Folding Foamie Advice Requested

[DaddyJeep]

just a thought … we have the possibility of completely waterproofing a piece of canvas through and through , but not with something like T2 that dries hard , but more with something Acrylic “medium” like I use on painting canvas , which we roll up all the time ( flexible)

I’m just thinking two pieces of fabric sewn together down the middle like the old control surface hinges we used on model planes ...

To take this one step further.... You could make at least three of the walls continuous so there is no seam to leak by making triangles in the end wall. This would be similar to wrapping a present i suppose. As the middle triangle folds down the triangles on either side fold over on top of it with the side walls on top of that. Are you following my thought process? I'm not sure if I am myself. Maybe this is overly complicated and unnecessary, but is yet another idea to work with.

[GPW]

like a mitered corner eh ??? Sounds Good eh !!!

[me&z]

Oooh.

I like this idea of continuous walls.

Don't think this is what you were describing, but made me think of this:. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Folding ... 71714.html

Been using the esterel/gobur/rapido style as my inspiration. You've just given me a new one.

[me&z]

Here's another thought.

FootLoose is making a very small box. The top end walls are only 18" tall x 40" wide. What if they aren't rigid at all? Just waterproofed canvas? Make a separate end panels of covered foam that push into place (held by Velcro) from the inside after the long sides are up and latched to the lid.

FL: better put in a bunch of windows because you are basically building something the size of a coffin. Not sure I could sleep in it. If you haven't seen the round windows that rowerwet made from gamma lids, you should look for them. I think they are rather neat.

[FootLoose]

Busy with gathering frame material for trailer and my grandson!

Appreciate the continued input. I like the idea of the living hinges and the continuous folding walls incorporated into this. Very intriguing. Looking into doing some experimenting with both concepts and using a flexible waterproof sealant along the joints. Not sure what will work but will try the Gripper along with a few other rubberized coatings to see how they do. Anyone have any experience or ideas on this? I want to apply it so it does not interfere with the material joining the walls and affecting good adhesion but also without affecting the flexibility. My thoughts are since these are horizontal hinges with no design load, they should be very effective and efficient. Trying to stay simple with this and cost efficient, aka cheap.

Done some online research on living hinges for model planes and in use in boat building for weatherproofing but need to find an effective flexible sealant that works and won't adversely affect the canvas, foam or adhesive, i.e. Gripper and Titebond II.

FootLoose

[joshuag]

Hi I'm a lurker and this is my first post!

I'm not sure if this would help you or not, but it's an origami fold from MIT called the steel grocery bag fold. It would allow you to not have any corner or roof seams if you used a living hinge. I have not built anything with foam yet though so maybe it's not a good idea.

MIT Steel Grocery Bag white paper

If you scroll down halfway, you can see pics of the steel grocery bag being folded.