IRONMAN Easy Cut FOAM building

This is a GREAT thread all together.

Thanks for sharing and everyone else as well. Awesome input that can be used by many:cool
 
What you could try as well is use something called 'smoothcast' by smooth-on. It's a 2-part plastic used for mold, but could also be used as a laminating resin.
I don't know if you live close to Amsterdam or not, But in Amsterdam there is a Store called 'formfx', they sell it. You could also order it online by going to their website (click me!)

Thanks for the tip mate!
love the price also!!! i will try this one to :)
 
If you want the exact same foam here in the U.S. Here's a link to it. It's called selitac, and ironically, comes from the Netherlands. Basically, this is a dense polystyrene foam. (same foam they use in food containers, only thicker) Depron and cellfoam 88 are also polystyrene foams and work the same. Selitac has the grooves on one side which helps in bending in one way. (like relief cuts on the back side)
Flooring Foam
 
I love that this stuff is effortless to cut and sandable. I would say once you brushed on a few coats of styrospray 1000, you should be able to do whatever you want to to it.
Keep it up Grimmpy!
 
I love that this stuff is effortless to cut and sandable. I would say once you brushed on a few coats of styrospray 1000, you should be able to do whatever you want to to it.
Keep it up Grimmpy!

Thanks for the tip mate :)

However this product what's so cool for my cell floam surfaces i am first trying the Smooth-Cast Onyx 900 Black plastic liquid :p
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Smooth-Cast ONYX® is a mercury-free urethane resin that cures quickly at room temperature to a deep black, solid plastic. ONYX® offers the convenience of a 1A:1B by volume mix ratio and has a very low viscosity, so it is easy to mix and pour. ONYX® has an ultimate shore hardness of 80D and offers higher physical properties and higher heat resistance vs. other general purpose resins.Advantages that ONYX® offers over other resins; If you desire a black casting, adding color pigment is not necessary Cured plastic is ultra-black and darker than competitive black resins Cured ONYX® plastic can be polished and buffed to a high gloss shine ONYX® offers higher heat resistance (to 200°F /94° C at room temperature) vs. competitive black resins Unlike other black resins, ONYX®does not contain mercury ONYX® is less expensive vs. other black resins.Applications include reproducing sculpture, making prototypes and potting / encapsulation. Because ONYX® is a fast curing resin and becomes hard quickly, it is also great for doing fast cold cast bronze, brass, copper, nickel/silver, etc.
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I buy this one and going to use it :)

Next week i will update my picts.
 
Thanks for the tip mate :)

However this product what's so cool for my cell floam surfaces i am first trying the Smooth-Cast Onyx 900 Black plastic liquid :p

Hey Grimmpy, I did a little research on Smooth Cast Onyx 900 and it's equivalent hardness. I found that Shore 'D #80' is about the same to hardness of contruction helmets which are not that flexible. Refer to Smooth Cast's shore hardness chart below, in my opinion, a shore hardness of 'A' 70-80 or shore 'D' 10-30 would be best for durability, flexibility and paintability. I just think D-80 would be pretty stiff moving and walking around making the suit very uncomfortable to wear or manuever in.

Just my thoughts but if anybody say's otherwise then please offer some help here cause I'm curious as well.

http://www.smooth-on.com/pdf/durometer_with_logo.pdf
 
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Another thing to consider is how thick the material will be and whether it is designed to be durable at that thickness, or if it will even cure properly.

I used some of their white resin... smooth cast 300 I think it was, and I tried to cast some thin parts around 1/16" thick, and if I remember correctly, because the resin requires heat to cure fast, and the resin was so thin an so not able to generate a lot of heat, it ended up taking more like a week for it to set up hard. It came out of the mold soft. Also even when hard, it was still kinda flexible, but it also tore easily at 90 degree corners.

So you might want to make sure you do a test piece first. I'm not even sure the plastic will adhere to foam. I suspect it will seem to adhere but peel off when you flex it.
 
Thanks guys,

First remember i don't have the same foam you guys are using. I am using Cell foam based on polystyrene and had to be hard as plastic. For Eve Foam types smooth-on 300 is medium hard for your material the best to keep it flexible and with pigment coloring this pasta you don't need to paint it :) The material Smooth Cast Onyx 900 is like you are holding your PC mouse the same material :) The price it cheap. let me try it out first. I let you all know when i tested this product on my easy cut foam.
 
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If you want the exact same foam here in the U.S. Here's a link to it. It's called selitac, and ironically, comes from the Netherlands. Basically, this is a dense polystyrene foam. (same foam they use in food containers, only thicker) Depron and cellfoam 88 are also polystyrene foams and work the same. Selitac has the grooves on one side which helps in bending in one way. (like relief cuts on the back side)
Flooring Foam

Jackpot! That's the one mate!!!!
 
Heej Grimmpy

nice work, I am another Dutchie here on the forum.
was making my own Ironman suit aswell (not foam though) but my life had a few setbacks.

I've recently started slowely picking up my work again and looking at your work I am really motivated to pick up the pase. might even build a foam suit once I finished my helmet completely the "normal/other".

don't know what kind of resin you are looking for but I get mine at
Alles op het gebied van kunstharsen, glasvezels, kitten, lijmen en coatings in de webwinkel van Poly-Service.

I usually drop by their store and they're always very helpfull and very interested in my project. I am using the Poly-pox thv 500 with the Poly hardener 355.
dries a tad slow, a bit more than an hour depending on the thickness (an prob will get a different hardener once I run out to make it dry faster) but it works really well.. gets hard as a rock. since your project is a foam built I don't know if this is what you are after.. but they have softer more flexibel resins aswell.

best part is that it's a lot cheaper the a hardware store like Gamma etc. and I strongly advice you NOT to go there for your resin. Specialised stores have way more variety and usually is cheaper since you buy bigger quantities at the same time.

I also use woven fiberglass instead of the normal ones. (think there is a picture in my thread) this woven fiberglass follows curves a lot better and can stretch or fold if needed.

anyways I've been rambling. goud luck on the rest of your build I'll be following it.
if you want more information PM me and I'll see what I can do..
 
So did anyone find a good US location to buy this material from? There was a lot of info on page 2/3 and I'm not sure what the consensus was. This stuff seems like a great material to make helmets out of.
 
Grimmpy - havent seen any update pics in a while. hows it going?
forgot to ask a while ago, if that stuff flexible? looks like it would snap..
 
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