Found a killer cheap foam source at a flooring store in Cleveland

I stopped by a random flooring outlet last week and asked for their old foam underlayment scraps, and they gave me a whole roll for free. It's way denser than the craft store stuff and works perfect for armor builds. Anyone else hit up construction supply places for materials?

3 comments

3 Comments

charles_kim4d ago

Three yards is about what you'd get from a standard roll of that stuff, so that's a solid score. I gotta say though, that foam might be a little too stiff for some armor pieces if you want any flex. The stuff from flooring stores is usually EVA that's around 6mm but way harder than the craft foam you find at Michael's. I'd try heat forming it first before you cut anything important, because that dense foam can crack if you bend it cold.

evan_anderson4d ago

Ha, yeah that foam is no joke. Cracked my first test piece like a moron before I learned to heat it up. Definitely second what @charles_kim said about the stiffness. I'm about as graceful as a drunk walrus with a heat gun, so I messed up a nice gauntlet piece pretty bad. Gotta let the foam get really pliable or it snaps clean in half. The dense stuff is great for flat plates though, gets a real solid look. Just takes some practice not to ruin it.

ray6484d agoTop Commenter

Oh man, that heat gun stuff is brutal. My buddy Dave tried to rush a chest piece and thought he could just blast it real quick. He ended up melting a hole clean through the middle of it and the foam just warped into this weird lumpy shape. Looked like a melted ice cream cone lol. He was so pissed he just threw the whole thing in the trash and started over. Now he sets a timer every time he uses the heat gun so he doesn't zone out and ruin another piece.