I want to put foam on my bench work was wondering what is the best way to hold the foam to the wood?Was at Home depot and asked a guy and he said elmers glue works fine,which I kinda didn’t think that was right.I was thinking of a possible liquid nails?
I use Liquid Nails for projects. The other types of Liquid Nails are not foam safe. MR uses PL-600 or something like that for their foam to wood projects. Maybe someone else will know for sure what MR uses.
I fasten my foam roadbed (including sheets up to five tracks wide) to the plywood subgrade with the same latex caulk I use to lay track. It also works to secure foam roadbed to steel stud material, which I use for cassettes and to support long tangents in the netherworld’s hidden track.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I used regular Liquid Nails to glue all my foam to wood & foam to foam. As long as you use 1/4" to 3/8" beads you’ll be fine. As LN is a contact adheasive, it’s best apply the glue, press the pieces together making sure there is contact all around, pulling the pieces apart for 30 seconds and then pressing into place a final time. This spreads the glue and allows it to tack up a bit. And it’s fast. I use 3" sheetrock screws as “clamps” removing the accessable screws the next day. You could also use bamboo skewers, pushing them in at a 45’ angle.
Loctite and Liquid Nails both make an adhesive which is labeled as foam friendly or for use on exterior foam. According to my son in law, a construction superintendent, and my son and nephew, both architects, do not use adhesives that are not specifically foam rated since they will, over time, cause a general degradation of the foam surface coming in contact with the adhesive, or melt it outright. I personally use Franklin Titebond since its resins dry hard, hold fast and are foam friendly as well. Spread your adhesive of choice and use all those old Model Railroaders as weight to hold both surfaces together! Titebond will hold in 3-4 hours and cure completely in 24 hours.
I would bet the Elmer’s would work fine… and it sure is cheap. You’re not going to pull a truck with it, just something to hold it in place on the wood. Plus if you ever want to remove it, the odds are much better this way.
I am sticking foam down with latex caulking compound from a caulking gun. The wood roadbed is going down on top of the foam with PL300 Foamboard Adhesive, also from a caulking gun. Both work well, and both cost about the same ($3 a tube)
I would avoid plain Liquid Nails because of the many reports of it attacking foam. My hardware store carries Liquid Nails, Liquid Nails for Projects, Liquid Nails for Tub Surrounds, Liquid Nails for this-that-and-the-other. None of the Liquid Nails tubes specifically said “Foam Board Compatible” so I bought the PL300 which does say “Foam Board Compatible”.
I would not use Elmers glue or the yellow carpenter’s glue on foam. Both products are intended for use on well fitted wood joints, clamped until the glue dries. The foamboard-to-wood joint isn’t very well fitted and you can’t clamp it much, cause the foam is softer than wood and the clamp will crush it. The latex caulk and the PL300 have much more gap filling quality and give a good bond without clamping.
I also use Liquid nails for the big stuff and rubber cement for the smaller stuff, both work very well.
Was at hobby shop yesterday and someone was buying something in a bottle from woodland scenics and asked the guy at hobby shop if that would work tacking foam to a wood base and he said yes.Next question I have is does anyone just put the track onto the foam or do you still put the track on a road bed?
I use latex caulking to hold the foam down and “Aleene’s original TACKY GLUE” found at your local big box store craft section for the roadbed and track.
One other thing to remember (and maybe this has been brought up in other threads) is no matter what adhesive you decide to use, be sure to peel the thin plastic film off the foam first. You want the bond directly between the wood and the foam. (Maybe this explains the apparent success of those not using specific “foam-friendly” products.)
Don
I have used Elmers for my HO modules that are 4 years odl now and moved around and bounced around hundreds of times with no failures. My mains are on cork road bed but yards and sideings are on the foam.
Pete