Tools for foamies!

[depatty]

WOW!!! That should Never come apart ...

But did. Total failure at the thin plastic coating they put on this stuff. Now I realise I didn't wait till the GG had time to totally cure but the foamed bits on the edges were quite hard as is the sheet that came out of the middle, so IMO the failure was the bond between the foam and the skin.

Peeled the skin off the other side of the same two pieces (as they were the last of the scraps I had in the house), perfed and coated both pieces this time with GG, as only the coated piece had the holes well filled with the foamed GG. Also really worked the GG into the holes, as last test I just wiped it on. Misted one of the pieces, put them together, and have them clamped again. So far lots more foaming around the edges. Should be ready to test in an hour or so, but I may wait till tomorrow for it to totally cure.

One thing I noticed, prior to really getting down on it to try to rip it apart, was how stiff the glued together piece was. Compared it to 2 pieces about the same size just held together and could flex them but the glued piece was like a piece of plywood, no or at least very little flex.

Pictures of the failure and regluing below.

[GPW]

I didn't realize yours has a skin on yours ... , Mine doesn't (I even sanded mine )... except for the 1/4" FFF that I use to make the models, that has a poorly attached skin ... Yes, that would fail ...
Ok, , new bet ... that the new unskinned foam will be much better ...

[depatty]

The unskinned and perforated foam will not come apart! Or at least I couldn't tear it apart with bare hands after it fully cured. Cut it into slices to see how well the glue penetrated into the perforations and for old REALLY thick GG it did pretty good! Also noted that when trying to bend it that the flex just ain't there with the two thicknesses glued together and fully cured. Makes me wonder just how much more strength could be added with a layer of cloth or canvas between the 2 pieces as well as on the surfaces. Gonna have to do some more tests soon as I get some fresh GG and Titebond II. Will try to do that this weekend.

Pix below.

[Conedodger]

depatty: Those results look very good, thanks for sharing them

[GPW]

Great test !!!! Proves that ... perforating time ...

Depatty, from our bow making experience , most of the bending stresses of a material are at the surfaces, tension and compression , so the inner (middle ) areas are sorta' neutral ... the reason we concentrate whatever strong fabric or ply on the outer surfaces... But really, if you did add something in the middle it still would make the wall stronger, which is never a bad thing ... All the way you like to build it... Nothing chiseled in stone here... We're all here just experimenting , and from the results so far , it looks like we have another good , but different, method of making a TD or TT ...

[squatch]

I've read a couple of posts about ironing out the canvas. This made me think of another tool. A rolling pin. Like you make pie crusts with. I haven't tried it on canvas yet but they work great for glued on marine carpet.

On a lark while out hitting antique shops with my wife I bought a marble rolling pin. When I was carpeting my bassboat I was having fits getting the carpet smooth especially on vertical surfaces. I remembered that on construction sites I had seen flooring guys rolling out flooring materials. I went and got that rolling pin and started rolling out the carpet. It worked GREAT. I actually made a smaller hand roller for tight spots. I'll probably use the same carpet type for the floor of my foamie. So I will roll that out if nothing else. But I do intend to try it with the canvas. Not sure if it will work but it's worth a try.

A quick shot of rolled carpet in the boat. It's pretty thin stuff with no backing.

[Dusty82]

I'll toss in a comment as well. I sometimes use closed cell foam in making door panels, and it also has a skin that needs to be removed prior to gluing - otherwise the same foam failure happens. To remove that skin, some folks like to use a random orbit sander or pneumatic DA sander. That works well, but if you've ever tried it, you look like a snowman within just a few minutes - especially in a dry climate like ours. I took a page from the book of a painter friend of mine and ground myself before sanding closed cell foam.

I just clamp a jumper cable to a metal water pipe or other source of good ground, and wrap an electronics tech's ground strap around my ankle. I clip the grounding strap to the jumper cable, and I'm grounded. Any static I build up in sanding is dissipated by the ground. It doesn't keep me totally clean, but it ding-donged sure helps. Foam particles don't change course in mid-flight and stick to me anymore. A quick spritz with the air hose and I'm set.