Question about thicker EVA foam

[mrcarkeys42]

Hey everyone! I’m doing a job this week replacing the flooring in a gym. The current flooring is Eva foam matting (the interlocking puzzle piece kind) and it was all going to be tossed so I figured I would take it, there is a ton here and figured it would cover my foam related needs for the foreseeable future

However I’m not super experienced with foam yet and I know that usually prop/costume makers use 2-10mm foam. These mats are about an inch thick and pretty dense at that. How useful do you think they would be? Will their thickness make them too hard to work with and less useful?

Thanks in advanced for any input!

 

[thegnome]

Is it going to be hit or not? if so repeatedly? If its going to be hit repeatedly you should go check out the type of foam that are in wake boarding helmets. If not EVA foam will work fine. Anyone correct me if I am wrong on the Eva thing.

 

[SMP Designs]

The interlocking foam mats that you get in packs at Lowes (or at least the ones at mine) are 12mm (.5”), if the ones you have are some sort of industrial version and 1”, then, yeah, I’d say they are too thick. 12mm is good for base shapes that need to really hold up - chests, pauldrons, back plates, thigh pieces, etc. Anything with complex curves - helmets and the like - or pieces that need to be ‘lighter’ and less bulky, I’d go with 5-6mm. 2mm is just for details and adding layers, it’s not really strong enough for any kind of structure or wear. For all cases, you’re going to want a heat gun so that you can heat and shape the pieces as well as seal the surface.

HTH!