Foam Build Help (Gluing pieces)

endo500

endo500

Active Member
So I have been trying to make a foam armor build and have been having no success with any aspect of it. So I’m wondering if any other foam builders might have some suggestions for me. One of the biggest issues is gluing pieces together. I have a terrible time getting them to stick together and not break apart.



I tried getting the Xacto angle cutter but that didn’t help much and wasn’t really effective at cutting an angle into the foam. I also tried the tape method as well.



As a point of reference I’m using eco foam mats from foamtiles.com that are .25 inch thickness.



I’m an idiot or is there something that I’m just missing.
 
Hey buddy!

Ive been following you! :)

i found a great glue-gun on ebay (UK) for about 5.90p

it came with 32 gluesticks and it works (sticks) in about 10 seconds!!

No problem at all..

im using 10mm foam from thamesvalley (as suggested by xrobots)

Superd
 
For small detail parts or to close small seams you can also us the Super-Glue Gel Control. It works great and bonds in 10 seconds. I used that and 3mm craft foam for my hands.
 
I'm using a hot glue gun. I wish i could get them to stick on hopes and dreams. I'm using one of the singer hi temp guns. I know some people have said use a lot temp gun but i dont know if that would really solve any of my problems. Plus i have been letting it cool on one side before i join them to allow it warm up.
 
A low temperature glue gun definitely makes it easier. I find that high temp warps the foam and kind of eats away at it. With the low temperature it should just be a matter of sticking the two pieces together, wait maybe 15-20 seconds, that should keep the pieces together, then what I do is keep pushing the edges of the foam together until it's totally set so that you don't get any gaps( this usually takes about another minute ).

Another benefit of the low temperature glue guns is that you don't burn your fingers when you're working with the glue.
 
endo500 said:
I'm using a hot glue gun. I wish i could get them to stick on hopes and dreams. I'm using one of the singer hi temp guns. I know some people have said use a lot temp gun but i dont know if that would really solve any of my problems. Plus i have been letting it cool on one side before i join them to allow it warm up.
Click to expand...

When you say letting it cool on one side. Can you be a bit more specific? Are you laying down the glue, then letting it cool a bit before pressing the seam together? Are you only trying to glue one side of the seam first and then going back to do the other side?

Dean
 
Indigogyre said:
When you say letting it cool on one side. Can you be a bit more specific? Are you laying down the glue, then letting it cool a bit before pressing the seam together? Are you only trying to glue one side of the seam first and then going back to do the other side?

Dean
Click to expand...

At first i tried to do the method described by on of the other members where you tape one side of the seam and then put glue on the inside seam. However i don't think that method is very effective and only worked in the demo because he was using a couple of scrap pieces.

What i have been doing primarily is taking two pieces and adding glue to one of the pieces. Then i wait a few minutes to let it cool and then join the two pieces together. I have only been trying to glue where the parts connect and the inside seam. I haven't done the outside seam because I don't want the glue seam lines to show once i seal and paint the armor.

Also thanks again to everyone for their help so far. I'll try to take some pictures tonight to show what i'm talking about.
 
Not sure what you mean about it not being effective because it was used on scrap pieces... Foam is foam. Jamie used this method on his R2 and other foam projects he has done.

Why are you letting the glue cool before joining the two pieces? That seems counterproductive, and a good reason why your glue isn't holding
 
In the thread I posted about the tape it was not on a scrap piece it was on my foam R2-D2 foot. Check my R2 foam build thread and you will the same photo as in the seam thread, also why would it only work on scrap pieces of foam, what makes scrap pieces of foam any different from any other piece of foam. I don't understand.

Also why are you letting the hot glue cool down?. You need it hot to stick the pieces of foam together. isn't that like saying you used superglue and it won't stick because you let it dry before trying to glue the pieces together?.

please show pics as soon as you can of what you are doing. Then I am sure we can help you.
Basicaly you put glue on the part you want to stick and as soon as you have put the glue on get the other piece of foam and press them together, wipe off any glue that may leak out as soon as possible.
 
familyman said:
In the thread I posted about the tape it was not on a scrap piece it was on my foam R2-D2 foot. Check my R2 foam build thread and you will the same photo as in the seam thread, also why would it only work on scrap pieces of foam, what makes scrap pieces of foam any different from any other piece of foam. I don't understand.

Also why are you letting the hot glue cool down?. You need it hot to stick the pieces of foam together. isn't that like saying you used superglue and it won't stick because you let it dry before trying to glue the pieces together?.

please show pics as soon as you can of what you are doing. Then I am sure we can help you.
Basicaly you put glue on the part you want to stick and as soon as you have put the glue on get the other piece of foam and press them together, wipe off any glue that may leak out as soon as possible.
Click to expand...

awesome craftsmenship!
 
Try barge cement or something similar. I use it while making puppets and i find it works best if u use the stuff in the tin that u have to NOT spray and give it 5 mins before you put them together.
 
Indigogyre said:
Check this stupid video about hot glueing and tape.

Tape.mpg - YouTube

Dean
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks for posting that, I would of done the same instead of step by step pics in my thread but didn't have the time. Hopefully this will help people understand how simple yet effective the tape method can be.

I was going to add something about you using scraps for the video and that it wouldn't work if you took the video of you doing it with actual good pieces of foam,,,, But thats not me so I wont.
 
hey, sorry I did not credit you. I just felt like blowing off some steam before deleting everyone's access at work. I honestly don't expect it to be there too long.

That is the edge banding for a gauntlet that is giving me huge amounts of scaling aggro. Made that thing like 4 times now and still have yet to get it to an acceptable size.

Dean
 
Kevin Gossett said:
Not sure what you mean about it not being effective because it was used on scrap pieces... Foam is foam. Jamie used this method on his R2 and other foam projects he has done.

Why are you letting the glue cool before joining the two pieces? That seems counterproductive, and a good reason why your glue isn't holding
Click to expand...

If you read all my posts and not just the first and last one you would notice that I mentioned that I was using a high temp glue gun, and I was letting it cool some to compensate for not having a low temp gun. I think most people realized that’s why I was letting it cool down.

As for “scrap” foam comment I didn’t mean in terms of the quality of foam but rather the situation of gluing two perfectly straight pieces together. If you look at the pictures from the thread on this topic that is exactly what is happening in the pictures displayed. I did not know he used this method for his R2. Additionally I’m not just judging the method without actually trying it, I did in fact did trying it on a few different Iron Man pieces. It is considerably harder to make this method work on a part that has a bunch of weird curves and bends.
 
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