Home Depot Pink Foam; too Spackle and color?

General Discussion
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or some crazy reason I decided to start a couple new boards so I’ll document our process as I go along for the newbies.

Been doing it this way since 2004 and it’s been working out for us for now…

Anyway the first thing we do is get flat cheap EPS foam from Home Depot or Lowes

I lucked out and got three full sheets all for $22 two weeks ago I also picked up 5 sheets of 1" blue dow from Fiberglass Hawaii awhile back for $17 each

Last weekend I cut out a couple outlines.

We’re keying in on these one board for all designs at the 8’ length

One is a littel gunnier and the other is wider both these outline will have at least another 1" of blue dow around the outside for waterproof HD rails.

They also have HD (Precision Board) inserts for the fin boxes.

As you can see both will be quads using the Mckee formula.

Both have bamboo “springers” inbetween the two sheets of foam to “hold” the rocker

The gunnier or the two designs (resinhead inspired) has an extra layer of bamboo sheet over the fin inserts from added strength

So now to make a rockered blank we need a rocker table

in this case I’m using a rare 8’10" Jeff Alexander Gemini Longboard I picked up a couple weeks ago

so for Phase 1 with Gorilla glue and some plastic sheeting and roll fo stretch wrap I secure the foam to the bottom of my rocker table

The next morning I can pull them out and clean up the outlines before gluing on either wood perimeter stringers with blue rails or just blue rails.

I’ll show those pictures next weekend before I unwrap them and start shaping

The goal here will be to shape the whole board route in and insert the fin boxes before vacuum bagging on the deck and bottom veneers using Greg’s “timberflex” method.

Anyway here’s the pics.

You can see the bent in rocker(without the need for a vacuum) and our ghetto style shaping shack.

Enjoy… 

What’s up with these thumbnails???

gonna link instead

 

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Chillysurfer,

The first board I did was excatly what you are going. Its definitely a good first time project. I ended up having to cut a lot of foam to get a decent rocker shape. I painted the foam with a waterbased paint and it turned out really well. It also covers up the pink panther look. The colors didn't mix (blue didn't turn purple). I glued up the stringer with gorilla glue. The only issues I had was the glue line was an ugly site and about 3 months after I finished it, it ended up delamming in spots. Its still ridable so I am not worried about the bubbles. It was a good learning process and a lot of fun. Here is a pic of the board.

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[quote="$1"]

if you bend

you need something to "hold" the rocker in place

it could be the epoxy you use to "glue" the sheets togethor

or an internal wood or glass springer that'll lock in the curve when dry

or the exterior skin lammed to the botrtom with glass and epoxy

or all of the above which is what we do

I think my brother and I are the remaining "kings" of bending flat sheets into blanks.

 

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Oneula...i'm interested in what you mean by this above...a couple of months ago i shaped a 5' 5" fish from a dead flat 2.5 " thick sheet of EPS foam my shaper friend gave me off the top of one of his huge blocks of foam.  I bent in 3" of nose rocker and 1" of tail rocker using strategically placed weights, sawhorses, and about 48 hours of 120 degree heat.  turned of the heat, let everything cool for a week, the rocker held and i glassed it stringerless.  Ridden it several times and it kills it is small point breaky waves.  Do you think the rocker will eventually deform?  I LOVE this board!!

 

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once you “shell” it with glass or wood+glass it won’t 

if there’s nothing to hold the foam in place till then it may as mine have that don’t have wood or HD stringers

again this is for bent rocker 1lb EPS or XPS

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Pink foam is defently XPS

Here is a good thread about XPS and delam! Read the SD party carefully, he is the XPS-pope!:)

http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/xpsglassingdelamination

You dont need to spackle the foam, its really nice and easy to shape.

About painting:

i have painted my stuff directly on the foam with wall paint! Alternative: Spraying on the coat

color: you can add pigments to your resin works also

Greetz Chris