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General => The Shape Shack => Topic started by: boots on August 22, 2007, 02:25:21 PM

Title: Home Depot EPS ?!?!
Post by: boots on August 22, 2007, 02:25:21 PM
Any one seen the EPS foam sold in Home Depot? It's used for insulation in buildings but apparently guys on swaylocks are using it make epoxy boards. Has anyone here done this or know the major differences between insulation EPS and the stuff pros make boards out of? I don't see why EPS blanks are so expensive and this Home Depot foam is so cheap..
Title: Re: Home Depot EPS ?!?!
Post by: Allan Cheateaux on August 23, 2007, 02:00:27 PM
Basically, its pentane counts. The foam you can get from manufacturers in blown for surfboard construction and doesn't "breathe" as much as the Home Depot EPS.

Trust me, its worth the cash and shapes a lot easier. You'll end up ripping a lot of beads on a home made blank. Not that I'm against it, but SUP construction has enough headaches, might as well save yourself one.
Title: Re: Home Depot EPS ?!?!
Post by: Dooner on August 23, 2007, 09:53:07 PM
Another thing about cheap insulation foam is that it will suck up water like a sponge.. There's nothing quite as depressing as working your ass off to build a board & after a couple days in the water realizing that it weighs 5 lbs more than it used to. All because of a few pinholes you missed or a little crack next to a fin box.

The higher densities that are made specially for surfboard building have better fusion between the beads & are generally water resistant if not water proof.

Extruded dow blue foam is totally waterproof. But it has some delaminating/blowing issues, and you would have to glue up a blank for an SUP.

Title: Re: Home Depot EPS ?!?!
Post by: Allan Cheateaux on August 23, 2007, 11:15:20 PM
eemmhmmmm, I know dats' right....
Title: Re: Home Depot EPS ?!?!
Post by: boots on August 27, 2007, 11:57:28 AM
So what are the differences between the 1lb and 2lb eps? Is it just weight and strength? Which ones require vents?
Mahalos
Title: Re: Home Depot EPS ?!?!
Post by: Allan Cheateaux on August 27, 2007, 12:40:28 PM
So what are the differences between the 1lb and 2lb eps?


a pound ;D

a few differences...
1. ease of shaping. with crappy technique (like mine), you'll rip lots of foam on 1 pound. Sharp tools, a slow hand, lots of 60 grit and loads of patience will help.
2. sealing. you may be able to get away without sealing 2#. 1#, no way. I seal em' both.
3. durability. The 1# will deck dent all to hell, but a solid post cure time and a heavier glass schedule can help that out.

Which ones require vents?

The short answer, neither...as long as you take good care of it. Sun and ambient heat are the enemy. No shut up cars in the sun, and try to keep em in the shade at the beach. (under the car works). This also relies on a solid glass job. A shit job sealing is usually the main culprit, to heavy on the spackle can cause whole sides to come up.

Mahalos

No problem, you're welcome ;)
Title: Re: Home Depot EPS ?!?!
Post by: bracicot on August 27, 2007, 08:58:03 PM
Allan, I have a question about the glassing schedule you use on 1# foam, since I'm in the process of making one now:  do you think 2 layers of 6oz on the bottom and 3 on the deck would be sufficient?  Also, what would you consider a good post cure time?  I live in Florida and work in a shed that gets pretty hot.

thanks, bruce
Title: Re: Home Depot EPS ?!?!
Post by: boots on August 27, 2007, 11:41:50 PM
What do you use to seal them with, spackle? Does the epoxy bond well to the sealer, i've heard of people getting de-lams after sealing their blanks. I guess it all depends on how much you use...
Thanks all for sharing your knowledge
Title: Re: Home Depot EPS ?!?!
Post by: Allan Cheateaux on August 28, 2007, 08:57:25 PM
I have a question about the glassing schedule you use on 1# foam, since I'm in the process of making one now:  do you think 2 layers of 6oz on the bottom and 3 on the deck would be sufficient?

Should be good, just make sure you be vigilant with the dings.

what would you consider a good post cure time?  I live in Florida and work in a shed that gets pretty hot.

I think the ideal temp is 115 for 6 hours x 2, but Im not sure. I could be very wrong. I dont do my post curing. Call Greg at Resin Research or Ken at Segway Composites.
Title: Re: Home Depot EPS ?!?!
Post by: Allan Cheateaux on August 28, 2007, 08:59:44 PM
What do you use to seal them with, spackle? Does the epoxy bond well to the sealer, i've heard of people getting de-lams after sealing their blanks. I guess it all depends on how much you use...

You can use spackle. Greg Loehr says he's never had a problem. You can also use microballoons and epoxy. The key is putting it on thin and taking it back down to the foam, just using it to fill the voids. If you have big areas of spackle, it could delam.
Title: Re: Home Depot EPS ?!?!
Post by: Allan Cheateaux on August 28, 2007, 11:59:02 PM
See this thread for hilarity/quasi instructional blank gluing...

http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?post=259244;search_string=pos%20sup;#259244
Title: Re: Home Depot EPS ?!?!
Post by: xtricity on September 03, 2007, 09:34:29 PM
you've seen formed EPS blanks that you can use to 12' x 30" SUP board?  How much do they cost?  There's a lot of information on using the Home Depot Insulfoam EPS 4' x 8' sheets to make boards on the Swaylocks forums.  The knowledgeable guy there, Benny seems to favor the 1# over the 2#.  Do a search on "Home Depot" on swalocks.  Good luck.  Let me know how it goes.

I used some (5$ sheet)  Insulfoam last night as an experiment to temporarily plug the daggerboard hole in a windsurf board.  I didn't have any problems with taking the skin off.  It came right off in one piece.  The foam seems easy to shape.  I shaped it to fit into the daggerboard slot.   You can evidently get different sizes and thicknesses of the foam.  Though, in the hobbyist spirit, it might be interesting to glue the sheets together with polyurethane glue.   

There doesn't appear to be any way of skirting the cost of the epoxy. 
Title: Re: Home Depot EPS ?!?!
Post by: boots on September 04, 2007, 08:05:07 PM
I haven't seen 12' blanks, only the 8x4 ones.
They weren't really that cheap, the one I saw was about $34 for an 8 footer...

How do you tell what pound they are, I didn't see anywhere that said it on the label.
Also, where do you get that poly glue and what does it look like?
Title: Re: Home Depot EPS ?!?!
Post by: bracicot on September 04, 2007, 11:25:20 PM
Hey boots, I think I can answer a couple of your questions, since I'm in the process of making a board from home depot foam too.  I'm pretty sure the stuff you saw for $34 was Dow Styrofoam, which is extruded, not expanded polystyrene.  I saw those sheets too, but was too sticker shocked  to buy them. What you need is the white stuff that looks just like a cheap ice chest.  It also comes in 2" 4x8 sheets.  If your home depot doesn't carry it, check Lowes.  It was $13 a sheet when I bought mine a couple of weeks ago.  It is 1# density, although it doesn't say it anywhere.  I think when they say "poly glue" they mean Gorilla Glue, although there may be other brands.  You can find it in any hardware store, in the glue section.  Hope this helps.

bruce
Title: Re: Home Depot EPS ?!?!
Post by: boots on September 05, 2007, 12:55:38 PM
The ones i saw were all white, looked just like those cheap coolers. It said insulation EPS on the label, so does that mean its expanded? They were all solid foam sheets, they didn't have any layers on one side that you have to peel off. Im pretty sure this foam I saw is the same stuff you're making a board out of because I did see some 2" sheets that were $14 I think... but they looked a lot narrower than the $34 sheets. I think the brand of them were something like 'Pacific Insulation LLC' or something with 'Pacific' in it.

I've heard of guys using that blue extruded foam on swaylocks and I think they said that kind doesn't have all the beads but the resin doesn't bond to well to it. Better for sandwich construction I guess.

Thanks for all your help, BTW what's your board like, any pics?
Title: Re: Home Depot EPS ?!?!
Post by: xtricity on September 05, 2007, 06:45:07 PM
in SF Bay Cali Home Depot, 4' x 8' x 2" Insulfoam is $18.37 a sheet plus 8.25% sales tax.  :-(

You might be able to go cheaper if you get normal surfboard blanks and  use polyester resin.  The epoxy resin is much more expensive.  You have to use epoxy with EPS.  The polyester resin will melt the EPS.
Title: Re: Home Depot EPS ?!?!
Post by: bracicot on September 05, 2007, 08:19:59 PM
Yeah, the white ice chest stuff is expanded.  You can tell expanded styrene by the look of the beads in the foam; extruded foam has a much tighter "grain" to it, with no evidence of beads at all.  I think it is much nicer to work with, myself;  I used to make windsurfers with it a while ago and loved it.  Never had any bonding problems either, so I don't know about those comments I've read in Swaylocks about that.
No pics of the board yet, since I'm just now glueing the foam onto the stringer.  I'm using the "theboys" method from swaylocks (alluded to by Allan in one of the other posts in this thread) and it's working great.  I'm making a 10'6" board, 28.5" wide and 4.5" thick, and there is more than enough material in three of those 4x8 sheets of foam.
Just how do you post pics here?  When I click on the "insert image" icon, I just get the [img] thing.  Do you type the location of the pic on your hard drive between those  "[img]" thingys?

bruce
Title: Re: Home Depot EPS ?!?!
Post by: Rand on September 06, 2007, 06:55:55 AM
Quote
Just how do you post pics here?  When I click on the "insert image" icon, I just get the [img] thing.  Do you type the location of the pic on your hard drive between those  "[img]" thingys?

Hi Bracicot,
You will need the pictures to be at an online web address to post them.  It will likely be easiest to use a free service like www.photobucket.com (http://www.photobucket.com) for picture hosting.  Then, when you are posting here, just copy/paste the URL of the photo, highlight it, and click on the insert image icon. 

Hope that helps!

Rand
Title: Re: Home Depot EPS ?!?!
Post by: bracicot on September 06, 2007, 08:49:04 PM
Yeah, that helps a lot.  Thanks. 

bruce
Title: Re: Home Depot EPS ?!?!
Post by: Allan Cheateaux on October 13, 2007, 09:18:41 PM
You might be able to go cheaper if you get normal surfboard blanks and  use polyester resin.  The epoxy resin is much more expensive.  You have to use epoxy with EPS.  The polyester resin will melt the EPS.

 Yes, it is more expensive, but you use 35-50% less resin. It also stays more ductile and ding resistant. I glass all my stuff with epoxy now, even poly blanks.
Title: Re: Home Depot EPS ?!?!
Post by: boots on October 13, 2007, 10:57:29 PM
I glass all my stuff with epoxy now, even poly blanks.

When glassing poly blanks with epoxy, do you use the same amount of glass as you would using polyester resin? Do you find that the epoxy resin is less prone to pressure dents? Do poly blanks glassed with epoxy come out lighter than poly blanks glassed with polyester resin?
Thanks for your help
Title: Re: Home Depot EPS ?!?!
Post by: Allan Cheateaux on October 14, 2007, 07:54:52 AM
short answer..
no, yes, yes
Title: Re: Home Depot EPS ?!?!
Post by: goomba271 on December 28, 2008, 10:59:01 PM
A solid block might be a better option than gluing up thin panels.  The associated gluelines can be a bother.

Several densities are available via special order through Home Depot.  The local store carries "Insulfoam" brand.  I was able to purchase a 2' X 3' X 12' block but it wasn't easy.  The sales guy at the special order desk was clueless.

I did the whole hotwire/rocker profile thing and although a bit of extra work, was stoked to be able to do it from "ground zero."   Shaping the squared off rockered slab was quite a  battle. 

Your location is unknown but if I may suggest, contact Ken Ebert at Segway Composites in Southern California and have him do a stock machine pre-shape on one of his blanks for you.  It costs a bit more but he uses good foam and you will have a big jump start on your project.
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