luck with regular, old Elmer's white glue.


Here's a shot of the case, closed. It means business!


Inside the case were CD sleeves which were held by a notebook-like binder, and some kind of netting to hold... I dunno, your tuna sandwich, or something.
(In this pic, the CD sleeves have already been removed.)


And here's the inside of the case after I removed the binder and netting. The binder was not easy to remove! I had to really work at the rivets with a coping saw and pliers. If I were to do this again, I would just saw off the binding clips and left the plate attached (with a little extra foam glued to the metal for protection).

[fearfaoin]

Ok, now that the extraneous stuff is out of the case, we can get down to business. I cut the foam slightly larger than the inside of the case, so that it will be compressed a little, which will hold the foam in the case without glue.


Here's the test-fit. (The cat thinks I didn't air the foam out quite enough.) In the first picture, it looks like the foam is really billowing out of the top half of the case... this is because I was experimenting with a sheet of styrofoam behind the foam, to make sure the flute was held in place. Turns out, that wasn't necessary, so I removed it.


OK. Now I needed something to keep the instruments from moving around while shut in the case. I went to Michaels (a craft store) and bought a pack of foam "flexi-sheets". These are meant for kid's crafts, and are about an 2mm thick per sheet. Like the foam sheet, these also smelled funny, kind of like plasticized candy. Ralph Wiggum would have eaten one immediately.
I glued several of these sheets together (at least 5, I don't remember), cut the resulting block to fit inside the case, and then used a knife to cut out holes in the shapes of the instruments I wanted to hold. (For the flute sections, I cut all the way through, for the whistles I left one layer at the bottom to make sure they had enough support.)


More test fitting. Test fitting is your friend. Test fit twice, glue once, I always say. (Or was it, "cut once, test fit once, cut once again, test fit again... etc") Everything fits, so I glued the colorful foam sheets with the holes onto the not-so-colorful foam lining the bottom of the case. (After taking these two pics, I ended up cutting one more hole down the right side, for accessories, or another whistle body. You can see it in the finished pictures.)

[fearfaoin]

Here, I have glued some green felt onto the linings. I glued the top first, let that dry, then glued the sides and underneath. This is especially important where you want the felt to line the holes where the instruments sit. Luckily, felt is a very pliant material, and really sticks to wet glue!


Once the glue dries, shove the lining into the case, and we're done!
Here's some finished shots. Inside are my M&E flute, Syn C, and Busman D in Mopane.

I'm happy with this case. It turned out pretty nice, plus it's cool to unlock your tubes at session, giving them the "precious cargo" status they deserve (but for Pete's sake, learn to use the lock before putting instruments in it). It's not a cheap case, really, I think I spent another $15 on materials, though I could save a bunch by buying the right amount next time!

Anyway, I thought you folks might like to see the process, in case anyone wanted to try it, or has suggestions for improvement (which I wholeheartedly welcome).

[Unseen122]

Looks pretty nice. It is tempting to try, I needed another DIY thing to do.

[scooter587]

I've done much the same thing with a used hardshell clarinet case, which I paid $5 for at a local music shop. I used seat cushion foam, covered it with mossy green micro suede, and made dividers out of wood slats. The dividers are padded and also covered in the micro suede. The case holds my Copley keyless flute, and there are separate compartments for two bore swabs, a hygrometer, and cork grease. A plastic sandwhich bag holds a swatch of silk for oiling the flute. In short, the case holds everything I need to travel with the flute, in a very sturdy hardshell case (you can stand on it), with good latches and a carrying handle, plus it's still small enough to fit in a daypack or laptop satchel, so it goes inside my carry-on luggage for air travel. All for less than $25 and about 3 hours time.

[anniemcu]

Nicely done!

[Gobae]

[Thread revival. - Mod]

I just wanted to give a quick nod of thanks both to Fearfaoin and his inspiration Jon C. because using their techniques I was able to come up with this:



The core is also a Vaultz CD case but this one is smaller than Fearfaoin's and was about $20 at Walmart. But, it's a perfect fit for the Folk Flute! Another difference is that I used an old yoga mat which was made from a different type of closed cell foam than Fear's. That meant I needed to cut mirrored recesses since the mat foam was quite a bit stiffer than upholstery foam.

Although this is a great "beater case" to take everywhere, I'm working on an oak box for display too. But, I'm a blacksmith so my woodworking skills are awful. Which is why I'm glad this case will serve me well while I spend the next few years making a wooden box.