Foam...

Hello,

What kind of glue do you use to stick the foam (pink or blue) on wood?

Thanks

 

I have used liquid nails FOR FOAM, but that seeems to take awhile to dry..The best luck I have had is Elmers for wood in the plastic bottle, sort of a tannish color...

 

Question about MS foam

For the risers and incline and the rest of the white foam that MS uses what type of foam is it? Could you use the white foam that Home Depot sells as a base to place the pink or blue on and attach the risers and inclines to?

 

I found a great product for gluing foam to wood and foam to foam, pink blue and white. It is probably similar to Liquid Nails, drying time was about 30 minutes and you do need to weigh down the items you are gluing with heavy objects, I used reference books and lengths of 2*4.

The product is LEPAGES "NO MORE NAILS" instant grab gap filling super strength latex based adhesive. I purchased it from Home Depot.
It is important to get the "Latex Based" version of the product or the foam will melt.

 

Owen-

I will look when I am again beckoned to walk those hallowed halls with orange stripes. I have been looking for an alternative to the Liquid Nails product.

 

French_guy:

You can stick it with latex caulking (el cheapo variety) or use Gorilla Glue (or any other polyurethane brand).

The problem with wood glue is that it tends to dry around the edges first, and that seal prevents air from getting in to cure the glue. The polyurethane glue cures in the presence of moisture, not air, so (very) lightly misting the foam before you put it in place will eliminate that problem. This is not as much of an issue with wood-to-foam, as air will get in eventually, but the wood glue will never dry with a foam-to-foam joint.

Oldscout:

The white foam (sometimes called beadboard or expanded styrofoam) is not strong enough for a base (without lots of traditional benchwork under it), is messy to cut, and generally not worth using except as the basis for landforms over some other kind of benchwork.

Forget the white stuff, and use the pink or blue extruded foam. It is much stronger, easier to cut and carve, and only needs an open grid with supports 16-24" on centre.

Stick your WS risers to the pink or blue foam with caulk, No More Nails/Liquid Nails for Foam, or polyurethane glue. You can also cut your own risers from the pink or blue foam using a hotwire tool (which you can also make yourself).

BarryC:

The "tannish" coloured glue is probably carpenters' glue, a stronger, waterproof version of the Elmer's white glue.

Hope that helps...

Andrew

 

Has anyone else used PL-300? (I think that's the name) I got it at my local hardware store and he told me it is an alternate to Liquid Nails for Projects. I have also seen it used in MR mag. when they give a demo. I bought a couple of tubes BUT it sure does smell and it comes out of the tube a light blue. Did anyone like the results?

 

PL300

I had to be careful and buy PL300 with new packaging. Some I bought new from the store must have been sitting on the shelf forever, and it could not be forced out of the tube. They still have 3 or 4 tubes left at the store. Maybe I should do a favor to fellow customers and sneak the old bad tubes off the shelves and threw them in stores wastebasket or maybe just hide them somewhere where nomone will ever buy them by accident.

I have been using PL300 for the new layout I am building.



Working on carport during a couple of weeks of summer vacation, one or two sections at a time on sawhorses. School teacher orientation meant working days so I carried the section I was tracklaying to a garage building where I could work an hour or so at night and lock it. I nudged a bush on the way and the blue foam pulled loose from one end of the section. Didn't stick as well as I wanted. I have re-stuck it but I am wondering about how permanent it is...or if there are any supplementary ways to keep what I have and "glue it MORE".

 

The PL300 does an ok job of holding the foam to the wood. When I tore out the old layout, the PL300 stuck to the wood very nicely, but let the blue foam go very easily.

ct_mike

 

Now-

How much glue to use? I would venture a guess that just barely enough so the foam will not move is better than covering every square inch. If you ever want to rip up the area and redo it, it will be easier with less than more.

I found this out the hard way when affixing structures to my layout. I used an adhesive and covered the entire base of the structure. Not a good idea since I then wanted to move it about an inch over. After that, I used just a small dab on two corners of a structure. An Exacto cut through and broke the bond when I decided to move it.

 

risers and inclines

I am using MS risers and inclines to climb a 2 1/4 inch rise. Since I have to use several risers do you need to stager the joints? Do you stager the cuts so that the cuts are not all in a line?