Thrifty Alternatives ..Building Foam Campers

[couponjnp]

Ok, thanks. Ext time when I will go to homedepotCa, I wiill look for it.

JNP

[mezmo]

Do not use the fibered aluminum roof coating. It is meant for
galvanized sheet metal roofs that are generally out of sight
and close contact. It is asphalt based, and the aluminum rises
to the coating surface to be a reflective surface. It rubs off easily,
especially if you brush against it. Can you say "Tar Baby" ?

[GPW]

Can we even say “Tar baby” anymore ... ? Guess it depends who’s saying it...

[tonyj]

Can we even say “Tar baby” anymore ... ? Guess it depends who’s saying it...

You can't even have said it twenty years ago. Oops! Now I've lost all my celebrity endorsements . . .

[GPW]

Thank goodness you can still say " Red Neck “ in friendly conversation ... When speaking of oneself of course ... Yaa' Hooo !!!

[tonyj]

Will give my results of canvas shrinkage a little later. Working on a large foamie non-trailer project. Laid a 10 yard x 72" canvas out in the sun and thoroughly wet down. In this heat, should dry pretty quickly. Looking to see how much shrinkage. I think it is 6-8 oz unbleached from Hancock.

I'm building a Sauno-kiln for drying wood. The box dimensions are 4x4x16. Using Dow 40psi 2" foam and covering with canvas for protection, using gripper. Hope you folks are right, otherwise, i've just wasted a lot of $$$! Can't post pics right now, but kiln looks the same as product on Logosol website (except mine is bigger--Texas, ya lnow).

I'm trying this pre-shrink technique because i'm too a-scared to have shrinkage after the application.

[GPW]

Well then , that’s probably a good idea !!! Pre shrinking is like “insurance” ...

Fabric is funny stuff to fool with ... even if you pre-shrink it , if you hang it up wrong to dry, it could stretch out again ... Slightly ... Gravity + wet fabric = Sag !!! Laying it out flat should be OK, although that’s a BIG piece of canvas to lay out ... but it is TEXAS eh !!! ...

Just FYI , due to gravity , clothes in your locker get longer over time (sag) ... to a point .. the effect is more pronounced if you have a measured length of fabric hung up, and go back only to find it slightly longer...

I have a sneaking suspicion , that the lighter canvas’s can shrink more because they can get Stretched more during the application...especially damp ... The very heavy canvas doesn’t want to move at all ... even soaked ... Results on the preliminary testing is still inconclusive... (18 oz. canvas #8 )

[tonyj]

Okay--looks like a little over an inch shrink in width and about 5-6 inches on length. Looks to be a proportional shrink rate. But enough shrinkage that i will do the same thing to the other 12 yard bolt i have. I'm thinking that laying it out on the ground, spraying it down and letting it dry will cut down the wrinkles that would be produced by washing/drying. And it drys/shrinks quickly in this 105 heat.

Gonna wet down the next piece and then go into the a/c and beer up! 10 degrees past my self-imposed working temperature cut off. And the thermometer i use is inside shaded barn!

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1372530375.837934.jpg (18.66 KiB) Viewed 635 times

[tonyj]

Here is the box--upside down for bottom work:

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1372530497.321143.jpg (46.15 KiB) Viewed 634 times

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1372530538.903932.jpg (43.24 KiB) Viewed 634 times

[tonyj]

Well then , that’s probably a good idea !!! Pre shrinking is like “insurance” ...

Just FYI , due to gravity , clothes in your locker get longer over time (sag) ... to a point .. the effect is more pronounced if you have a measured length of fabric hung up, and go back only to find it slightly longer...

And the longer the pants grow in length over time, the waist shrinks by a greater amount. Or maybe thats just the beer.

As long as i have contained the greatest amount of shrink, i'm okay. I just want to minimize any buckling or torsion on those long, unsupported panel walls.

[Jack B.]

Since everybody seems to have jumped ship here for a few days I figured I should ante up a couple of cents worth of stuff.

I'm building a recumbent trike and as is my wont, I tend to stumble around the net trolling for creative twists and turns to keep the synaps snapping. How do you think I ended up in with this band of reprobates and fine ladies? Anyway, I stumbled across human powered vehicle sites and came to an interesting spot. How do this tie in you might be thankin'. On the oblique I say.

These guys use the pink foam and then glass it up to make some of their extremely long and very light pedal powered boats. Interesting "other" use for our stuff. Check out the sidewinder set of boats. Getting closer and closer to trying to design a paddle-power, floating, foam trailer/boat. And if the trailer has a motor for highway use then is it really a trailer? Or is it a get-away-from-the-IRS-guy escape pod?

http://www.recumbents.com/wisil/hpb/boat.htm

Jack

[atahoekid]

"Reprobates and fine ladies"... Thanks for the compliment! That is interesting reading. I think that it adds to the stacks of materials that we can use to persuade the doubters. Great find!

[Jack B.]

Not to mention also that I can't wait to try a hand saw to cut foam WITHOUT the fiberglass outer shell they show.

Jack

[Mary C]

Mezmo, I used the same stuff without the aluminum. It is working good, does not rub off at all. so I guess the stretch here is don't use the kind that has aluminum. At least this time I was on the ok side of the experiment.

Mary C.

[Jack B.]

Okay, I'll accept ya'lls's praise and gratitude now. Ya'lls's may not look correct, but as those of us who spent some formative time in the south know, it is the plural possessive when speaking of other peoples possessions where the plural is more than one person.

Any way . . . I just found the bestest site where these guys were building a pickup truck pop-up camper with pink foam to be covered in graphite resin. There are seven videos going through their build from cutting the first pieces of sheet foam to applying the coatings.I've found all but the fourth video. Well worth a look for those who want to see how them that's doin' it with out budget restraints get along. Lot's of good tips for the po' folks like us.



Jack