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John Hansen
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In my search for polyurethane boards to make a plug, I am looking for low density. Approximately 4 to 6 Lbs. Cubic Ft (64 to 96 KG/Cu Meter) I have found a few off-shore suppliers including one each in UK, and Canada. I have made inquiries on pricing vie email or web response forms but I am not getting responses from the USA supplier after I was referred to them by the manufacturer. I would prefer finding a USA supplier to avoid the high cost of shipping and any possible duties or import restrictions. Can anyone please point me to a responsive supplier in the USA for this material?
For reference and perhaps to answer one key question, I do all of my research via the internet at night because I work during the day, so phone conversations is not an option for me.
A Lifelong Learner
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Hanaldo
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Contact building supply companies. Closed cell rigid polyurethane foam is often used in the building industry for insulation.
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John Hansen
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+xContact building supply companies. Closed cell rigid polyurethane foam is often used in the building industry for insulation. It seems that in the USA the commonly available rigid board insulation is polystyrene. And i thought I have read that Polystyrene would not be compatible with the various resin materials used for making molds. Any experience in making plugs here in the USA would be appreciated.
A Lifelong Learner
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Hanaldo
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Polystyrene is more common everywhere in the world, but polyurethane should still be around. Understand it's not easy to find, it took me 5 years to find my local supplier. I'm in Aus so that doesnt help you, but I'm confident the building industry is your best bet.
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John Hansen
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Group: Forum Members
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+xPolystyrene is more common everywhere in the world, but polyurethane should still be around. Understand it's not easy to find, it took me 5 years to find my local supplier. I'm in Aus so that doesnt help you, but I'm confident the building industry is your best bet. Thank you Hanaldo. In my search, Google and the internet have not been real friendly. It seems that when I search for Polyurethane, I get every imaginable link to other material with Polystyrene being the most frequent. And oddly, the construction industry does not know what the material they sell is made of.... they tend to describe it by brand name.
A Lifelong Learner
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Ted
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Extruded Polystyrene (XPS) is the more typical material found at the home improvement stores as rigid insulation. You could use XPS boards to make a plug, provided that you use epoxy resin on the plug instead of polyester or vinyl ester resins. Then you could make the mold and part from either poly or VE. I recently ordered some 2' x 4' x 1/2" thick polyurethane foam boards of 4.5 lb density from an outfit called 'Aircraft Spruce' (California) . The pricing was good vs. some other suppliers. I am not sure if they sold urethane foam in larger sheets though, if that is what you would need to make a plug out of urethane foam. Pricing of urethane foam boards tends to take your breath away . . .
Regards, tpenfield
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JasonFL
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+xIn my search for polyurethane boards to make a plug, I am looking for low density. Approximately 4 to 6 Lbs. Cubic Ft (64 to 96 KG/Cu Meter) I have found a few off-shore suppliers including one each in UK, and Canada. I have made inquiries on pricing vie email or web response forms but I am not getting responses from the USA supplier after I was referred to them by the manufacturer. I would prefer finding a USA supplier to avoid the high cost of shipping and any possible duties or import restrictions. Can anyone please point me to a responsive supplier in the USA for this material? For reference and perhaps to answer one key question, I do all of my research via the internet at night because I work during the day, so phone conversations is not an option for me. Freeman Supply or McMaster Carr
Jason
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k.alan.bates
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+xExtruded Polystyrene (XPS) is the more typical material found at the home improvement stores as rigid insulation. You could use XPS boards to make a plug, provided that you use epoxy resin on the plug instead of polyester or vinyl ester resins. Then you could make the mold and part from either poly or VE. I recently ordered some 2' x 4' x 1/2" thick polyurethane foam boards of 4.5 lb density from an outfit called 'Aircraft Spruce' (California) . The pricing was good vs. some other suppliers. I am not sure if they sold urethane foam in larger sheets though, if that is what you would need to make a plug out of urethane foam. Pricing of urethane foam boards tends to take your breath away . . . My basic process for quick and cheap work with xps is to sand it short of its final dimension, seal it with titebond III "premium" wood glue (3 is the runny one. Run a bead of it then butter your xps with a tongue depresser), then Bondo (styrene) on top of the sealed piece. Now sand back down to your final dimensions. I've had (*what I think are*) good results with this method. I haven't yet tried to create a mold off of it, but I see no reason it should be any different than any other material. My surface layer is polyester body filler. It's also super easy to laminate thin planks of xps together to form blanks of any desired thickness you choose. PU foam is obviously nicer to work with if you can find it, but xps shouldn't scare you.
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noahark
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+xIn my search for polyurethane boards to make a plug, I am looking for low density. Approximately 4 to 6 Lbs. Cubic Ft (64 to 96 KG/Cu Meter) I have found a few off-shore suppliers including one each in UK, and Canada. I have made inquiries on pricing vie email or web response forms but I am not getting responses from the USA supplier after I was referred to them by the manufacturer. I would prefer finding a USA supplier to avoid the high cost of shipping and any possible duties or import restrictions. Can anyone please point me to a responsive supplier in the USA for this material? For reference and perhaps to answer one key question, I do all of my research via the internet at night because I work during the day, so phone conversations is not an option for me. I highly recommend Cellular PVC (Home Depot) as an alternative to XPS foam (pink panther or otherwise) for plugs. Whereas the cost is higher, the quality and consistency is much greater. It's much more consistent to sand, route, and will bend nicely with a heat gun. Don't expect it to hold up well under any heat from exothermic reactions, oven, etc. After endlessly (+++) searching for quality polyurethane foam that could be found locally, I did *finally* come upon FGCI in Florida ( https://fgci.com/products/26/Polyurethane-Foam/).
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Chris Rogers
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I have used a polyisocyanurate product called Trymer available up to 6lb/cu.ft. I bought it from Poly Cel ( http://www.polycelinc.com/materials.html) in MA, USA. About twice the price of EPS foam of a similar density. It is easy to sand/machine and it is compatible with polyester resin. For a visual, this shows the 2lb version used as a substrate for tooling paste: https://explorecomposites.com/example-projects/building-plugs-with-tooling-paste/
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