Eva foam shield help!!!

[FutureDeity]

hey all!
I've made a couple different eva foam shields but have had a lot of difficultly strapping my shields to make them wearable. I've used hot glue, contact cement, and e6000 and they work for limited amounts of time
anyone have good tips?

 

[Gimpdiggity]

I made some gauntlets for a Captain America costume I put together. They were from EVA foam.

To get them to stay on I made straps from nylon webbing, and then I used some plastic "keepers" that I mounted to the EVA foam.

The keepers are these types of things here:
http://www.strapworks.com/Plastic_Keepers_p/pk.htm

To get them to stay attached to the foam, I thoroughly sanded the side of the keeper that would need to be attached to the gauntlet. Without sanding, I found it very difficult to get ANYTHING to glue to them at all...it would just peel right off. After sanding, they have a lot more "bite" if you will.

I then used some Bob Smith Industries 2 part epoxy to attach the keepers to the foam.

https://www.amazon.com/Bob-Smith-In...id=1477863452&sr=8-14&keywords=two+part+epoxy

I personally like the slow cure stuff, it gives you more time to work with it. Keep in mind (and I may be preaching to the choir here) that the time that is on the bottle for the epoxy is the time you have to work with it BEFORE it starts to set...it's not the total set time. So the 30 minute stuff will give you a decent amount of time to work with it before it starts to set...but will still need a good 24 hours to cure.

I made these gauntlets in May of 2015, and I haven't had a single instance of any of the keepers coming loose or needing to be reattached to the gauntlets.

 

[FutureDeity]

I made some gauntlets for a Captain America costume I put together. They were from EVA foam.

To get them to stay on I made straps from nylon webbing, and then I used some plastic "keepers" that I mounted to the EVA foam.

The keepers are these types of things here:
http://www.strapworks.com/Plastic_Keepers_p/pk.htm

To get them to stay attached to the foam, I thoroughly sanded the side of the keeper that would need to be attached to the gauntlet. Without sanding, I found it very difficult to get ANYTHING to glue to them at all...it would just peel right off. After sanding, they have a lot more "bite" if you will.

I then used some Bob Smith Industries 2 part epoxy to attach the keepers to the foam.

https://www.amazon.com/Bob-Smith-In...id=1477863452&sr=8-14&keywords=two+part+epoxy

I personally like the slow cure stuff, it gives you more time to work with it. Keep in mind (and I may be preaching to the choir here) that the time that is on the bottle for the epoxy is the time you have to work with it BEFORE it starts to set...it's not the total set time. So the 30 minute stuff will give you a decent amount of time to work with it before it starts to set...but will still need a good 24 hours to cure.

I made these gauntlets in May of 2015, and I haven't had a single instance of any of the keepers coming loose or needing to be reattached to the gauntlets.

thank you so so much!


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[Gimpdiggity]

thank you so so much!


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You're welcome...I'm sure there are other ways to do it, as well, but that worked for me and was easy enough to do. The keepers I just ordered when I ordered the webbing...and the epoxy I had on hand from some RC vehicles I had built.

 

[Illgotten]

I follow a maker on youtube who demonstrates several ways to secure a strap to a shield. Try this video link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87161pSxzY0
the fastening of the straps starts @ 16:15 into the video. He does other shields in other videos slightly differently if you want to browse his archives. Hope that helps!

 

[penabled]

Bill has some pretty good tutorials for that stuff for sure. You say you used contact cement but did you apply it to both sides and wait five minutes or so for it to no longer appear wet? Of course even if you did but you didn't rough up the eva foam it still may not have held well.

 

[FutureDeity]

Bill has some pretty good tutorials for that stuff for sure. You say you used contact cement but did you apply it to both sides and wait five minutes or so for it to no longer appear wet? Of course even if you did but you didn't rough up the eva foam it still may not have held well.

I did! I think I did not rough the surface up enough for the contact cement


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[penabled]

Yeah that could be. Also the nylon straps you might be using are harder to get to hold onto the glue. I usually prefer to mechanically secure them unless I have no other option. I used CA glue to secure some straps onto a set of bracers I made a while ago but I was gluing them to a base of Kydex, so it was more just about using enough glue to melt it into place. Also remember that the more surface area you have glued the stronger the hold will be.

 

[FutureDeity]

Yeah that could be. Also the nylon straps you might be using are harder to get to hold onto the glue. I usually prefer to mechanically secure them unless I have no other option. I used CA glue to secure some straps onto a set of bracers I made a while ago but I was gluing them to a base of Kydex, so it was more just about using enough glue to melt it into place. Also remember that the more surface area you have glued the stronger the hold will be.

i didn't use any nylon straps! i used leather so i don't know if that is why it's not working


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[penabled]

Leather eh? Did you apply the glue to the rough side or the smooth side? Old leather belt? I've done a fair amount of leatherwork myself and I know you can pretty much make it waterproof. If you applied glue to the smooth side and then tried to glue it to the foam then yes, that is why it's not working and using the rough side won't improve it much.

I would recommend you use the method that Bill demonstrates in the video linked above by Illgotten...I think you'll have much better results.

Let me be clear here, when you get glue on your fingers and hands what happens? Sure it's annoying and sticky and all but it eventually comes off with a little work. This is what will happen with the leather straps you used. Even if they were in fact strap blanks and you glued the rough side of the leather it still won't be secure enough to hold onto it over time. Mechanically securing them is the only long term option and by long term I mean any longer than just to test the location of the straps for comfort.

 

[JPH]

Why not a bolt through it? Especially when the shield has details that can be concealed on the facing side.

 

[FutureDeity]

Why not a bolt through it? Especially when the shield has details that can be concealed on the facing side.

i've already built the whole shields! so i'm afraid of bolting and ruining all my work on the front


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[FutureDeity]

Leather eh? Did you apply the glue to the rough side or the smooth side? Old leather belt? I've done a fair amount of leatherwork myself and I know you can pretty much make it waterproof. If you applied glue to the smooth side and then tried to glue it to the foam then yes, that is why it's not working and using the rough side won't improve it much.

I would recommend you use the method that Bill demonstrates in the video linked above by Illgotten...I think you'll have much better results.

Let me be clear here, when you get glue on your fingers and hands what happens? Sure it's annoying and sticky and all but it eventually comes off with a little work. This is what will happen with the leather straps you used. Even if they were in fact strap blanks and you glued the rough side of the leather it still won't be secure enough to hold onto it over time. Mechanically securing them is the only long term option and by long term I mean any longer than just to test the location of the straps for comfort.

thanks! i was using leather actually because of Bill ha. i forget what video but he mentioned that he buys old belts to use for straps so i ripped a part an old purse. def gonna rethink all of this. appreciate the help!


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