Military patents polystyrene and bedliner packaging

[TJinPgh]

I've used the aerosol spray can stuff from Duplicolor for other projects. I used it to spray the plastics on my motorcycle and it did extremely well. 2-3 light coats and it wears like iron.

After reading a few of these threads and how the foam does with different resins and adhesives I figured I'd see how foam friendly it is. All I had to test it on was simple Styrofoam which didn't do well at all. It melted it completely.

Not familiar enough with these high density foam panels to know how they compare to such things. I would think that one would be best served priming it with something first, though?

As for cost and coverage, I used less than half a can to do 3 coats on the plastics on the bike, which included the front fender and the fairing that goes around the seat (the bike is a SV650 for reference sake) so it would seem that it goes pretty far.

A one gallon can is supposed to be enough to do a 6ft bed. So, my guess is that one would probably need maybe 2 gallons to do an 8 ft teardrop?

If, for some reason, it can't be made to work with the foam it could certainly be used as an alternative to metal on anything wood sided. So, if you're cladding the foam with luan it's effects on foam would be negated, wouldn't it?

[GPW]

This may work on the brown urethane foam ...

[allan1]

This may work on the brown urethane foam ...

Some where I have a small can of Plastidip that I've used on a few tools. I went to their website and they have several varieties they sell (including one to coat prosthetic's). I think it is rollerable & thatyou can spray with 'ordinary' equipment. I'll have to experiment - if I can find it in my tidy shop . I'm day dreaming of window mesh screen glued to foamie to pull it in tight and then skim over that. Any thoughts? link below

http://www.plastidip.com/foam_plastics.php

[mikeschn]

Not much has been said about the dovetailing part. I wonder if a foamie could be dovetailed, or even box jointed for that matter

Mike...

[GPW]

Mike , I thought about that , using my buddys’ big CNC machine to cut all the parts with keys and dovetails ... snap together does sound interesting ... but don’t think it would add that much strength over the butt joined foam ... Maybe ???

[Shadow Catcher]

I have been following this thread and while I don't currently have a use for it, ya never know. I would think that a properly fused/welded butt joint would be stronger than a dove tail, however a dove tail would spread forces over a larger area. A fused joint will be stronger than the surrounding material.
One of the things I am excited about is the possibility of a sculpted structure, really you are only limited by your imagination in the shapes you can make.

[GPW]

SC, I don’t think anybody’s delved into sculpting , as yet , but it does offer unlimited possibilities ...

I still think something like this would be Cool ...

[mikeschn]

Did they use Gorilla Glue?

Mike...

[GPW]

Moai Mucilage

[allan1]

Not much has been said about the dovetailing part. I wonder if a foamie could be dovetailed, or even box jointed for that matter

Mike...

Talk about a messy job. Dove tails used to join sheets for right angles would look cool if you could see the work. Spline, scarf joint, tab and pocket (extra reinforcement to hold it in place by pushing skewers trough to lock it in - that would work with the dovetail too) but box joint would be strongest I think as it seems to get the most gluing surface happening and maybe the easiest ... not high tech but 1/4" ply template clamped each side having a more of a V shape rather than the U shape - be easier to cut with a bread knife. Are we talkng open or closed cell foam?

[mikeschn]

[quote]“Our team dove tailed the box’s joints to allow for hot and cold temperature transfer after spraying the Polystyrene container with the truck bed liner,â€

[GPW]

With the foam being “non-structuralâ€

[allan1]

[quote="mikeschn"][quote]“Our team dove tailed the box’s joints to allow for hot and cold temperature transfer after spraying the Polystyrene container with the truck bed liner,â€

[linuxmanxxx]

Look at their different hard and flexible epoxy choices very interesting indeed just a hard to figure and navigate website and no pricing at all.

http://www.polygem.com/zoo/flexct.php

[GPW]

Steve, that’s always the problem huh ? .... the expense ...

The original Foamie concept was to do it in a THRIFTY manner , with commonly available materials ...
All in how far you want to take it , and how much you have to spend...