Working with Foam - Page 2

3g Jester · 08-14-2006, 12:00 AM

you sure know alot about foam mister.

GoHybrid · 08-14-2006, 12:03 AM

the more foam dust you breathe....

ps- thanks Vin

jay_tu · 08-28-2006, 12:47 AM

looks awesome...

KaBoOoM · 08-28-2006, 04:34 AM

Genius imo, and very easy to cover in glass for reinforcement. I like it a lot!

*Edit* You think it would be possible to use a hot wire to cut the foam without damaging the plastic? If you could it would make it flush almost instantly and require only a small amount of sanding (if any). Don't know anything about working with foam though.

Also it would be interesting to just use a crappy cheap foam, maybe with a very low melting point and put a glass shell on it. Then cut out/poke a whole in it and melt the foam out or just dissolve it out. Just throwing some ideas out there ...

GoHybrid · 08-28-2006, 09:47 AM

the renshape can't be cut with a hot wire unfortunately. It can be bent with a heat gun in thicknesses of 1/4" or less though. Kind of an oddity but it works. I have seen links using the "lost foam" method. Google lost foam and you might find some hobbyists that shape foam cores for model airplane fuselages and then do exactly what you say. For that though, you'll want to use EPS foam and epoxy resin.

good ideas!

KaBoOoM · 08-28-2006, 03:31 PM

If one were to do the exact same thing you did, but glass it would it be too thick? And is it easy enough to take a fraction of a centimeter off the edges evenly?

Sorry for all the questions, but I like this method

GoHybrid · 08-28-2006, 05:50 PM

Well, here's what you could do instead. Make the part out of foam. Make it to the exact dimensions that you want the final part to be... THEN! instead of trying to reinforce the foam, build a box around it and fill it with RTV silicone! Then you can fill it with your favorite urethane and paint it, machine it, make a billion of em for that matter. If you want, check out www.smooth-on.com They have all kinds of wonderful castable plastics.

BuT, if you don't want to bother with all that, then yes, you could just offset your boundaries and laminate glass over it. I'd advise looking into vacuum bagging too because chopped mat and wet-layups are just asking for rough finishes and air bubbles, especially in small parts.

I could go on for hours with any of those reproduction methods, or some others i didn't mention, but let me know what you're interested in and we'll talk.

scott_fx · 08-28-2006, 06:10 PM

those smooth-on products rule! i've used a few of them with great results!

TruckinMP3 · 08-28-2006, 06:46 PM

I like the way that looks.

GoHybrid · 08-28-2006, 08:42 PM

hey truckinmp3! are you coming to the colorado carpc meet on 9/26? it'd be really cool if you could make it. check the gatherings for "greetings from colorado" towards the end of that thread are all the details.

Anshu · 08-28-2006, 10:40 PM

that looks fantastic, superb way of getting around the bondo nastiness

TruckinMP3 · 08-28-2006, 10:45 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by GoHybrid

hey truckinmp3! are you coming to the colorado carpc meet on 9/26? it'd be really cool if you could make it. check the gatherings for "greetings from colorado" towards the end of that thread are all the details.

I have read the thread. Not sure I want to go.
Thanks though.

Siezmik · 08-29-2006, 12:22 AM

Nice write up on the process. It certainly gets one thinking about the potential uses of foam.

GoHybrid · 08-29-2006, 12:35 AM

i've spent alot of time making parts out of it. I'm pretty excited to see what the possibilities are for mold-making and production. I'll probably do another write-up when i finish my alumilite version of the trim bezel.

tml240 · 08-29-2006, 10:24 PM

That looks amazing.

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