Home Depot Pink Foam; too Spackle and color?

Pink corning foam, isn't that XPS?   Like the blue dow foam I use sometimes, right?

I've only used it for rail buildups, but here's my experience...    For bonding I epoxy directly over it, no spackle since the pores are really small.   I also left the finish rough for maximum bondage.   I think I only went to 60 with the sanding.   Too fine a sanding and you're taking away the "tooth" for the epoxy to bond to.

If you don't like the color, tint over it.   I bet a red would work really well.   A blue would probably make some kind of purple.   When I did two layers of a dark red over the blue dow rails, it made a light purple after one layer, then a nice deep maroon after the laps overlapped.    I would be hesitant about spraying anything that might interfere with the bond of the glass to the foam.   I understand XPS is a great ride, but delam if you look at them funny.   My advice would be to keep your color in your lams, hide the pepto-pink that way.  :)

I'll be watching for the photos.

Well, the price is certainly right!

Doing a whole blank is outside my realm of experience, so hopefully someone else will chime in here as well.   But I THINK that XPS doesn't need or benefit from venting because of the mostly closed-cell structure.   I'm searching my memory banks here, but I'm also thinking I recall reading that xps boards can benefit from a post-shape/pre-lam "breathing time".   That XPS likes to outgas a bit, but if you allow some time after shaping before glassing, it will outgas into the atmosphere rather than under your lam.   Maybe even do it with some increased temps, in the sun maybe, to get the outgassing flowing. 

Again, I'm pulling this stuff out of the memory banks, so time may have corrupted the data I think i'm recalling.

Definitely treat it with care once glassed.   I think it was drewtang who talked about making xps boards for close freinds who could be trusted to baby them (and who loved them!), but wouldn't do them for off-the-street customers because of the heat sensitivity issue.

Hi Chilly,

  My first shaping attempt was with XPS. The board turned out pretty nice and rode well, but one day in a hot van going to the outer banks had it blistered like it was covered in boils. It sat for probably a week or two befotre I laminated it, so if there was any chance of the blank outgassing before glassing it should have been done by then.

   It's a great way to get your feet wet for a first go, but just don't expect too much of a life span.

Cost $12 for 2 sheets, plus $12 in glue, plus about 5 hours to template, cut and glue up.

Let me see:

2 SHEETS $12.00 = $12.00

5Hrs Labor x $25.00 = $125.00

Glue = $12.00

Cost of Blank = $149.00

Must be hard to shape with all those lines of glue?

any progress on this project?  pics or stories?

Did you have delam-problems with bended foam? I'm about to bend my BASF styrodur (the green stuff) for the nose rocker. Before I wanted to go with Chillysurfers method, but with beding the foam a little I get one board out of one sheet of foam...

if you bend

you need something to "hold" the rocker in place

it could be the epoxy you use to "glue" the sheets togethor

or an internal wood or glass springer that'll lock in the curve when dry

or the exterior skin lammed to the botrtom with glass and epoxy

or all of the above which is what we do

I think my brother and I are the remaining "kings" of bending flat sheets into blanks.

before everyone started cutting blanks out of blocks we all used to bend in rockers here.

i mix 1.5" -2" thick eps sheets with blue dow cause the blue dow is heavier if you use 1/8" wood skins.

i consider a bent blue dow sheet my "twanger" in the blank so it goes on the bottom layer.

you don't need a rocker table

just a surfboard with removable fins 

which is how we've done it from day one

having a vacuum set up is nice

but stretch wrap and strapping tape works just as well in setting the rocker to create your blank.

i scored last week went i went too HD to buy some eps sheets

got a 4'x8'x2" and a 4'x8'x1" and a  4'X8'X1.5"  panel of 1lb EPS all for $22.00

big mistake since the 4'x8'x2"  was listed at close to $40 alone

since I have some 2'x8'x1" panels of blue dow at home

I now have enough materials to make four-six blanks to make boards up to 8' long all for $22.00

Personally its easier to just buy a molded Marko or an Akubird preshaped EPS blank and just start from there.

but if you get lucky there's no comparison in cost.

even if I paid RAC rates I would end up with two 3" thick by 24" wide by 8' long blanks

for around $60 and the cost of a roll of packing stretch wrap and a bottle of PU glue if needed.

its not for everyone

we seem to like it because its simple and clean if you use hotwire tools to do most of your cutting work.

a vacuum connected dry wall sanding block with paper and screens for the finish work

flat sheet blank building 1flat sheet blank building 2flat sheet blank building 3flat sheet blank building 4flat sheet blank building 5flat sheet blank building -6flat sheet blank building Insides 1flat sheet blank building insides 2flat sheet blank building insides 3blue dow board blank

I guess you guys may have already come across this, but I use solvent free contact adhesive to glue my foam together. It is water based and I thin it with water slightly to aid brushing it on. leave about 30mins then press together, job done!  When sanded it leaves no ridges, and it's quick. As it is water based, it does not attack the foam.

In UK it's called 'EVO-STIK solvent free Impact

it costs about £6 for 250ml.

Hope this helps

Thanks Oneula, I love this info! This is a very nice technique. Makes me think again. With the DOW on the bottom no problems with delam because no bubbles will break. I love the XPS twang too, I put a wooden stringer in the middle, the twang is still there when you don't bend the XPS, it is the twang the pressurised foamcells give, also the reason for delams when they burst. Vents won't help for pure XPS boards, the foam is air and water tight. with a layer of EPS the vent will work! The main reason I use XPS is because it is extremely water resistant, one of my boards as a test I never repaired, even when the nose split open on the rail, only sanded off the sharp edges. After 3 years it gains +/- 200grams of weight when in the water, because of the hollow space around the ding, after the session it dries out completely again, only weight increase is the sand that collects in the crack. That makes an ideal travel board, no thinking, just surf it! That is why I don't want to use EPS, when it gets wet and salty, it will never dry again, salt attracting the water from the air..... I use expanding PU glue, the glue is water resistant, but the smell is poisonous, just like epoxy, but for me that is too hard to sand. PU too, but when used only inside the edges of the board, takes some planning and thinking when apllying it, I don't sand any glue. Please share your techniques and ask me for the details I forget, together we can make the best and greenest blanks. Keep the planet a good place to live.

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Oneula...i'm interested in what you mean by this above...a couple of months ago i shaped a 5' 5" fish from a dead flat 2.5 " thick sheet of EPS foam my shaper friend gave me off the top of one of his huge blocks of foam.  I bent in 3" of nose rocker and 1" of tail rocker using strategically placed weights, sawhorses, and about 48 hours of 120 degree heat.  turned of the heat, let everything cool for a week, the rocker held and i glassed it stringerless.  Ridden it several times and it kills it is small point breaky waves.  Do you think the rocker will eventually deform?  I LOVE this board!!

Pink foam is defently XPS

Here is a good thread about XPS and delam! Read the SD party carefully, he is the XPS-pope!:)

http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/xpsglassingdelamination

You dont need to spackle the foam, its really nice and easy to shape.

About painting:

i have painted my stuff directly on the foam with wall paint! Alternative: Spraying on the coat

color: you can add pigments to your resin works also

Greetz Chris