Aloha, My girl and I are having 4 Biofoams from Homeblown shipped over - While we are waiting can anyone tell me about working with them? Do they shape the same as Clark? Also how about the strength? Last one - anybody have comments on bamboo cloth? Many Mahalo’s
Hey Chris, where are you having them shipped from, and where are they coming to you? I’ve heard some good reports, but of course everyone has their own favourite foam…
They are coming to hilo from Pau Hana Surf in Cali. I was concerned about finished weight of board after being glassed with bamboo fabric. I will do one layer (suppose to be comprable to 6oz. glass fabric) top and bottom with 1 lam and 1 hot coat. Thanks for answering all knowledge will help me make a better board.
Is this “Biofoam”? or another product. If it’s the Biofoam stuff, I’ve glassed a handful with Aluzine and have had no problems with it. The shaper that’s been shaping them says it shapes fine. We’ve noticed that after shaping it’s somewhat soft, but forms a hard crust after a day or two being exposed to air. It’s yellow-brown and heavy, but also quite strong. We’ve been using less glass and though heavy, the boards seem to be holding up well. Haven’t glassed any with polyester, but epoxy work on them is straightforward. No sealing or other monkeying around necessary.
Yes Bio-foam from Homeblown. Thanks for the input. I will be using RR epoxy. Would an eps blank like a marko or epoxy army be lighter? I want to use the bio for health reasons as the shaper and to promote green products as much as I can. As far as I know eps is still bad??? Any thoughts. Thanks Brah
any eps blank would be lighter than bio-foam, and eps isn’t bad for your health or the environments as long as it is recycled.
Do you know about the blank making process for eps - is it toxic for the workers or envronment. Homeblown claims a significant decrease in impact on environment during manufacturing. I want to get the strongest lightest board without using toxic stuff. Is eps harder to shape than pu? Mahalo
BIo Foam is made from MDI which is still a hazardous chemical and eps is bad for you also,Eveytime I cut EPS on my machine I find it hard to breath so it can’t be good for you either, so what ever foam you use allways where a mask and if you can have a mask with a hose to fresh air
Peter
Not sure if its the same foam as sold by Homeblown on this side of the pond, but I’ve seen some boards made with the stuff by Perran surfboards in Cornwall. I thinkit is 62% veg matter (soya) but that doesn’t mean you can eat it.
They were glassed with a resin made from 95% linsead oil, and has an greenish/brown tint similar to volan but a bit more earthy, I’m not sure if this was from the foam or the resin, that look like very nice boards but have no comments on how durable they were, they felt stong and the finish was as good as other non bio blanks.
still waiting to get my hands on some of the resin though.
RR will work fine.
Were those boards heavy? I’ve ridden some epoxy boards that are tanks. Also does anyone know an average amount of boards you could glass with the three gallon RR kit? Using one lam coat with a hot coat top and bottom all 6’2 and under. Last what was easier to shape the biofoam or the eps and do you think the dust from the bio is as bad as eps?
Swaylocks is cool.
Chris
Epoxy is just a type of resin, I don’t want to get into the whole poly vs epoxy thing as I’m well over that, both have different working properties, plus ponits and minussess, but from my experience boards glassed with epoxy tend to be lighter than poly for a number of reasons 1. epoxy can be used with eps which is lighter, although the lighter you go the more glass you will need to add, and thats were the weight comes in, over the same foam epoxy is stronger and lighter than pu, but doesn’t always look as nice.
Dont confuse expoxy bords with popouts, though most popouts are expoy its the construction method that make them heavy not the type of resin, epoxy can also be used in a tradisional lamination just like poly and thats who the Perrin boards were made, same technique as poly just slightly different materials.
3L of RR will do 2 short boards, maybe 3 at a push depending on how much you waste on the floor and left in the bucket, it goes a long way when done.
Number 3 would depend on the density and bead size of the eps. the biofoam I saw was closer to PU than eps.
Breathing in any type of dust will not be good for you.