FlightCase, Ready to Play!

Hi everyone,

Here is how I made my flight case. But first, few information about it:

• What I wanted to do:

1. Store my controllers and other devices in one case, all connected and ready to play music
2. Make all the USB cables invisible when playing music (I usually have tons of entangles cables on my desk, and I never know which one is plug to which controller...)
3. Use cheap materials easy to cut and glue
4. And make everything in a simple case

• How much it cost:
  

Less than 40€.

• Quick description of the FlightCase:
  

It is a case in which I made a floor with expanded polystyrene. Below this floor there are 4 USB cables to connect 4 of my devices (a launchpad, a zoom H4N, a nanoKontrol2, and an external hard disk drives); and all these cables are connected to one hub, so there is only one USB input to plug to my computer. What you can see when you open the FlightCase is just a floor with 4 cables coming out just where the devices have to be plugged, and some hook and loop fasteners to maintain the devices on the floor of the case.

What I have used:

-a case

-1 expanded polystyrene board

-1 USB hub

-7 foam sheets like this

-hook and loops fasterners strips

-few sticks of hot glue (I started with a hot glue that seemed to reach not so high temperature and that was fine with the polystyrene; but when I ran out of hot glue, the new one I bought used to melt a bit the polystyrene... It did not create any probleme, but it is just to warn you that hot glue can make deformations on polystyrene)

And I also bought duplicate cables (because the ones I use here, are glued to the case), so I can use my devices not only in the flight case!

The first step was to remove the grey foam that was in the case for the protection.

Then I glued norrow bands of polystyrene (about 3cm high) in the case. This is the first layer, and it serves to elevate the floor but also to allow the cables the be stored.

Then I have cut several large pieces of polystyrene to make the floor.

Before to glue:

• Draw on the polystyrene where each device is going to stand
• Make the cables come out from the polystyrene just where they are going to be pugged in the devices
  
  • To do this, I have cut 1cm² of polystyrene, let the cable pass through the hole, put the 1cm² piece back and glued it with hot glue.
• Plug all the cables to the hub
  • I decided to make a hole in the polystyrene above the hub so we can see it and the cables connected. It makes light and it is like the heart of the flight case.
• Glue the hook and loop fasteners strips to hold the devices
  • I glued them on the backside of the floor and made them pass through it.
• Make sure all the devices work when they are plugged to the hub, and the hub plugged to the computer

Then glue the floor, and fill the holes between the pieces of polystyrene with glue or polystyrene.

To make the floor looks better, I have added few sheets of foam to cover it. I made sure to let pass the cables and the hook and loop fasteners strips through the sheets, then glued it with the hot glue.

To finish I wanted my computer to be slightly higher than the other devices, so I made 4 cubes in polystyrene covered with the foam sheets. And the computer can stand on these cubes.

The case is now ready! Just open it, and play!

And once you're done playing music, just close it, and store it!