Because of the rotation of the sanding drum, you'll want to grind from left to right. Craft foam can be heated with a hairdryer or heat gun and once it cools it will mostly hold itâs shape (though Iâve found the shape to be more flimsy). Dec 22, 2010 at 4:35 pm #1676888. These are the boot tops on my Marcus Fenix boots. ), a mason jar; or you can just shape it with your hands. This is the Doc Marten boot with the EVA shell applied. I did a plunge cut with the end of a dremel chainsaw sharpening stone to drill each end of the slot, then went back with the same bit to connect the two holes. ... heat directly to the surface, making sure I got both the treated and untreated areas. My big concern though is with the actual heat gun itself, in all the videos, people are bringing it near their hands and touching the foam as they heat it. Parts don't⦠Lower Right Photo: These are the pauldrons after Plastidip. You don't want to heat it up too much. YES, it can pull dents out of foam, I do it all the time. The White Crafts glue can simply be applied to the Foam in multiple Layers, if necessary, and it will Seal EVA Foam enough to be painted . You heat the foam up using the heat gun. This will âcloseâ the surface of the EVA Foam to prepare it for Sealing and Painting later on. Hold it in the desired shape until it cools down. Keep heating until ⦠If your Prop is not moving and does not bend (for example a solid armor) then you can seal your Foam with simple white crafts glue. They are ready for paint. If you do, you'll end up with a burned/scorched spot. Here are the pieces for the Garron Paduk boots. This shows the addition of the kneepads to the boot. Thanks for reading! LIGHTLY cut the lines with your X-Acto knife. Cosplay Pros EVA foam sheets are of the highest quality and are used by the best cosplayers for a reason. Over a semi-soft cutting surface like a cutting mat or wood cutting block, use a sharp X-acto for craft knife to carefully follow the lines you've traced. The elastic was able to stretch when I walked, and pulled the boot top back down when I wasn't walking. You can see that there's a fairly sharp bend in the front of the boot top. So, if something were to happen to you whereby you lost control, you should still be safe. Your main tool here is the heat gun, they come in many different shapes and sizes but you really only need a small basic one. Use a couple pieces of double sided tape to hold the template on the foam while you trace the pattern pice with a Sharpie. As long as the foam is hot, you can shape it into rounded or curved shapes. (I learned this trick from my friend Barry, I don't know where he learned it from). It's also used for heat forming the foam as well as leaving a tough skin on the surface. Just make sure to turn the piece of armor around & clean up the rest of the edge, working left to right. I've also found that you can rough cut foam (especially on EPP) and skip sanding it, just heat it with a heat gun and as the suface particles melt the foam suface smooths out nicely. You'll start the process by cutting out your paper template. I know some people use hot glue & other adhesives, but I've found that my coating/painting aheres better if hot glue is not involved. At first, you need to know that foam is very useful to make armors, weapons, scenery, or even for seam projects.Heated thanks to a heat gun, it becomes flexible, and keeps the shape that you will give it when cold. The large pieces are cut & then applied to the boot using superglue. Use an X-Acto knife to cut the piece out of the foam. I attached an elastic strap to the pull loop of the boot & velcroed it up high inside the boot top. Steven Evans. This gives you a much smoother surface when you get to painting the armor. The next step for them will be to flatten the texture by heating the surface with a heat gun. I usually grind the new drum along the side of the disc on my bench grinder, but I'm sure you can use a grinding stone, concrete floor, etc. I only use superglue for assembling my EVA armor. Keep the heat gun about 2"-3" away from the foam, and keep the gun constantly moving. Heating EVA foam gives off toxic fumes. Trace the base pattern onto your foam with either a marker or a sharp object, like an awl or a seam ripper that makes a small groove in the foam. Heat molding foam/neoprene. Using the EVA foam as a sort of sanding block, dip it in the water and get a few drops to stick to it, then "sand" the glued surface you wish to level/shape. Spread the glue into a thin layer using a wooden coffee stirrer, then allow it to dry for 10â20 minutes. Dremel 85422 Silicon Carbide Grinding Stone, On to Plastidipping and Painting the Armor->. This means your projects will have a professional final appearance. This was achieved by grinding out 1/4" deep channel in the back side of the foam. Meanwhile, mark up the chin piece with a line, insert the knife halfway into the foam at a 45-degree angle and cut along the line on both sides to make a groove. ;^). The next step for them will be to flatten the texture by heating the surface with a heat gun. After the texture has been removed, you can start to heat the EVA foam for shaping. Heat Sealing is done by simply using a heat gun or Hairdryer to gently heat up the foam. If you release pressure from the trigger the heat gun will turn off immediately. Alone or combined with thermoplastics, it will address your needs.Foams that you will find in the cosplay world are usually foam you find as exercise mat or ground sh⦠Date published: 2020-10-23. Cutting and Shaping the EVA Foam. The sharpie tick marks are to help me match up the pieces and to mark locations for seam lines, center line, etc. If you heat up one spot too much, it'll blister. ... Now I have a hard deadline coming up and no way to shape my eva foam. Move the heat around constantly as the EVA foam does burn rather easily. Just take your metal ruler & mark the line with a sharpie. Lower Right Photo: You'll need to remake/adjust the patterns for your fun foam pieces after you've heat formed the main EVA foam. Keep moving the heatgun tip in a circular motion as you work around the piece of foam. After a while the Catalyst starts to loose its "chemical energy" and it takes a very long time to cure ( if ever). There are ways to make the foam hold itâs shape better. Use an X-Acto knife to cut the piece out of the foam. You can just barely see the seam below the curve. You'll be heating both the front & back sides of the foam, but really pay attention to the outer side for the stretch/form. When you're removing the texture (or when heating the foam for shaping), make sure to keep the tip of the heatgun about 2" from the foam. Upper Left Photo: The pauldrons have been heat formed. It's just another thing to clean up. Resin won't actually stick directly to EVA foam. Can i warp EVA foam with a hair dryer? You (generally) don't want to point your heat gun right at one spot without moving it, always keep it waving back and forth on the piece of foam you will be bending. Without adequate safety features, your heat gun experience could turn into a total disaster. And you can use just about anything for shaping a rounded or curved surface - a glass bottle, a bowl, a ball of some sort, a snow globe, a wig head, a duct tape dummy (this is the best for shaping armor! It'll grind off material too quickly, and leaves a striped texture from the grit on the drum. Once the foam is heated up enough, you'll pull/stretch the foam down over the hitch ball. *** Putting complex bends and curves in EVA Foam armor can be tricky, since the foam is very elastic and flexible. The Process is simple but takes time and patience to master. When you heat up the foam pieces and fold it over you ankle as it cools, it will retain the shape that you hold it in. The fundamentals of creating something out of those crafting materials primarily consist of heating the piece and holding it in place until it cools down to retain the shape that you want. Then use the side of a Dremel 85422 Silicon Carbide Grinding Stone This is important to know since many times of armor cannot have seam lines. Once the foam is warm enough, you can use your knee, a hitchball clamped in a vise, or even just your hands to strech, form, & bend the foam. I had to stretch the fun foam template by almost 2" due to the stretching caused by the heat forming. Jun 6, 2017 - Bending, Shaping and Strengthening Foam Armor (Cheap and Easy Method): *** If you enjoyed this instructable, please consider voting for me in the contests it is entered in! Thick or thin, foam will adapt to your different projects. Upper Right Photo: This is the shoulder paudron pieces after they've been cut out, heated to remove the texture, and the edges dremeled to give them a smooth rounded edge. Can a normal or strong hair dryer do the work or do i have to shell out for a heat gun if i want any result? Then just apply the Heatgun and the lines will open up! The boot & boot upper will not be glued together. BPL Member. Now you'll need to remove the texture from the front of the piece. That usually seals most of the pores. This is where having the flex shaft attachment is very handy. This will tighten & seal the foam texture. I placed them on the MF boots because I hadn't completed Garron's boots yet. It's a piece of junk. I haven't ever come close to melting or burning the foam. One of the most important features is the delicately named âdead manâ switch. This easy-to-use gun comes with a 70" cable. So if it is put on eva foam the foam tends to act as a insulator and absorb the heat hindering the reaction and never letting it cure. To find out more about simulating the stitching visit THIS PAGE. That keeps you from seeing the back texture on the finished piece of armor. You can use it to dry accessories for your jewelry, dresses and more. Robin discovered that an old 2-5/16" hitch ball clamped in the shop vise was a perfect tool for forming rounded sections of foam. After the texture has been removed, you can start to heat the EVA foam for shaping. You can lay the flex shaft along the foam so just the edge of the dremel stone cuts into the face of the foam. One of the best things about EVA foam is how easily it is to mold with a heat gun. For shaping the foam, make sure to heat the foam from both side before you begin. There isn't really a set temperature, just when the foam becomes easily bendable. Your best bet is several coats of PVA Glue (Mod Podge, Elmer's White Glue etc). I personally have the Wagner 200 watt heat gun, you can find this model nearly anywhere. I used the same process for the slots cut into the face of the boot top just below the kneepads. So using this method, I took the traced foam pieces, heated them, and folded them against my ankles. A smooth dense surface means your flex paints and glues will adhere with ease. Use a couple pieces of double sided tape to hold the template on the foam while you trace the pattern pice with a Sharpie. That will create ripples as the costume flexes. I dremeled the texture from the backside to minimize the seam between the two layers. Note: These pieces are made from two layers of foam that are glued together. ... Is there a material that I could heat with a heat gun or in an oven for a little while that would render it flexible and stretchy enough to stretch over a die without losing its shape when it cooled? This sets the foam ⦠I couldn't say it any better, so instead of trying, here's his video. You'll leave the glue/seam edges sharp, but if it's an exposed edge, I like to flip the piece over & grind off the edge of the back texture. I created human sized DVD costumes a few years ago out of EVA foam. You'll need to change blades fairly often...the foam dulls the blades very quickly. Stop grinding before you get to the right edge of the piece. Ask Question. Having helped a friend with shaping the armor and doing foam work myself, I have found the best thing to do after getting it heated up and shaped is to throw it in the freezer. This will create a sharp edge later. Before using a new sanding drum, I like to wear it out a bit first! They have been cut out using an X-acto knife. You can make panel/surface detail lines by first tracing the pattern with a ball point pen. Itâs actually possible to burn your foam by keeping it focused on a single area for too long, so keep it moving! I did not cut the slots into the kneepad inset until after I had glued the piece down. Again, like the slots in the kneepads, I did plunge cuts with the dremel AFTER I applied the fun foam to the pauldrons. I prefer to move at a rate of approximately 10 centimeters per second. Using your heat gun go from one end of the foam to the other. Bill Doran of Punished Props did a video on his YouTube channel about the various super glues he uses for his props. Here's the boots just about done. It might turn out alright at first, but then you wind up with a fiberglass shell falling off of the foam underneath. If you were to work from right to left, the drum will dig down into the foam & not float across the surface. Thanks in advance. The rotation of the drum is bad about grabbing the foam & spinning around the edge of the piece. Ever worked with Worbla or EVA foam for your cosplay? A hair dryer should work fine, it just may take a bit longer to get the pieces heated. After you've finished shaping/grinding the piece, go back over the shaped areas with the heat gun. (and could throw off the shape of the piece). Vinyl graphics were printed and glued to the foam with 3m 77 and it held up to a fair amount of abuse. Here are the main panel lines cut into the boot top. After reading a good bit about using eva foam for various cosplay costumes, I went out and got a few sheets of the puzzle piece EVA from home depot and a heat gun. To use a heat gun to seal EVA foam, simply let it heat for a few seconds, and then blow hot air onto your foam from a distance of about 20 centimeters. This is the damage caused by the bit running away from you at the end of an edge. You don't want to heat it up too much. to cut the panel line. In short, there are a lot of different ways to seal EVA Foam the two most well known and widely used methods are using either Plasti Dip or White Crafts glue (wood glue) to Seal EVA Foam. Otherwise it would have been trial & error to match the curve of the two kneepads. I just didn't take a photo of that, so the glove free pic will have to do! Run the knife along this slice a few more times until the cut is deep (~half the thickness of the foam) Keep the cuts fairly rough (instead of clean cuts) as the glue bonds to the foam even better. You'll start the process by cutting out your paper template. A new sanding drum is too abrasive for working with the eva foam. The same method applies to heating a synthetic wig that can take heat. It still need keepers to hide the seam between the kneepad & straps, but it's just about ready for Plastidip. I don't think you could get away with just gluing the edges of the vinyl. I want to make an armor cosplay with 6MM EVA foam but i dont think i want to buy a heat gun just yet. I could have made this from a single piece, but the model shows a seam there, and making it in two halves allowed me to replicate the shape of the curve accurately for the two kneepads. Run the X-acto knife along the interior of the armor part to make a slice. As you can see, the damage isn't bad, but makes a little more work to clean up. You do this by heating the face of the foam with the heatgun. This heat gun will be a useful addition to your tool kit. The damage from the runaway bit isn't generally very bad. Be sure to wear a respirator and do this in a room with good ventilation.-----Using a heat gun on medium heat and low blower (if available), heat the flowers. 3m 77 will adhere the vinyl to the EVA foam. (the boots were on back order). Our standard EVA foam comes in a density of 38kg/m3. Keep the heat gun about 2"-3" away from the foam, and keep the gun constantly moving. 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