Material:Foam
Foam is a cheap and lightweight material which is ideal for models and aircrafts. There are many different foam materials, which we're only splitting into rough structural categories for now.
Closed-Cell Foam
| MaterialInfoBox Closed-Cell Foam | |
|---|---|
| |
| Synonyms: | styrofoam; DE: Styropor, Styrodur, Schaumstoff |
| Suggested Tools: | foam cutter, box cutters, laser cutter if chlorine-free |
| Contains: | e.g. polystyrene |
Closed-cell foam is generally more rigid and water or air tight than open-cell foam.
These tips for sculpting a foam drone body contain a lot of basic information on working with polystyrene foam.
Styrodur (hard polystyrene foam) is also known as "XPS" (extruded polystyrene).
Foam rubber is also a kind of closed-cell foam.
Open-Cell Foam
| MaterialInfoBox Open-Cell Foam | |
|---|---|
| |
| Synonyms: | "sponge"; DE: Schaumstoff, "Schwamm" |
| Suggested Tools: | foam cutter, shop scissors, laser cutter if chlorine-free |
Open-cell foam is rather soft, permissive to air and able to suck up liquids to some extent.
Besides mechanical protection (e.g. on the inside of cases), it is also frequently used for sound dampening surfaces.
Sourcing
- "Feldherr" (main business seems to be tabletop game boxes) also sells simple foam sheets
- 10 € minimum purchase, free shipping within Germany
- approx. 14 €/m² (10 mm thickness)
- recycle packaging material!
Composite Foam
| MaterialInfoBox Composite Foam | |
|---|---|
| |
| Synonyms: | syntactic foam; DE: Polsterschaumstoff, Schaumstoff zur Schalldämmung |
| Suggested Tools: | box cutter, shop scissors |
Syntactic foam (composite foam) is a composite material in which hollow elements such as hollow glass microspheres or hollow metallic or ceramic microspheres may be embedded. In some cases, porous elements such as expanded glass granules or perlite are also used.
Some composite foams simply contain foam granules of different stiffness to combine their advantages.
Sourcing
Schaumstofflager sells composite foam online for about 15 €/m².
Fields of Application
Composite foam can be used for reupholstering seating furniture such as sofas. It is simply inserted between the nosag springs and the existing foam. It is recommended to use foam with a thickness of 2 cm.
Detailed instructions can be found in this YouTube video.
