I needed a simple and compact way to protect several high capacity LiPos. For my Savage Flux HP I own four 6000mAh Turnigy Nano-Tech 11.1V LiPo batteries that are big and heavy and need protected when they’re not in the truck. For reference they are 153x48x30mm plus the cables on the end. I decided to make a foam case to protect them that would be easy for me to assemble and allow easy battery retrieval as needed.
I designed this enclosure in CAD and then printed the drawings out at 1:1 scale. Printing them out on 8 ½ x 11in paper should result in a 1:1 scale. I purchased 1 sheet of a very durable foam from McMaster for this project. One 24in x 36in sheet was enough for all the parts for one enclosure. The foam was McMaster p/n 86205K62 and at the time cost less than $15.
I pinned the printed out pages down through the foam and onto my cutting mat to hold them in place. Then using a sharp xacto blade I cut each part out. Note that some pages need multiple parts made from that print.
Assembly was fairly straight forward. The pieces all slide into the slots on the adjoining pieces fairly easily. I was actually pretty pleased with how well they all slipped together. To hold the main enclosure together I carefully wrapped a few layers of Gorilla Tape (like duct tape) around the box to hold all the pieces together. The two pieces for the lid were glued together with super glue.
The batteries fit in the cubbies within the enclosure snuggly. There is room at the end for the two battery cables to be coiled up together. Then the lid is placed over the end. I hold it all together with a few pieces of velcro I had lying around.
I’ve used this case for a few years. It sits in the pocket on the outside of my monster truck carrying bag where the starter would go if it was a nitro truck. So it is in the bag but in an exterior pouch. This case has protected the batteries well for several years with no signs of damage. The case gives me a lot of peace of mind so I don’t need to worry about accidentally damaging the batteries!
