Hey all, long time no post for me, just lurking… ;D. I came across some blank news today that I thought I’d share though.
These guys sent a press release to 70 along with a link to their site and a picture of their blanks. Super interesting read. Anyone seen one of these blanks first hand?
Glory FoamTM today announced a significant breakthrough in their environmentally safer foam surfboard blanks with the unveiling of its new PUR-Foam product. PUR-Foam is an environmentally safer surfboard foam that also maintains a bright white appearance. PUR-Foam represents the industryâ s most environmentally advanced polyurethane foam. By combining pure clear materials Glory is able to produce â greenâ blanks that are now brilliantly white too. No bleaches, pigments, additives, or enhancers are used. â In fact our product is just the oppositeâ says company General Manager Tom Brown. â Our foam is actually clear. Itâ s the tiny bubbles in the cell structure that refract light and make it appear bright white. We are excited that shapers and consumers now have the ability to make environmentally responsible choices without having to sacrifice anything in terms of looks or performance. We have spent over 18 months in product development-getting everything exactly right.â PUR-Foam is made with the safer PMDI technology. â But our commitment to a greener product doesnâ t stop there.â Says Brown. â Our chemistry uses renewable plant material as a base, namely sugar. Our blowing agent does not deplete the ozone or increase green house gases. In fact, our product has won the EPAâ s â Stratospheric Ozone Protection award.â Our production methods are unique too. We use a state-of-the art computer controlled dispensing machine to ensure the quality of our foam and reduce our waste to virtually zero. Our production process also eliminates the need for release papers, commonly used by other producers. Release papers represent a substantial amount of landfill trash. And landfills are a leading source of green house gas emissions.â
PUR-Foamâ s Quality is second to none. PUR-Foam maintains a uniform tight cell structure praised by shapers and glassers alike. PUR-Foam wonâ t yellow and does not contain pour lines so the foam accepts tints well. It wonâ t chunk or tear when planned. PUR-Foam creates a light, flexible, durable blank.
Glory Foam TM was founded in Mexico in April 2005 by a group of committed surfers. The idea was born after the Brown family spent two years sailing and surfing throughout Mexico. â After what we saw in both lack of good surf product as well as crazy amounts of trash, we wanted to do something for surfers and the environment. Our goal is to lead the way in responsible, clean, safe manufacturing.â
All I can say is: “More power to 'em”. The Robinsons and HC & S will be thrilled. Finally sugar will no longer need USDA subsidies. If they shape easy and don’t dent that’s great. Can you imagine though what a problem a very small fracture on a rail could do to your $600 “Sugar Shack” board. “I’m melting. I’m melting”.
Hopefully this will turn out to be as promising as it sounds. However, the devil, as always, is in the details. It might be good to remember, that while the scales of time and biomass differ greatly, the petrochemical industry also “uses renewable plant material as a base”…
I have used them and ridden them, they are as good as Bennett (Mexico). They shape a little harder than US Blanks but make a great riding and stronger board.
Today Tom came by selling all that he had at a discount, he claims to be closing up. The family is tired of Ensenada and he is hard pressed to make a living.
Latest rumor is that Ice Nine has bought the formula and will have non-toxic MDI blanks available in a matter of weeks.
I can confirm that Glory Foam has merged with Ice-Nine Foam Works. Over the last couple of weeks Glory Foam’s production line was disassembled and moved from Mexico to the US. The equipment is now in place in Orange County and the line is operational. Final integration and testing with the Ice-Nine molds is currently underway.
The issue of toxicity is not a simple one. As the manufacuturer we need to be quite aware of the issues surrounding MDI as we handle the material and are exposed to it in our production process. Fortuantely, MDI has much lower VOC’s, carcingoens, etc. so our material handling and safety issues are far less complex then in a TDI foam system.
The intersting thing is that in both the case of TDI and MDI the toxicity to the end user is pretty much a non-issue. The isocyanate (MDI, TDI) reacts with the polyol (polyester, polyether) to form the generally non-toxic foam. An exception to this is that under some conditions when the foam is burned it gives off highly toxic cyanide gas. (Of course, shapers are exposed to the foam dust but those issues are associated with the dust particles as an irritant to the lungs and not so much the plastic itself.)
Reactive chemistry is cool that way. It’s not like mixing a cake where all the ingredients you put in could be detected after it was cooked. In the case of foam the A and B parts combine to make a wholly different material. For instance, we are currently in develpment on a polyester polyurethane formula (the Glory Foam is a polyether polyurethane foam) that is biodegradable yet uses an MDI isocyante as the B part.
I should mention that if a blank is not properly cured then there could be unreacted TDI or MDI in the blank that you could potentially be exposed to. Curing can generally be done by putting the blanks in a curing oven or by waiting about 2 weeks.
I just noticed my reply went to Empire Foam. Sorry to go through the intro to polyurethane spiel. Didin’t notice you were in the business.
For us, as a manufacturer we were looking to make our polyurethane from chenmicals that are of the lowest toxicity we can use to still deliver the quality required. This is why we chose to pursue an MDI development path. TDI is a higly hazardous substance so to us it seems best to not contribute to the production of this highly carcinogenic chemical when we can develop formulas that don’t rely upon it.