I wanted to make foam inserts to make keep the things I put in my Systainers that have no matching Festool liner.

FastCap is selling a product by the name of Kaizen Foam.  As a Process Management Consultant, I have a very large problem with the name “Kaizen” which means – “A Japanese business philosophy of continuous improvement of working practices, personal efficiency, etc.”  The foam itself is NOT “Kaizen” It is just a tool it won’t make you understand “Kaizen”, just like a pad of paper doesn’t make you Faulkner…  it is what you do with that makes a difference. What the foam will help you do is organize and protect tools, and let you see what you are missing. Why not call it Jesus foam??? So you can become a better carpenter…. I do hope you see the humor that is meant here….

The Foam comes in three thicknesses – 7/8” or 20mm, 1 1/8” or 30mm and 2 1/4” or 57mm. It also comes in three color combos – all black, all white, in 57mm it also comes in “What I call Oreo quadruple stuff” – black top and bottom and lots of white in between. The sheets are 2' x 4'. You can get 6 inserts that will fit the normal Systainers  out of each  2’x4’. If you have a MAXI Systainer you can get 3 inserts out of one 2’ x 4’ sheet. Or a combo of these.

I ordered 4 sheets of 57mm “What I call Oreo quadruple stuff”.

I have to say the FastCap website is NOT correct in what it says. The layers ARE much thicker than the advertised 1/8”.  Also they are NOT EASY to peal apart.

Images from the site show the following






Here is what I found when my 4 sheets of 57mm Sandwich (Black with white middle) showed up.

The shows the 57 with 13 layers… there is the call out that the black outer layers are 5mm. The site shows 13 layers. What came was 2 black and 7 white layers.

001 the white layers are closer to quarter inch not the advertised eighth inch but not in itself not a deal breaker


002 It does not easily peal apart sample 1


003 It does not easily peal apart sample 2


004 It does not easily peal apart sample 3


005 It does not easily peal apart sample 4


The only work around is if the cut out is near the edge I can reach in from the side and cut at the level (depth) I want. The limit is the length of the blade.

I ordered the long tipped maker but it was backordered for weeks… you really want a pattern marker with a long tip if you want to get a good tracing of the. When the makers did arrive, the blister packaging was cut open and the caps on the tips were loose…so they were dried out.  A week later I got some that were not opened and worked.

I have cut a lot of foam inserts for photo gear and other stuff over the years. Having a thin maker makes this much easier to do.  If FastCap is back ordered, I suggest you check your office supply store and buy a few.

006 You get one thin tip and a more normal sized tip on the marker


007 The thin long tip really gets you close to the tool


The density of this foam gives you a choice of tools to use to cut it. I first started with the razor knives and for tool outline cuts I find them best.  The fastest way to cut the perimeter of the insert is solved by the Festool 6” jig saw blade 493656 (S 155/W). For circles collect different diameter pipe, conduit and hole saws.  Pick a bit smaller than the circle you want and pick up use a torch to heat up the pipe or a hole saw and you get very nice holes. It takes very little heat to cut through the foam… so easy that I would like to know the melt temp of this stuff is.  I would be a bit concerned about putting any hot tool (No Festool tool gets hot) on the foam. I haven’t tried this but I would think if you back out a 3 inch screw fast that will get hot and it drops on the foam… it might just sink in.

008 Cutting tools


009 The Festool blade that makes cutting foam or sheet insulation easy with smooth edges and no crumbles that cling  


010 Very clean smooth cuts with the Festool blade


Figuring how to fit stuff, takes some time and thought.  I found laying the stuff on top of the systainer or on top of perimeter cut insert and then looking at it for a day help me fine tune the organize. Remember not all things need have their own single space. Some things just fit in better in boxes.  What I like about the black and white foam is that you the white make seeing what is missing easy, also it just make the box brighter inside.

011 Clamps and stuff for my MFT3 Qwas dogs and rail dogs


012 Parts for the MFT3 and didn’t have my marker yet to mark for the clamps


013 More MFT3 stuff added rail champs for my out feed rail


014 How Festool make inserts


015 Nail gun in MAXI Systainer when closed you can pick this thing up by the side handle and nothing moves


016 How it sits with bottle of oil and water filter for compressor


017 Pull it out and the white shows you can see how rough the layer tear out


018 I used double sided tape to hold the block on the smooth areas of the lid  


Conclusion:

Would I buy more? Yes, but if I can find an easier/cleaner pealing layered foam I would not.

Will it hold up? I think so but I would not let any hot tools touch it and would make sure I don’t ever set the Systainer near a hot radiator or gas heaters on a job site.

I feel a bit let down by FastCaps advertising because the product does not match what they say on their site.

I wonder if the all black and all white are the same foam as what the sandwich is?  From the pictures it looks different. If it would peal apart like they say… maybe I should have bought 4 whites and one black and just pealed a black later off and made my own black and white foam. It would be fun try but I don’t want to spend the money if it ends up being the same. The pain of buying  from a website and not being able to touch it.

I find it a bit ironic that “Kaizen” foam has so much room for improvement.

I have many FastCap products and they have lived up to the website. It just seems the foam is not their best quality control.

Cheers,
Steve

I purchased a 57mm all black piece and it definitely had layers close to 1/8" thick. There were about 20 or layers in what I got, which is essentially 1/8".

However I do agree it was harder to peel apart that I would have preferred.

I have some thinner pieces on back order. We shall see what they are like when (if?) they ever get here.

Agree completely. I bought a Pelican case for some electronics that had the pluck style foam in it - very annoying.

Dave, I had the same concern that if might be too easy....but I could always glue it.

What I found was that where the layer touched they had a stronger bond than just the foam.  With the scraps I have tested cuts and I have found the layers to be harder to cut through than the foam itself.   

Did you find all types of foam to be the same quality/material?

I would really like to see a white, Black and Oreo 57mm together to compare and test.

From the posts I finding that the colors are not the same and maybe even from month to month of the same color and size might be different.

Heating metal to smooth it might work. As easy as you can heat a pipe to make holes I would wonder if it would melt too much.

And yes it is better than the pluck and pull.....but so is cardboard....LOL

Cheers,
Steve

Jeff,
At $19 for a 2'x4' 57mm I agree it is a good price. I really like FastCap because they are a stand up company. But maybe trying to be lean to be lean and maybe missing the point that you don't continue to improve so you can continue to improve....  you improve to be better! Also know that you can always be better! But you never stop improving because perfection is never achieved and anyone that says they have the perfect answer or product doesn't have a clue.  Customer service at FastCap is wonderful....but if they really had their ducks in a row I would not need to talk to customer service and know they have great customer service.  I would just tell my fiends how great and easy the order process was and how the product lived up to the companies promotion.

I have a lot of FastCap stuff and won't stop buying from them...but I know that not everything they make will be a home run. But I will always look.

Cheers,
Steve

Andvari,

Thanks for the image... disregarding color...  from what I see, it does not seem to be the same foam as what I got.

What are your thoughts?

Cheers,
Steve

Received all black 30mm and 57mm sheets today.   Both have the thin (approx 1/8")  layers throughout.


Seth

Steve,

I have a piece of foam which is very similar to your Oreo Kaizen foam.  It was used as padding for a headlight that got shipped to me.  Based on the size of the piece I received as disposable packing material, I was a bit shocked when I saw the price of Kaizen foam.  I have been looking for it as generic packing material on the web, but have had no luck. 

The all black foam pictured looks like it would be much better than the Oreo.     

I will take a photo of it tomorrow, to compare.   

I received two sheets of 30mm Kaizen foam a couple of days ago. They look very similar to the original 57mm black foam except the layers are somewhat thicker - about 4mm each. There are 7 layers per slab.

the foam is called ethafoam and you can buy it cheap on the web in various thicknessess and build up your layers to suit you needs as i have with a custom insert for makita sds in a sys 2

Good use of the foam...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj6NsliY674&feature=player_embedded

Hi Everyone this is Paul Akers the owner of FastCap, I am sorry for any confusion regarding Kaizen Foam. Our products are guaranteed for life, this is how we improve we place all the burden on us not the customer. Kaizen  Foam is the most popular product we have ever developed, we can not keep up with the demand. It is being used by pros in over 20 trades. If anybody is not happy with anything, it is as simple as calling 888 443 3748 and you'll receive a full refund for your product, you do not have to return anything or prove that you bought it. We have extensive videos online explaining exactly how to use this product and we cover every issue discussed in this blog, in fact it is so easy to use that we have school districts throughout the country using the product, with great success,  many of kids videos our posted on our website. Kaizen Foam is not a perfect product, but it is a cool product and we have found to be useful as well as thousands of others around the world. As a side note, Kaizen Foam was developer for our internal lean improvements. When people toured  our company they saw how we used the product and ask if they could buy it. We decided to make it available to the general public, at cost, we lose money on every piece we sell, it is our way of spreading the word about the benefits of Lean.

Paul,
Thanks for the info, and for making another great product available to us.  We love your tape measures for the shop, so much that they keep getting misplaced and found in the trucks. Maybe the guys are trying to tell me something?

Mike

welcome abord paul.

I might suggest that you do a members search for John Bates.  I believe that he might be a third party manufacturer rep who handles Fastcap in the UK and might be able to help you find a dealer.

Peter