I found this case at the container store ( $24.99). The foam insert is precut at 1/4 " intervals so its easy to cut out with a serrated knife. I work farmers markets in the summer and this set up works great for me. I also use a smaller version for my stropping paddles.
Mark, I did a mod on the holders with a Dremel tool, now they fit perfectly, and the lid doesnt pinch on the stones.
Here is another pic, it didnt attach
Nice! I’ll give that a try myself.
As promised in my Welcome Mat post, here are some photos of the case I made for my WEPS Pro-Pack I.
I started with this Pelican 1500 case that was sitting unused in my basement:
The Pelican case was a no-brainer for storing my WEPS because it didn’t represent an additional cost. This is a $100 case, so I don’t expect folks to run out and spend that kind of money to do what I did, unless you travel with your WEPS a lot (the Pelican 1500 is major rugged.) But perhaps my approach will suggest some techniques for building your own case based on a cheaper alternative.
I previously used this case to transport a ham radio transceiver, but later obtained a much lighter custom cloth shoulder bag for that. The photo below shows the cutout in the foam that I had made for the radio:
I had removed the strips of foam along the front and back to fit the radio. The photo shows the rear strip glued back in. I glued the front strip back in too. (Of course I saved them! Doesn’t everybody? :silly: )
As luck would have it, with the strips glued back in, the WEPS base fit the cutout perfectly:
Actually, I didn’t have to glue the strips back in because the cutouts didn’t extend the full length of the base, but they do provide more padding and secure other items that go in the case, as you will see.
The inside of the case is 6 1/8" deep without the top and bottom foam. The WEPS vice, mounted on the Wicked Edge base with the stock rubber feet is 6" high. So there’s 1/8" clearance between the top of the vice and the lid of the case. With the 1"-2" top foam pad inserted, the cover stops about 1/2" short of closing. It closes with gentle pressure, causing the vice to compress the top pad to 1/8". The WEPS is held firmly in place without undue pressure on the top of the vice.
In the photo of the inside of the empty case, a couple of photos back, you can see that the foam in the bottom of the case has been removed. This was necessary to fit the WEPS. With the foam in place, I felt there was too much pressure required to close the case, and hence too much pressure on the top of the vice. It’s no big deal because the rubber feet on the bottom of the base provide all the padding needed on that side.
I made a slot in the foam for the WEPS Guide Rods and Alignment Guide:
The case foam is constructed of 1/2" x 1/2" x 3 1/2" pieces that can easily be ripped apart to make shapes like this. I filled the bottom of the slot with foam pieces to keep the rods and guide from slipping to the bottom of the case. The rods and guide could have gone in the boxes that hold the stones (to be revealed below), but I wanted to leave maximum room for stones and small accessories in those boxes.
Even with the foam in the top of the case pressing on them, the rods had a tendency to come out of the slot when the case was held upside down and shaken hard. So I used a cheap 9V battery clip from Radio Shack to hold them in:
The clip leaves are curved outward at the bottom, so they grip the foam and stay put.
Next, I made two pads to go over the Base Rod ends and cushion/support the boxes that hold the stones:
Here are the pads in position:
The case has plenty of room between the pads and vice for soft accessories. Here I’ve put in a couple of widths of painter’s tape to protect blades from vice marks, some paper towels, a microfiber cloth and some alcohol prep pads:
ArtBin pencil boxNow for the best part. I found an that holds the stones perfectly:
this modelThe pencil box (model 6900AB) costs $6.29. I’m using two of them. You can get them from the above website or from Amazon. I got one of mine at a local hobby store and the other from the Artbin website, along with (3900AB), which costs $5.59. The 3900AB works, but the spacer slots, which are used to make smaller compartments, make it a tight squeeze for the stones. This model box might be suitable for, say, a pair of stones set on edge and some accessories. I ended up not using it.
As you can see, the indentations for the cover clasps make the front trough too narrow to lay the stones on edge. But they do fit (snugly) if rotated 90-degrees. The case is soft polycarbonate, so I’m sure it’s not harming the surface of the stones to have them sitting on the plastic bottom of the box. The box comes with soft rubber protective pads on the left, but I added some pieces cut from the Pelican case foam at both ends to cushion the stones and keep the from sliding around.
The box shown above has my Coarse-through-Fine stones. The second box has my Super-Fine stones, strops and stropping compounds:
Again, I used some small pieces of foam to better secure the stones, and some additional pieces to make smaller compartments for the stropping compounds, a Sharpies, Q-tips for feeling fine burrs, the knife brace, and the cool magnifying loupe that (unexpectedly) came with my Pro-Pack I.
The one thing I must remember to do is always insert the strops facing the same way so that the strops don’t get contaminated with paste from the other side that has wiped off on the plastic trough walls. To help do this, I’ve adopted the convention that the stones ascend in grit rating from front to back of the case (coarsest in front, finest in back.)
Here’s the case with the two boxes in position:
The boxes are elevated just enough by the two pads so that the foam in the top of the case keeps them in place. Also, the cover hinges of the boxes butt up against the vice, further securing the boxes. It does not appear that this stresses the vice at all. The case with the super-fine stones and strops is very light, much lighter than the case with the coarser stones, so I put the former in front so that there would be less weight on the vice when the case is held vertically. I don’t think the vice is in danger of damage from the plastic boxes.
As for expansion, I could fit one more pair of stones or strops in the second box by putting the small accessories on either side of the vice, perhaps held in place with small plastic boxes. Or, I could put them in cutouts on the right side of the case. There’s just enough room for a pair of stones in a cutout on the right side of the case, but I don’t like the idea of the stones touching the foam.
For even more expansion, it turns out that by removing the two pads on either side of the vice, there’s enough room to stack two cases in front of and behind the vice. They tilt to the front and back, respectively, because of the rise in the base of the vice, but they still fit and are held securely in place by the top cover.
I’m using the case mainly for storage and to keep the WEPS safe from inadvertent damage. I doubt I’ll travel with it. I could sharpen with the vice in the case, but I wouldn’t want to get metal filings all over the foam. So I’ll be removing the vice when I need to use it. In that sense, Cory’s beautiful tray is a more practical solution for storing/using the WEPS at home, if you have the room for it. My case does have the advantage of taking up less space.
So that’s it! Hope this gives you ideas on making your own case. Any suggestions for improvements to mine are welcome.
peppersass,
Using your great post for inspiration, I’ve constructed something similar with a Pelican 1550 I had laying around.
My case never had the nice pull-apart foam they typically come with, but rather egg-crate on the top and bottom. Removing the bottom, and buying some ugly off-white/yellow 3" 18x18" foam, I went about creating some padding.
I am a bit impatient when it comes to this stuff, especially since I didn’t have a hot-wire cutter. So I resorted to an electric carving knife (next best thing to a hot wire). And contact cement.
Here are the rest. I need to work on the “square” that goes over the base/clamp since it’s obviously too tall, but thinning foam sucks. Also, after loading everything in, it’s extremely secure and doesn’t move at all. I hope to use this case to bring the kit to Thanksgiving for family sharpening. =)
Also note, the bars, support “strut” and measurer are all just floating at the moment.
The cases for the “stones” were just what was locally available that worked. I have a small piece of foam in there to keep the stones from moving around lengthwise.
I just ordered a we and on the fourth step I hit order, the same screen appeared as iof I hadnt ordered, so I hit again and the same thing happened. I sent a comment to you guys, but seeing you are now online you might be able to reasure me I wont be charged twice. My name is David Hill from Spokane.
Thanks
[quote quote=“DavidHill” post=6439]I just ordered a we and on the fourth step I hit order, the same screen appeared as iof I hadnt ordered, so I hit again and the same thing happened. I sent a comment to you guys, but seeing you are now online you might be able to reasure me I wont be charged twice. My name is David Hill from Spokane.
Thanks[/quote]
I’ve checked a couple of times and your order hasn’t shown up, so I think it did not go through. If for some reason you ever did get double billed, we’d credit you back right away, but that hasn’t happened.
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I purchased a pelican case to protect my beloved investment and this is how I set it up. It holds everything perfectly!!
Those pelican cases look awesome, but what if you have the pro pack 2/ upgraded arms and riser? How much deeper would the case have to be to fit the riser block? I like the idea of such a tough case to protect my WEPS and only want to buy a case one time since I am pretty sure the riser/new arms will be in my future.
I actually have the propack 2 and it will fit in the pelican 1600 case. The case is a bit large but in my opinion worth protecting my baby.
Nice setup, DKamp.-- This is one of the best setup cases I have seen. Looks like it easy to get out and start using, without having to remove parts of the cases interior foam. The bit large is great, Growing room!
Thanks for making the extra effort to share your photos !!
Much appreciated
James
DKamp,
Wow, that makes mine look like crap. I just need to order replacement stock foam I guess. =P
Awesome.
Thanks for all the kind words! I like that everything has a place!
test - please ignore
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Excellent question. I had to deal with this when I upgraded. Since my case was a done deal, my solution was to remove the riser prior to packing my WEPS in the case. In order to be able to do this quickly, without removing the vice from the base, I drilled an access hole in the base:
I marked the position of the hole with the vice base in place, removed the vice base, and drilled the hole with a drill press. I recommend drilling a pilot hole and/or going slowly when the final size bit is about to break through the bottom of the case. Otherwise, the laminate may chip off around the hole. No big deal if it does, however.
I store the WEPS in the case with the riser removed and the jaws secured with the old (short) allen head screw. That way, I can close the lid and I can use the WEPS for a quick touch-up without removing it from the case. Note that I have to use an angle cube to set the angle because the markings on the new cross beam assume the riser is in place.
When I want to do a more extensive sharpening session, I remove the WEPS from the case, remove the short screw, install the riser, and secure the jaws with the new long allen head screw. I’ve added a larger allen head wrench to my kit for this, which is also handy for getting leverage on the new thumbscrews.
BTW, I’ve made a few mods to my case to accommodate the upgrade and additional stones. I expanded the side channel on the left to fit the larger WEPS II arms and added a hole on the right for an angle cube. I took some of the accessories out of the stone cases to make room for a pair of ceramic stones, and put them in smaller utility boxes that fit under the front stone case. Here’s what it looks like now:
The stone boxes go on top of the smaller boxes and other stuff, behind and in front of the vice, as shown in my previous post. One stone box is full and the other has long accessories, the riser, the standard allen wrench, the long riser screw and a lab sample dropper I use to wet the ceramic stones. Here’s what they look like now:
Hope this helps others who are building their own cases.
peppersass…
you probably posted it right… but there’s a limit to the file size. (Im trying to find out what it is). Crop it down a bit and try again. (Don’t worry, I’ll delete the posts that fail).
Thanks. You were right – the file sizes were bigger than my last post (new camera.) I resized them down to less than 1MB each and it worked. BTW, I found that if you hit the question mark above, it takes you to the website of the Forum software provider. I found some info there suggesting that 3MB is the limit.
I’m not sure I’m doing the posting correctly, though. I used the Add File buttons to access the photos on my system, but they were not automatically uploaded when I hit Insert. Just a “FAKEPATH” URL was created. I had to Submit the post, then go back and edit it. Then I was able to place the cursor where a given photo should go and then hit Insert next to the photo attachment at the bottom. This placed a URL with just the file name in the correct spot, and everything looks right when I re-Submitted.
Is there a way to insert photos in the text before Submitting?
Are you using Internet Explorer? Apparently there’s a bug of some sort that prevents you from seeing the “Insert” button. You can either switch browsers, or use the “Compatibility Mode” in IE, and it should work.
