What happened to the DOW blue foam?

[robotronski]

Has anyone notice a decline in quality from the Blu-Cor available at Lowes Building Materials?

I think the foam is not as rigid as the foam I have leftover from a few years ago.

I did not even buy any yesterday when I went to Lowes as the quality just wasn't there for me.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks, Robo

[capn chaos]

Robot,
Not sure but my guess is (with most foams) the aging process makes the foam more brittle or in this case appear stiff. Green ( not the color but the age as in recently extruded) foam is still outgassing and coming to full cure. I would expect you would not notice the difference over a few months but a year, likely would. All foams, PVC, urethane and even styrofoam react to aging to different degrees.
Need a chemist to better explain (or debunk) the above.

CC

[rocket_jim]

You might look at your old foam and the new. I think the old foam had plastic on both sides, and the new stuff has it on just one side. If so, that makes a terrific difference in the stiffness.

Jim

[FoamHeadMike]

Originally Posted by capn chaos

Robot,
Not sure but my guess is (with most foams) the aging process makes the foam more brittle or in this case appear stiff. Green ( not the color but the age as in recently extruded) foam is still outgassing and coming to full cure. I would expect you would not notice the difference over a few months but a year, likely would. All foams, PVC, urethane and even styrofoam react to aging to different degrees.
Need a chemist to better explain (or debunk) the above.

CC

I can see where time and changing climates can break down the chemical components of the foam but if it is stored indoors in a climate controlled atmosphere just age itself should not have much of an effect on the foam.
the bottom line is that the Lowes has replaced the good stuff with cheaper made stuff but still sells it at the same cost it still has the same R factor but is not as suitable for building foamies as the High Performance underlayment but there again is not designed for building foam air planes to begin with.
You might want to try calling around some local insulation suppliers, lumber companys oe wood flooring suppliers for DOW Blue Cor high performance underlayment P/P FFF. what Lowes now carrys is DOW protection board.

[robotronski]

Originally Posted by FoamHeadMike

I can see where time and changing climates can break down the chemical components of the foam but if it is stored indoors in a climate controlled atmosphere just age itself should not have much of an effect on the foam.
the bottom line is that the Lowes has replaced the good stuff with cheaper made stuff but still sells it at the same cost it still has the same R factor but is not as suitable for building foamies as the High Performance underlayment but there again is not designed for building foam air planes to begin with.
You might want to try calling around some local insulation suppliers, lumber companys oe wood flooring suppliers for DOW Blue Cor high performance underlayment P/P FFF. what Lowes now carrys is DOW protection board.

Well that explains it clearly for me. Thanks. I love being able to knock out a foam plane in one or two evenings with no CA all over my fingers at the end of the night. Thanks again.

[HeliScRapYard]

I've Recently bought a stack of fanfold foam. I had to go to 4 different Lowes Stores to find a decent bundle. 99% of the stuff was really wavy. looked as if it had been extruded too quickly. Hopefully this will get better soon as i go through this stuff like candy.

[Voyager2lcats]

I bought some Dow ProtectionBoard III (blue foam from Lowe's) which is less dense and slightly lighter than the original BlueCor. I am using it on my PT-19 build and it is excellent for skinning over Readiboard formers. You could use balsa for formers if you find Readiboard too heavy (I don't). The wing spars are a combination of doubled bamboo skewer dowels and Readiboard full length wing spars. Here's a few pictures to give you an idea.

[soar-ne]

If you cant find it at your local Lowes, go on the web and look up Allied Building Products. See if they have a location in your area and call them and see if they have it in stock.
I was walking my dog last fall and saw some guys putting up siding and on their trailer they had bundles of the old paper on both sides stuff, so ask the guy where he got it and he told me Allied. Also after that some guys on RCG have gotten some from them. Dont know if the paper on both sides is still available now though....

Good Luck
Bob

[FoamHeadMike]

the DOW high performance underlayment P/P FFF has plastic on both sides, the PP is designated plastic/ plastic which translates plastic film on both sides of the foam