First question … I have a block of somewhat rigid / somewhat squishy white foam packing material. It’s not at all like the foam you would use in a seat cushion. Can anyone hazard a guess as to what it might be? Perhaps polyethylene foam?
Second question … I need some suggestions for packing foam materials. I need to create a (re-usable) package for an extremely fragile item (a diorama/room box).
The box itself isn’t fragile but the contents could be damaged by vibration.
It will be hand-carried either on a plane or in a car.
The packaging needs to survive many years in storage (but not in a hot attic/garage).
I’m envisioning something like the squishy foam underneath the diorama (with a cutout socket for the turntable) and interior walls of the “crate” having some other type of softer foam to hold the diorama in place inside the crate.
I suspect what is pictured is closed cell polyethylene. It comes in different weights (density in pounds per volume, but I forget the reference volume.)
The problem with protecting delicate stuff is usually inertia. Cushioning does not help if the shipped item can’t survive the cushioned shock.
I’ve bought foam packing from TCH. You usually have to buy full sheets but if you explained what you are doing they might have something in their scrap bin.
This is very lightweight but very strong material made for shipping cases. I used something similar called Bubble-X to build a bike shipping box but it came in 4x10 sheets.
If you heat a strip across the panel and squish it you can bend it for corners. They also have corner molding.
