Marko 1# foam

General Discussion
1

Marko website says they can do 1# EPS as a custom order

Any of you guys had any experience with Marko that light?

I’m wondering if it is as water tight as the denser grades.

If it doesn’t suck water, i’ll be looking into the possibility of getting an entire billet.

Thanks for you help!

Kit

2
Quote:
Marko website says they can do 1# EPS as a custom order

Any of you guys had any experience with Marko that light?

Yes it is great

I’m wondering if it is as water tight as the denser grades.

Less density foam= more space for something else. I use something called fiberglass and epoxy to make them water tight.

If it doesn’t suck water, i’ll be looking into the possibility of getting an entire billet.

I wouldn’t worry about it sucking water as much as it not being located in the same hemisphere of the earth to final shipping destination. Now if it was fused EPS that would be a different story!!! That would be worth the shipping of same day air via the space shuttle.

Thanks for you help!

you’re welcome

Kit

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3

Thanks Otay

I managed to get some value out of that

Quote:

not being located in the same hemisphere of the earth to final shipping destination

yeah we don’t grow plastic trees down here, we only have the green ones :slight_smile:

The foam (raw materials or finished product) has to come here at some stage anyway, may as well shop around for superior product

4

There is no eps blank dealer in AUS or NZ?

If not you need to start one.

5

Hi Kit,

I have to tell you that Marko foam I have seen were not from “Billets”, but rather a molded blank, in the same basic form as a PU blank, with the room for shaping.

(“Billets” being the very large blocks from which slices are hotwired…) If Marko is doing that also, then good…

Josh

6

Thanks Josh

The blanks from the surf suppliers here are no good to me, I need billet.

Fully custom is the way to go…

Marko do many other things than just surfboard blanks

Whether they can do a billet pressure expanded in a mould to give tight packing of the beads, like in their surf blanks, at 1# density or lighter, is another story.

Just trying to find out if anyone has sampled a 1# custom blank and could give testimony…

7

Hey Kit,

Yes, a blank blown to the proportions I might otherwise hotwire…that’d be spectacular.

I don’t know the intricacies of EPS blowing, but as you’ve noted, the tolerance molded stuff has far tighter beads. A very close tolerance blank stuffed full of beads might wind up being 99% waterproof, like a coffee-cup you have at the football.

Its also possible that such cups are blown with some aerated wax or glue added to the steam…I just can’t claim to know.

With more beads and greater compression, the space between the beads will be shut down, but thats when it gets heavy. I suspect no #1 will ever be as watertight as #3, say, but maybe there are literally different scales of pellet and different expansion capacities between qualities or brands of pellet.

Any breaking of the surface in custom shaping would open up the cell structure for possible water incursion, but with an exact mold, it could come close to water-proof, also having a skin in a similar way as PU.

I have had a go with such a molded blank, not a Marko, and no names, but it was so brittle that the nose snapped off with the first knock of a planer.

Yes, I’d love to get into it…I’ve seen what a bad billet looks like…as you get deeper into a block of slices, the ones in the middle have less and less compression. One horror batch had free-floating beads rattling around in the middle like bean bag beads. I guess its got to do with the steam and the efficiency of the blowing system.

I noticed Marko has New Zealand on their map of Distributors…worth a go…

Josh

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8

FWIW here’s a link to a Discovery Channel Video on how Styrofoam billets are made.

http://www.sidereel.com/How_Its_Made/_watchlinkviewer/268

Don’t mind the Arabic subtitles.

9

Thanks Atomised, thats cool…

I’ve been in warehouses full of those blocks and I seriously thought how quickly the pyramids could be re-built!

Fun…

Josh

10

I’ve already been dealing with the supplier (one of at least 2 in NZ) for a number of years - he suggested including a billet in his shipment of blanks, which is why i’m on the hunt for information…

Bondor NZ make excellent foam, very consistent, kiln dried, any size you like.

But of course better fusion for the same weight is what i’m chasing. I’ll call Marko internationally and see if they can understand my kiwi accent :slight_smile:

11

maybe we could glue together some rice crackers