Pre-gluing outside and inside canvas?

[GPW]

Heating the foam is a slow tedious process as not to burn it or melt the surface (patience) .... the two forces involved , tension and compression , means that the outer surfaces will be Stretched longer , while the inner surfaces will be compacted shorter ... Heating both sides at once makes this much easier for the material to bend ... and if allowed to completely cool in this shape , it stays there, forever ... unless of course it’s heated to 190F and then re-bent ... Which we won’t see under our “normal” usage ... even the black painted parts of my Foamie only got up to 145F in the hot summer Sun... No worries ...
A bending “form” is always a Good idea , something that allows access to both sides ... a while back we made a Bending jig for shaping 1/4” Blucor... worked Great ... http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthre ... t=bendfoam Something BIGGER for thicker foam would work as well ...

[Wobbly Wheels]

Because most of us are building solo, a possible thought here about heating both sides evenly:

If one were to screw a few lamp holders to a scrap of 1X6 and load it with heat lamps, it would heat the inside of the foam gently without melting it and without needing to try and do both sides at once. I've used them for warming substrate for fiberglassing jobs - seems like just the ticket here. They're cheap (the lamps are the priciest part) and easy to make: if you can replace the cord on a power tool and change a ceiling light fixture, you already have what you need. Sacrifice an extension cord to the cause and you're good to go.
If not, a few clamp on lamp holders with IR bulbs work too. The advantage is that unlike heat guns etc, you're not trying to heat up the air between point A and point B, so it would work even in a trailer that isn't yet sealed up. If you've ever been on a restaurant patio on a cold evening, you know how well they work.

[GPW]

That’s a GREAT idea !!!!

[cpinetree]

Because most of us are building solo, a possible thought here about heating both sides evenly:

If one were to screw a few lamp holders to a scrap of 1X6 and load it with heat lamps, it would heat the inside of the foam gently without melting it and without needing to try and do both sides at once. I've used them for warming substrate for fiberglassing jobs - seems like just the ticket here. They're cheap (the lamps are the priciest part) and easy to make: if you can replace the cord on a power tool and change a ceiling light fixture, you already have what you need. Sacrifice an extension cord to the cause and you're good to go.
If not, a few clamp on lamp holders with IR bulbs work too. The advantage is that unlike heat guns etc, you're not trying to heat up the air between point A and point B, so it would work even in a trailer that isn't yet sealed up. If you've ever been on a restaurant patio on a cold evening, you know how well they work.

Use the clear heat lamps they are much cheaper (red is for food like french fries - makes them look better).
Amazon link for GE 250w heat lamps: http://www.amazon.com/GE-37770-250R40-Heat-Light/dp/B000RWHR7U
I am sure off shore brands can be had for less.

[Johnny Swank]

OK, monkeyed around with the heat gun on some 1/2" scrap this morning. Bottom line, it freaking rocks. I have a digital temperature gauge, and it looks like the foam hits 190 right around the time the skin begins to slightly deform. I jammed a piece of foam into a C shape (about a 15" radius" , held the gun about 4-5" from the foam while moving constantly (did the inside of the form first), then did the outside. I went over both sides at least twice to make sure that each inch got hit. Bottom line, the foam held it's form fine, with just a bit of deflection. Took all of 10 minutes. Messed with a wet towel for a little bit but it seemed to be more of a pain than it was worth.

Word to the wise, do this sort of thing outside because of the fumes. I'm going to put a fan inside the foamie when I do the inside of the hatch, have both doors open, hold my breath, and work a little at a time. Not sure that it matters which side you do first, but doing the interior first seems to make sense intuitively. Take the compression load off first, then deal with the skin tension on the outside. Either way, I think this method is a winner.

I'd be interested to see how well this would work on 1" foam, but 1'2" foam works fine and I'm just going to laminate two layers together after they're pre-bent. All that's left is the hatch and finishing the doors for this to be functional. I still want to put fiberglass tape over all the spars and at every joint, but that'll probably be a January project once things calm down here.

[loaderman]

Farm supply stores/hardware stores also sell a red heat lamp bulb, fairly inexpensive.

[Wobbly Wheels]

That's where I was getting mine (Agri-Supply)....two dozen at a time...my price went from about $7 each at the hardware store to about $2.60.
It definitely pays to shop around.

[Mary C]

I can't see.................. sounds great can you please show us some of the process of the hatch?

Mary

[GPW]

Too bad we’re not making a bunch of these ... then you could build a simple wooden jig/ form and heat bend a whole lot of them in a short time .... Rear , front , roof ... You could pre bend everything , and then just pop in the sides ....

[KCStudly]

Too bad we’re not making a bunch of these ... then you could build a simple wooden jig/ form and heat bend a whole lot of them in a short time .... Rear , front , roof ... You could pre bend everything , and then just pop in the sides ....

Yeah, attach the foam to the jig cart, wheel it into the powder coating oven, set the thermostat at 215F, come back in 1/2 hr and allow to cool. That would lock in some shapes, ya' think?

Now where did I put that winning Power Ball ticket?

[GPW]

KC , if I were younger , I’d start a Foamie trailer making business ... with a big oven ...

[Mary C]

How hot does a paint booth get with the doors closed.

Mary

[Wolffarmer]

:roll: How hot does a paint booth get with the doors closed.

Mary

I had a very large sauna pictured in my head. To build a TD in

Randy

[Wolffarmer]

Hey, I was looking around tonight as if I don't will go bonkers.

Was investigating Glidden Gripper and I found this.

answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Au2lLpJQiy6bDUd00sS8eqiA6xR.;_ylv=3?qid=20080104095151AAfhRLV

Interesting.

When we first heard of the Gripper it was someone that was using it to glue foam sheets together to get a thicker sheet. Not the whole 4x8 footers but probably at least 1 foot on the narrow side. Sounded like it cured/dried in there. How can that be if it is not a chemical reaction instead of a drying action? Just wondering if anyone can shed more light on this.

I so want to build a larger TD and hit the road for a couple of years before it is to late.

Randy

[GPW]

Wolf , we don’t believe Anything we read on the Internet .... Everything must be “tested” first !!! I bought a gallon of Gripper , plan to test it out soon ., but I’ll only be using it for attaching the fabric skin , and not laminating or joining ...