Until recently I stored my eyepieces in a fanny pack, the Barlow and laser in their boxes, and other bits and pieces stuffed in drawers. This made for quite a handful when going out to observe and didn't protect my equipment the way I wanted. To remedy this, I looked around for an eyepiece case. Orion, Zhumell, and others sell dedicated eyepiece cases, and many people use Pelican (expensive!) cases. These all do the job, but were more than I wanted to spend. Then I found the
Storehouse 18x13x6 aluminum case from Harbor Freight (item #69318) on sale for only $25. This is about the same size as Orion's Large Deluxe Pluck-Foam Accessory Case. It's not the up to the quality of the Pelican cases, but it will work great for the price. The hinges and latches aren't super strong, but good enough for me.
It's hard to tell from the pictures on Harbor Freight's website, but the case comes with a 2" thick pad of pluck foam (precut cubes that you pull out to fit your gear). It also comes with removable dividers, egg-crate padding for the top, a removable panel in the top with tool pockets, and a carrying strap.
One thing I noticed was that the foam didn't come up all the way to top top of the case. It's about 1" shy, and that could allow items to bounce out of their slots. To remedy that, I picked up a pack of 15x17x1 seat cushion foam from Wal-Mart. I used one of the two pads in the pack, traced the outline of the pluck foam pad, and cut it with a utility knife. This raised the pluck foam pad up almost to the top.
I laid out the items I wanted in the case in a fairly tight pattern, leaving a bit of foam between each piece. This leaves plenty of space for future expansion of my eyepiece collection.
To make the openings for the items, gently slip a finger between the foam cubes and tear the strip that remains holding the pieces together. If you're careful, they come out very neatly. Rather than pulling out one cube at a time, you can tear around the entire shape of the item you want to insert and clear the entire slot in one piece. For items, like a collimator, which would slip down too deep in the slot, I took the foam from the slot, cut it in half, and reinserted half of the foam back in the slot. That way, the items are supported at the right depth.
Everything fits nice and snug in the case. I inserted my 2" 30mm eyepiece vertically in the case. Sitting on top of the lower foam pad, this eyepiece sticks up a bit high, but the egg-crate foam in the lid holds it securely and the case closes fine. If I needed to, I could dig out some of the lower foam pad to allow the eyepiece to sit lower, but I don't think it's necessary.
