Category Archives: Case Foam

If you need to transport any type of delicate or expensive equipment, you need custom cases that can protect your items from the bustling and bumping the transportation industry inflicts on freight and luggage. At Bel-Air Cases, we design heavy-duty cases for equipment that can withstand hundreds of trips by air, land or sea (or spaceship).

How To Choose The Best Custom Case Option

There are many different kinds of cases for equipment, including vacuum-formed, roto-molded, injection molded, aluminum, laminated wood and blow-molded cases. At Bel-Air Cases, we focus on providing vacuum-formed hard plastic cases for our clients, and we believe these cases have some distinct advantages over other types of cases.

With vacuum forming, we can create nearly endless case sizes and can create special features such as molded-in bumpers and custom molded-in logos. We use high-density polyethylene (HDPE) for the case shells and this versatile, durable plastic not only can absorb impact but also is moisture-resistant and chemical-resistant and can withstand extreme temperatures.

Aside from versatility and strength, HDPE is extremely lightweight, which not only makes it easier to move a case through a crowded airport or train terminal but also reduces your overall shipping costs.

When choosing a custom case for equipment, there are several factors that we will discuss with you, including:

1. Size

We consider the size and dimensions of the equipment you need to protect, as this will help us select the best shipping case size for your needs. Keep in mind, with vacuum-forming, just about any size of custom case is possible.

2. Environments

We talk about the environments where the equipment will be used. Our cases can be used safely in conditions such as high-humidity or damp locations or in places where high or freezing temperatures are common. Dust resistance and pressure resistance also can be important factors when selecting a case.

3. Level Of Protection

At Bel-Air Cases, we can design heavy-duty shipping cases and carrying cases that meet ATA standards and most MIL specs, if needed. We’ve designed many cases for military clients and the aerospace industry, so if you need ATA cases or MIL cases, you’ve come to the right place.

Through the years, we’ve created custom shipping cases and carrying cases for a myriad of different types of equipment. Here are just a few examples:

• Lighting Equipment
• Camera Equipment
• Audio-Visual Equipment
• Music Equipment
• Diagnostic Equipment
• Military Gear & Equipment
• Aerospace Equipment
• Medical Equipment
• Sales Kits & OEM Cases

4. Customization

At Bel-Air Cases, our custom carrying cases, shipping cases and trade show cases can be customized in a number of ways. Aside from the many size configurations available, we also can add custom hardware to your cases, including wheels, feet and handles, including creating cases with telescoping handles and wheels.

We also can a myriad of different latches and locks to any case, and we can create custom engraved plates, custom decals or molded-in logos for your custom case. In addition to our standard colors of black and silver, we also have several additional stock colors including white, orange, yellow, blue, green and olive. In some cases, we also might be able to provide color matching or custom colors.

Custom Foam Interiors

At Bel-Air Cases, we don’t just design tough, durable case exteriors, we also design high-quality custom foam interiors for each case. Our custom foam will cushion every piece of equipment, protecting it from impact and vibrations.

Too often, when a person purchases a custom hard plastic case with foam inside, the case manufacturer simply hands it off to their client with a chunk of diced foam. This low-quality foam, also known as pick-and-pluck foam, forces the client to create cavities for their equipment, and if you are paying for custom equipment cases, we believe this should include a custom foam interior not just a hunk of cheap foam.

We are experts at crafting case interiors and while we certainly can provide you with just a simple, quality foam liner, we also can fabricate interior doors and windows, create custom die cuts for your equipment, add shock mounts and panel mounts and much more. Our padded equipment cases offer the ultimate level of protection for your equipment.

Contact Us Today!

If you need custom cases for equipment, the team at Bel-Air Cases is always here to help. To get started on your custom case project, just click on the Contact Us tab at the top of our homepage and fill out our quick contact form. A member of our sales team will be in touch as soon as possible to discuss your case needs.

Our protective, heavy-duty cases are built to handle frequent transport as luggage or freight and while this level of durability is crucial, that’s only one of several reasons to consider purchasing a custom Bel-Air hard case with foam.

Weatherproof & Protective In Any Environment

Every Bel-Air hard case with foam is built to handle the jostling and bumping that accompanies travel by plane, train, ship or even crossing a desert in a Humvee. But our equipment cases also are built to handle rugged environments.

Whether your transport case is sitting on a tarmac in the middle of a monsoon or being hauled across a remote rainforest, the equipment inside your case will be protected from the elements.

Need ATA cases? Our cases meet ATA specs as well as many MIL specs and our clients include various branches of the military as well as aerospace companies. If you need to trek out to the tundra or are planning on a mission to Mars, a Bel-Air hard case with foam can be equal to the task. Just let us know what you need, and we will build a case that suits your specifications.

Light In Weight & Easy-To-Maneuver

A durable, protective case shouldn’t be difficult to lug from place to place. The materials we use include hard plastic shells crafted from high-density polyethylene. While this material is durable, moisture-resistant and chemical-resistant, it’s also extremely lightweight.

This makes it easier to move from place to place, but also can reduce your shipping costs. Keep in mind, we can add wheels and telescoping handles to many cases to further increase your maneuverability.

Custom Foam Adds Extra Protection

Every Bel-Air case includes a custom foam interior. This could be a simple, quality foam lining or a complicated design that includes die cuts, interior walls and doors, plastic dividers, windows, shock mounts and panel mounts.

Many case manufacturers simply provide their customers with basic foam slabs or diced foam. This cheap pick-and-pluck type of foam breaks down quickly, and the customer is forced to cut away at the foam to create cavities for their equipment.

If you are paying for a custom hard case, we believe a custom foam interior should be included. We usually can construct a completely custom foam interior for around the same price as cases that are just filled with cheap pick-and-pluck foam.

Many Custom Features

Our cases are built to last, but we also offer our customers many stylish options. For instance, we can create cases with molded-in logos or perhaps engraved plates or custom decals.

Our standard case colors are black and silver, but we have several additional stock colors including white, orange, yellow, blue, red, green and olive. With a specific minimum order, we also can provide you with custom colors and perhaps color matching.

This can be a great option if you have to transport many cases at once. The custom color and logo can make your cases easy to identify. Additionally, if you need OEM cases, a custom color and molded-in logo or decal add a professional touch to your case design.

Additionally, we offer a wide assortment of hardware options including different types of case handles, case locks, hinges, latches and feet. If you don’t see precisely what you want, we usually can find a source for what you want.

Choose Your Case Type

At Bel-Air, we create three different types of hard cases with foam. Our medium-duty and heavy-duty carrying cases are ideal for lightweight and fragile items weighing about 30 pounds or less, as well as for sales kits, medical kits and diagnostic equipment.

The medium-duty carry cases are not meant to be shipped as freight but may be shipped as luggage occasionally. If you want a carrying case that can be shipped frequently either as freight or luggage, our heavy-duty carrying cases will be a better fit.

Our heavy-duty shipping cases are the perfect option for just about any type of equipment that you need to transport frequently. These cases can handle hundreds of trips with ease, and they include built-in protective bumpers and stacking lugs. These features ensure that the toughest part of your case absorbs impacts and not either the case hardware or the items inside the shipping cases.

We also offer custom expo cases, which also are often just called trade show cases. These heavy-duty cases are ideal for shipping and storing graphic materials, trade show displays and other objects that don’t fit into our regular-style shipping cases. These cases also feature a unique overlapping lid design which can reduce shipping costs by providing you with more case height flexibility.

Get Your Custom Case Quote

Whether you need just one hard case with foam or a fleet of cases, we can help. To get started, just click on the Contact Us tab and fill out our quick contact form or click on the Request a Quote form and provide us with a few details about what you need in terms of case design.

While a shipping case is meant to withstand the rigors of transport, too often these cases are bulky, heavy and difficult to handle. Our heavy-duty shipping cases with wheels are the perfect option – lightweight and easy to maneuver yet tough enough to handle hundreds of trips by land, sea and air.

As you can see from the picture above, we have a large selection of case wheels. Adding wheels can be a great option for just about any case, and we also have a large selection of handles. This includes telescoping handles, which make it easy to maneuver your Bel-Air case through a crowded airport or train station or any other high-traffic area. If you don’t find the exact type or style of wheels or handles you want on our website, just let us know what you need, and we probably will be able to find a good source for your components.

Of course, we also offer many other custom options. If you would prefer a shipping case without wheels, we can provide you with different types of case feet. We also have a large selection of latches and locks and can design cases either with built-in rigid wheels or removable casters.

Naturally, we also offer an assortment of color options for your case. Our standard case colors are silver or black, but we have several additional stock colors including white, blue, green, olive, red and yellow. With a specific minimum order, we may be able to provide you with custom colors or color matching. We also can create a molded-in logo for your case or custom decals or engraved plates.

These color and customization options add a professional flair to any shipping cases with wheels and make it easier for your team to identify shipping cases at the airport, on a trade show floor or anywhere else you need to take them.

Top Protection – Even In Extreme Conditions

We also can add humidity indicators and pressure relief valves to your custom case. Our team has designed custom cases for military and aerospace applications for many years, and these clients often need what is known as a controlled breather case. These cases have tight seals to lock out dust, humidity and moisture, but we add a pressure relief valve to ensure that allows some air intake while still locking out moisture. The pressure relief valve also ensures that the user can open the case easily even when exposed to fluctuations in temperature or altitude.

Off-The-Shelf Vs. Custom Shipping Cases

If you need to transport equipment as luggage or freight frequently, you have several options to consider. You can purchase an off-the-shelf shipping case or a custom shipping case. Off-the-shelf shipping cases can be a good option if you just need one case or the items you are transporting aren’t very expensive or delicate or if you need cases available right away.

Custom shipping cases with wheels are a better option if you need to transport anything particularly delicate or expensive (or both). Our shipping cases are built from scratch and designed around your equipment or products. While it takes a few weeks to build a Bel-Air Case, these cases are highly protective and meant to last for years and years. We have customers from the 1960s that still use their 50-year-old cases.

Of course, there are several different types of custom equipment cases. Our shipping cases with wheels are vacuum-formed from high-density polyethylene, which is a durable, lightweight, moisture-resistant and impact-resistant type of thermoform plastic.

Other options include roto-molded cases or injection-molded cases. These also use plastic shells, and while roto-molded cases are highly durable, they are very heavy and neither injection-molded or roto-molded cases are as customizable as our vacuum-formed shipping cases.

Fabricated cases, which are created out of laminated wood or composites, are available in just about any size or configuration you might need, but these also are quite heavy and tend to be more expensive than cases made from plastic. Still, if our vacuum-formed cases don’t seem like the right fit for your equipment, we will let you know and help you find another source.

Custom Foam Interiors

While the exterior of your shipping cases needs to be durable, the foam inside the case can be just as important. Too often, a case manufacturer focuses only on the exterior shell and just hands off a case with a chunk of diced foam. Then the customer has to cut away at the foam to create cavities for their equipment. These imprecise cavities won’t really protect your equipment and this type of foam tends to break down quickly and will need to be replaced.

We never hand off a case filled with cheap “pick and pluck foam,” instead we fabricate high-quality custom foam interiors for each case, built around your equipment. Our foam cushions every centimeter of your equipment and provides additional impact resistance and protects against damage from vibrations, as well.

Our design team can fabricate any type of foam interior that you might need, and we are experts at creating complex die-cuts, interior walls, shock mounts, panel mounts, windows, plastic dividers or whatever else you might need.

How To Get Started

If you need shipping cases with wheels, you can simply click on the Request a Quote tab on our homepage. First, provide us with contact information and then you have the option of filling out our Simple RFQ Form or the Complete RFQ form. Once you’ve completed the form, just click submit and one of our case specialists will begin working on your free quote. If you have questions, just click on the Contact Us tab and fill out our quick contact form or call us at (866) 235-2472.

Lighting equipment is both expensive and delicate, and if you need to transport any type of lighting or related equipment, you need lighting cases that are tough enough to handle rugged environments. At Bel-Air Cases, we’ve been designing custom lighting cases for more than 50 years and can provide you with attractive, protective shipping cases that can handle the rigors of transportation.

Lighting Case Options

At Bel-Air Cases, we offer two options for equipment and lighting cases – you can choose between our carrying cases or our heavy-duty shipping cases. Our heavy-duty carry case might be a good match for smaller pieces of equipment, such as cameras, lenses, light meters and other smaller items.

For larger pieces of lighting equipment, our heavy-duty shipping cases are the best option, and we can add wheels and handles to any case to make them easier to maneuver. Our shipping cases also are built to stack neatly and efficiently, which makes it easier to store your equipment, and each shipping case includes molded bumpers and stacking lugs.

For cases smaller than 30”, we can add a telescoping handle and wheels, but for larger shipping cases, we usually recommend adding a 3” or 7” end handle as these cases already are long enough for easy and comfortable maneuvering. All of the hardware is created using durable materials such as stainless steel, and we use tough aluminum valances for each case.

The exterior shells of our equipment and lighting cases are vacuum-formed using high-density polyethylene (HDPE). We chose HDPE as our top material choice for several reasons. HDPE is a highly affordable plastic, but, more importantly, this is one of the most rugged, durable materials available. HDPE has high impact resistance and high moisture resistance, and our cases can handle temperature extremes and rugged conditions without affecting the equipment inside the case.

Furthermore, HDPE is an excellent option because it is extremely lightweight. Not only does this make it easier for the customer to carry or move their lighting cases, but it also can reduce your shipping costs. Other case types typically are formed using heavier materials, and it costs more to ship a heavy case. We also build each case around your equipment, so there’s no excess material. With HDPE, you can have a smaller, lighter case that is easier and less expensive to transport yet still highly protective.

Lighting & Equipment Cases With Foam

While the exterior of your lighting cases needs to be able to handle rugged environments, such as the cargo hold of a plane, we also focus on designing custom foam inserts for all of our equipment cases. Each case can include a custom foam insert that is built specifically for each piece of your lighting equipment. Our quality foam will cushion and protect your lighting equipment, camera equipment, audio-visual equipment or anything else you need to store and protect.

Custom foam is always a big part of any lighting case project, and we never simply hand off our cases with a chunk of diced foam. This is a cheap type of foam, also known and pick and pluck foam. This poor-quality foam doesn’t last as long as the durable polyethylene foam we use, and when customers receive this cheap diced foam, they are forced to cut or pick away at the foam to make cavities for their equipment.

We believe that if you are paying for custom lighting cases, this should include a custom foam interior. We can usually construct foam sets for around the same price you’d expect to pay for cases with foam slabs or diced foam, and our foam provides far greater protection for your delicate items.

Many Custom Options

While we can customize the size and configuration of your lighting cases, as well as the interior foam, we also have many other custom options available. We offer two standard colors for our plastic shipping cases – black and silver, but we also have additional stock colors, including red, orange, yellow, blue, green, olive and white. With a minimum order, we may be able to provide you with color matching or custom colors.

We also can personalize the shell of your equipment and lighting cases with a molded-in logo, custom engraved plates or custom decals. This adds a professional touch to your shipping cases and also makes them easier to identify at a busy airport or perhaps at a large event or trade show.

Contact Us Today!

While creating hard plastic cases for lighting, including LED lighting, is one of our areas of specialization, we can create heavy-duty shipping cases for just about any type of equipment. Through the years, we have built equipment for military and aerospace clients, as well as medical equipment cases, diagnostic equipment cases and even carry cases for sales kits and OEM cases.

If you have any questions about our custom lighting cases, you can contact us at (866) 235-2472 or click the Contact Us tab on our homepage and fill out our quick contact form. If you are ready to make a purchase, simply click on the Request A Quote tab and provide us with some information about the type of shipping cases that you need us to manufacture.