Foam Board Question

T

TonyZ

New Member
Mar 20, 2005
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A few questions for the pro’s



What type of glue should I use to bond 2” foam board to

plywood base? Also, can I use this same glue to bond cork

road bed to the foam board? On curves what holds the cork

road bed in position until its bonded? It looks like foam board

comes with a paper backing on one side, which side gets glued

down? IM new to using this :confused: method so any advice is helpful.



Thanks
Tony
 
A hardware store will be able to recommend the right glue for bonding the foam board to the plywood. It depends on the type of foam board you are using. Make sure you clamp or weight the foam to the wood while it dries.

I use the same glue to bond cork roadbed to foam, then I use plain old Elmer's to bond the track to the bed. Use push pins to hold the roadbed down while it dries - the kind you use on bulletin boards.
 
Liquid Nails for projects/foamboard can be used to glue the wood and foam together.Can also be used to gluedown the cork roadbed.

You can also use whiteglue (Elmer's etc.) for both projects.Just be sure to weight down the foamboard till the glue sets and use pushpins to hold the cork in place on curves (do this no matter what you use on the cork)
 
I agree with Catt, all my foam and cork and even tracks were glued together using LePage's White Glue (or Elmer's White Glue if you are in the USA). :D

If you check my website, I think there are a couple of pictures showing the bottles of gravel weighing down the top piece as well as the push pins holding the cork and track in position.
 
Tony,

I gotta agree with the others, Liquid Nails is great, or any white or yellow wood glue. Just be careful what you use since solvent-based glues will attack the foam and eat it rather than glue it...
 
I go for green contact cement (water based). It could take a lot, but it will glue everything from the plywood up to the ties. Just be careful putting everything together.
I've never seen foamboard with paper backing.
 
60103 said:
I've never seen foamboard with paper backing.
Click to expand...
Uh, I kinda missed that statement.:eek: Foamboard with paper backing sounds to me like it is the white stuff with maybe a plastic sheet on one side. I think everyone here was talking about the pink or blue extruded foam, no the expanded white stuff.

Tony, I think in order to keep your sanity, I suggest if you were talking the white stuff, think about using the extruded pink or blue foam. Much easier to work with, easier to clean up afterwards, and no paper or plastic backing either.
 
I am working on my first layout and used the Liqued nails for the blue foam board to ply then Elmers worked great for the cork to foam and used regular straight pins to hold down the cork then using elmers to hold the track along with the track nails seams to be working pretty good so far.
Good luck whatever you go with it can be done many ways as you can see so keep us posted as to how things work
 
Thanks for the tips, I was referring to extruded foam board, I was looking on line at the stuff, it looked like there was a paper backing on it. I will check it out at Home Depot at some point this week.

Being out of the hobby for over 12 years is now making my head spin with decisions to the point that Im hesitating to start the new layout. I have made a few decisions that at the moment im sticking to.

1. Freelance layout
2. DC again --- only because all of my stuff is geared for it. I know I can add decoders but Im far more comfortable with DC at the present time. I know nothing about DCC except what Im reading. The cost of DCC is not the issue, I already have enough equipment without having to buy anything up front to get started again.
3. This time larger radius curves, a better working yard, and a more professional control board.

I still have some issues on using LED's for my spurs, some say they will burn out becuase of too much juice going to the tracks, What if I used LED's that handle12volts?

Thanks again
Tony
 
Tony,

What you're probably seeing is the printing on one side of the foamboard. Both Home Depot and Lowe's here carry the blue stuff, no paper laminated on it. I bought some of the white foamboard to insulate the roof of a shed we just put up. It had a thin plastic film on each side. The film comes off, and in some cases, wasn't even stuck in the middle. Even for a job like that, it was messy. The blue stuff would have worked better, but it was twice the price and when I shut the doors, no one knows the difference.:D:D

I agree with you comments on DC, not everyone will though.:rolleyes: I started with DC, and would have too much conversion to do if I wanted to change. I am however, intrigued by DCC and I may use it on a different layout, but for now I'm OK with what I'm doing.

As for the LED's, all LED's run at a low voltage, around 2.2 volts for red, green and yellow, a little higher for blue and white. If you buy a "12 volt LED", it has a current limiting resistor built in. If you are using something like an MRC tech power pack with throttle, beware that the track voltage ouput is alway at 18 VDC, it is simply pulsed at a faster rate to give you the "average" output you need. With other power packs, your rail voltage still could conceivably go up to 18 volts. In either case, that would increase the current throught them by 50%. Not a good idea in my estimation. Besides, your LED brightness will vary with the track voltage. I would opt to use a steady DC source, or the accessory output from your power pack to run the lights. Yes, an LED will run from the AC accessory output. It is a diode and will turn on during half the cycle.

I hope this helps you.
 
You might find some helpful hints on gluing styrofoam with carpenter's yellow glue on my website.
http://www.railwaybob.com/Modules/ModConstr/ModConstr13.htm

Another glue that I am now using exclusively is a polyurethane glue made by Elmer's. You simply spread the glue very thinly on the styrofoam. Then wet the surface where you want the styrofoam to stick with a spray bottle. Place the styrofoam into place and keep it there for about 15 minutes while the glue sets up. You're ready to work on it in about an hour.

The nice thing polyurethane glue is that it expands to fill any voids such as gaps between the wood, holes between two pieces of styrofoam, etc. And it's very easy to use!

Definitely go for DCC. Once you're been there, you'll wonder why you didn't get into it sooner.

LED's take about 1.5 volts and therefore need a current limiting resistor. This is simply a resistor with the proper resistance that will drop the voltage from whatever the input source voltage is to the 1.5 volts. You can find out the proper value by doing a search for websites that will tell you what value of resistor to use for your input voltage.
 
I glued 2" white stryofoam from HD to my benchwork using Liquid Nails for foamboard. I left the plastic film on, although some advise on taking it off. It held great. Just spread a 1/4" bead, place the foam and then add weight, such as books or paint cans. I later removed a section of the foam to make a lake. I pried it up using a putty knife.
Doc
 
railwaybob said:
You might find some helpful hints on gluing styrofoam with carpenter's yellow glue on my website.
http://www.railwaybob.com/Modules/ModConstr/ModConstr13.htm

Another glue that I am now using exclusively is a polyurethane glue made by Elmer's. You simply spread the glue very thinly on the styrofoam. Then wet the surface where you want the styrofoam to stick with a spray bottle. Place the styrofoam into place and keep it there for about 15 minutes while the glue sets up. You're ready to work on it in about an hour.

The nice thing polyurethane glue is that it expands to fill any voids such as gaps between the wood, holes between two pieces of styrofoam, etc. And it's very easy to use!

Definitely go for DCC. Once you're been there, you'll wonder why you didn't get into it sooner.

LED's take about 1.5 volts and therefore need a current limiting resistor. This is simply a resistor with the proper resistance that will drop the voltage from whatever the input source voltage is to the 1.5 volts. You can find out the proper value by doing a search for websites that will tell you what value of resistor to use for your input voltage.
Click to expand...
railwaybob i liked your method of building the frames i used it for mine also they turned out perfectly
 
Hi Harry. Glad to hear you had fun building your layout in modules. I had fun doing the webpages. When I get some spare time (hah, hah), I'm going to try and post some pages on using styrofoam for the hills, using the polyurethane glue, and an easy way to wire up RJ12 LocoNet jacks.

Ain't this a great hobby for picking up new ideas on how to do things!? And to have a lot of fun doing it!?

Railway Bob
 
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