101 uses for plastozote foam offcuts

[lsm1066]

Ok, this is actually a request because we get through a lot of this stuff in the workshop and although we cut and re-cut until we're left with very small offcuts, we still have them. (Here's what we do with it, in case you wondered).

It's fairly nasty stuff really, from an ecological point of view. It doesn't bio-degrade (it would be useless if it did), it can't be used for furnishings as it doesn't meet the required safety standards and by the time we're done with it, it's quite often got contact adhesive on it too.

Any clues?

[Loobyloo]

Could you use it as an insulating material? Maybe a box in box with the foam stuffed between the two as a cool box in the summer?

Wouldn't use a lot of it I suppose, but its the best I could come up with!! Will keep thinking tho!

(ps. Your website is too cool, I'm going to have show my OH he'll be drooling over it all!)

[Annpan]

Firstly I though Latex was biodergradable??? Isn't it a natural bi-product of the rubber industry? or have I got that wrong?


Anyway...
Shredding it and turning it into insulation seems the best idea to me too - could you make a haybox cooker? How about underfloor insulation? Maybe if you put it on freecycle someone might be able to use it?

[Shirley]

It's not latex though - it's foam.

Could you shred it and use for packaging? That is of course passing the problem on to someone else though.

[Annpan]

Sorry, I read at the top of the site page "Latex weapons and props"

[Shirley]

Sorry Annpan - it's in the first link http://www.ramfoam.co.uk/pages/materials-nitrogen.asp - otherwise I would have assumed latex too. :-)

[Annpan]

oops Looks like pretty nasty stuff

Could it be used as a sound insulator too.... if you have any drummers practicing in your garage I wonder if it could be shredded down to be put into wall cavities? Though there might be fire retardant issues there Maybe insulation in a chicken house, or a shed, somewhere that doesn't have electric wires or other fire risks?

[the.fee.fairy]

When i was a child, i did gymnastics. They had a big pit of foam and mattresses and offcuts of stuff that we used to practice swinging on the rings and the bars into.

Is there anywhere else that stil does that?
Maybe health and safety have issues with it now...

[Thomzo]

Can it be cut with a craft punch? If so, cut out shapes (flowers, hearts etc) bag them up and sell them to crafters for card making.

Filling for draft excluders, bean bags etc.

Padding for quilting?

Zoe

[lsm1066]

Sorry, I read at the top of the site page "Latex weapons and props"

Ah! Latex is what they're painted with after they're built. To be honest I've never understood why they're called latex weapons but there it is.

Thanks for the ideas. We're building a new hen house soon (this is my husband we're talking about, but since I've already waited 9 months I'm assuming, if the greenhouse is anything to go by, that he does actually mean soon) so cavity wall insulation there might be a good plan. And of course, there's always padding for the bottom of the rollaway nest box. Crafters might also be a good idea. We use various thicknesses from 3mm to 30mm. I'll have a chat to a friend of mine who's an avid crafter and see what she thinks. After all, its all grey (which might put a downer on it).

Lynne

[Penny Lane]

Just went to your website and WOW! Everyone on this site is so talented and wonderfully unique!

Could the offcuts somehow be joined together to form a mat to protect little ones when they fall over?

[Ellendra]

Flails.

I used to be in a LARPing group, and one member there was determined to build a head-legal flail. He was the biggest person in the group, and wanted to use a shield and flail to play whack-a-mole :p But, no matter how soft of foam he used, a solid block of it was always too much, and it hurt people's necks if they got hit with it. So, he changed tactics, and made what was essentially a pillow-on-a-string, a sack filled with bits of foam cutoffs, tied with a rope. The rope was strung with pipe insulation in 3-inch long sections (so it couldn't accidentally wrap around someone's throat), and the handle was made following the same guidelines as a sword hilt. He even made it look as if the flail had been made from some monster's spine :p It worked.

With what you're making with the rest of the foam, I thought this might come in handy.

[Rosendula]

A kneeling mat for gardening? Or individual kneepads if the pieces are too small to make a mat.

[Rosendula]

May be the wine getting to me, but I just got a vision of a model village type thing, with tiny little versions of the type of things you make already. Are there any historians about who might want to create a 'model village' of a particular historical era. Not only could you have the offcuts used, you could actually make the little weapons and sell them. Sorry if that idea's really bad I clearly haven't a clue

[lsm1066]

Flails.

I used to be in a LARPing group, and one member there was determined to build a head-legal flail. He was the biggest person in the group, and wanted to use a shield and flail to play whack-a-mole :p But, no matter how soft of foam he used, a solid block of it was always too much, and it hurt people's necks if they got hit with it. So, he changed tactics, and made what was essentially a pillow-on-a-string, a sack filled with bits of foam cutoffs, tied with a rope. The rope was strung with pipe insulation in 3-inch long sections (so it couldn't accidentally wrap around someone's throat), and the handle was made following the same guidelines as a sword hilt. He even made it look as if the flail had been made from some monster's spine :p It worked.

With what you're making with the rest of the foam, I thought this might come in handy.

Very handy. Thanks. What your friend has made sounds fantastic! However, we're already making flails which have been approved for use (in UK systems at least - haven't tried them overseas yet). He doesn't use LD45 for the heads though. He uses a much lower density (LD18 - close to upholstery foam) for exactly the reason you've given. They're not on the website yet, but they will be soon!

Sorry. This is beginning to sound like too much of an advert.