First of all, I wanted to say thanks to you and noodle for the info on epoxy blanks. And I appreciate the hotwire diagram you provided on the board. I fianlly got a hold of Dow Chemical today about the roof made foam for blanks. All they distribute are sheets 1"x4’x8’. They told me about some stuff called buoyancy billets, used in dock contruction. It comes 10" thick 20" wide and 9’ long. I was told that roof made is 1.8 lb per square foot and the billets vary from 1.6 to 1.8. Have you used this stuff or seen it? It sounds like is should work. It is closed cell, and will not absorb water, and is supposed to be very buoyant. What do you think? I am having a hard time trying to find a distributor, so I would like to find out if it is worth tracking down? Thanks, Mike d.
Hey Mike, I used to live in MI and we had floating docks. I have seen it in two colors, white and an ugly light orange. It is definately carvable, dense, and is bouyant enough to keep big sections of wooden dock afloat. I have yet to shape my own board so I am not much help in that area but I do believe that this stuff would work. GF>>> First of all, I wanted to say thanks to you and noodle for the info on > epoxy blanks. And I appreciate the hotwire diagram you provided on the > board.>>> I fianlly got a hold of Dow Chemical today about the roof made foam for > blanks. All they distribute are sheets 1"x4’x8’. They told me about > some stuff called buoyancy billets, used in dock contruction. It comes > 10" thick 20" wide and 9’ long. I was told that roof made is 1.8 > lb per square foot and the billets vary from 1.6 to 1.8. Have you used > this stuff or seen it? It sounds like is should work. It is closed cell, > and will not absorb water, and is supposed to be very buoyant. What do you > think? I am having a hard time trying to find a distributor, so I would > like to find out if it is worth tracking down?>>> Thanks, Mike d.
Hey Mike,>>> I used to live in MI and we had floating docks. I have seen it in two > colors, white and an ugly light orange. It is definately carvable, dense, > and is bouyant enough to keep big sections of wooden dock afloat. I have > yet to shape my own board so I am not much help in that area but I do > believe that this stuff would work.>>> GF Mike, I have used both the EPS white, and orange dock billet foam extensively for female/male molds and master plugs. They are commonly available, relatively cheap and offer a large, consistent density block of raw material from which to sculpt. They machine very easily, with the orange billet foam readily accepting polyester resin, bondo, etc., whereas the white EPS billet foam must definitely be prepared with a barrier coating (to protect it from the polyester resin ) or just use epoxy. In their original condition (depending on what you`re planning to do with them), both of these foams are very light and fairly weak (strength to weight ratio), especially in compression and resiliency. They are much improved when used as a part of a multi-laminate; wrapping and bonding them in a series of higher density coatings greatly improves their usefulness. Outside of the surfboard industry, individuals working with aircraft and sailboard technology have accumulated a wealth of long-term experimental knowledge utilizing these, and other exotic lightweight foams, in composite structures.