[banghead] Looks like I am going to have to rip up my extruded foam from my layout.
I have 2 inch foam tacked down with liquid nails for projects on my 1/2 plywood.
Any ideas how to get it up? Pretty sure I see a lot of sanding in my future.
Hope you have a belt sander, to sand down the glue. I see, a big mess, in your future. [:)] Maybe you could salvage some for scenery.
Frank
Why do you have to rip it up?
–Randy
My thoughts also. Are you redesigning to entire trackplan? Depending on how much liquid nail and how good a bond will determine whether that foam will come up and how easily. If you’re lucky, starting w/ putty knives and switching to flat prybar may allow it you “pop” and release, at least portions or larger “chunks”. If it a bit more stubborn, try using some sort of rigid flat stock like a framing square to keep slicing/ jabbing between the layer. You could also buy a piece of 1 1/2" or 2" aluminum and grind to chisel like end. This will help "slice the foam/ glue joint. Will need to keep placing some type of shims as it is lifted. If all else fails you just have to hack the foam up in chunks and scrape the plywood surface. Painter’s hook scraper kept sharp (belt sander, grinder or file) will do the best to clean to the plywood. A belt sander, even w/ #50 grit, will clog in seconds, may be Ok after scraping off most glue. Good luck w/ this “messy” job. Hope it goes smoother than I think it will.
At least it is 2" foam and that extra rigidity and thickness may allow it to pop up easier.
I doubt the foam will survive being pulled up if you used much glue. That’s too bad, because the foam is quite pricey. If you start prying it apart, you are going to have handfulls of foam.
Why are you looking to pull it? Can you do what you need to do by going through the foam?
You could also use a Drywall taping knife, instead of trying to make one, they are about 8 inchs wide, with a handle. Probably would be ideal for that. Just don’t buy an expensive one. Do you have a square blade shovel, not a spade.
Have Fun! [:)]
Frank
On your Next Go around, use DAP latex painters caulking, if you have to tear it up again it will come up easily and the caulking will scrape off with no issues. Have fun!
When I disassembled my first layout, I had to pop lots of 1.5" foam off the three sheets of plywood. I had used PL300, a vice-grip of a glue for that application. I recall using a pruning saw or a serrated long knife, but also a steel spatula. Basically, try at least two different techniques and implements to find one that will be effective. It will be some work, and somewhat slow, but not hard unless you are in a rush and don’t take a break or two. If you need to bare the wood for reuse, you will have to pinch the glue still attached with pliers or cut/saw off the ridges and nubs of it with a blade.
-Crandell
I have only ever used white glue or carpenter’s glue to hold the foam to the plywood or to stringers on L-girder-style benchwork. When I re-did a portion of my layout a couple of years ago, in most cases the foam just popped off cleanly with a little force. (I never used much glue and, over almost 20 years, the foam never moved.)
John Longhurst, Winnipeg
I see in my future a big foam mess.
I got a tool that I am going to try, a Rockwell Sonicrafter. http://youtu.be/m3Ow2TbvWdM
I’ll post back to let you know if it worked or not.
The short answer is, I made a nooby mistake. I have to increase the size of my layout, and unfortunatly, that lake I built is not going to be in a very good place. I tried to work around this from different angles (building bridges, laying track around the shore, etc.) but there is no good solution. Lake Woebegone need to be gone.
Teufel Hund,
This is what I referred to in my reply, Drywall Taping Knife:
Frank
Unfortunately, the “popping off cleanly” effect has resulted in us using the polyurethane glues (Gorilla is one brand) instead of white or wood glue for the plywood-to-foam joints on our modules. Too many modules with white or wood glue have had foam separation from the frame during the combination of handling, transport, and storage in less than perfect climates. The Gorilla Glue doesn’t let go - the foam or wood will split first. Which is the OP’s dilemma, but a situation we would rather have.
just my experiences and thoughts, your choices
Fred W
This is a good reason to avoid using foam as a base to the layout - go “old school” and use plywood and homosote with drywall screws and track nails for the track. You can reverse a lot before things are more finalized with little distruction. I had a layout neary complete to the track all laid and had to tear it all down. I was able to save all the track saving me many hundreds of dollars, perhaps close to a thousand.
I agree with this “sort of”. If you are going old school, go old school. If you are going with foam, use open grid, not plywood to fasten it to. I have 2" foam on open grid glued down with PL300. I have taken some of the foam up where I will be placing hills and such as I tend to make them hollow instead of wasting piles of foam stacking layers. A couple of good punches from underneath had the foam popped right off.
As far as taking track up, I can pull a metre of W/S track up in seconds that has been caulked down. That beats pulling nails anyday in my book.
Our benches are not holding up refridgerators and waterbeds, just a few pounds of modeling. So why the plywood? I think the foam should be able to handle any weight distribution required.
I also climb up on this. I just use a small 1’ x 2’ piece of 1/4" plywood to kneel on. Then there is no sign I was ever up there.[C):-)]
acetone may come in handy. I think a little can go a long way
Removing Foam can be more difficult than you can imagine…
This foam was the wall of a freezer. We built a new freezer and the wal between the old freezer and the cooler was broken down to make a larger cooler.
COOL!
My layout is in the basement., so no need to worry about moving.
And I agree with the poster who noted that foam works best with an open grid design. A two-inch thick piece of foam is fine for a home layout on an L-girder style layout. If you want, you can always put in a few screws to hold it in place. (You can screw into foam and the screw head will hold it down. Later, you can either remember where the screws were and take them out, of just pop the foam up over the screws.)
John Longhurst, winipeg
The Sonicrafter worked like a champ.
took me about an hour to remove the foam from my 8"x4" layout.
Still have some sanding to make the plywood smooth. Shouldn’ take very long to complete that. Pretty satisfied with the results.
Yup. I was able to salvage a bunch for some scenery. The mess wasn’t to bad. Nothing a few passes with a shop vac couldn’t handel.