Got caught up in the DIY background hype...

[cvermeulen]

Not a lot of progress tonight. I removed the LHS mold and peeled the masking tape. I then put a wire wheel brush on my angle grinder and did a bunch of shaping on the RHS pile of styro. The wire wheel EATS through styro at an amazing rate. After I had the rough shaping, I used a 36 grit sanding wheel on my DA grinder to do some finer shaping. It needs more foam... and I'm choked cuz I'll need to go spend another $9 on expanding foam that will run out of propellant before it's all out of the can, but what else am I gonna do? *shrug* the LHS cave I'm hoping I can fit together a bit better, so it requires less expanding foam.

 

[hatcheridiot]

Well, little progress or no....keep up the good work. I'm lovin this thread!

I've found that when your're working with the expanding foam to just go nuts...work fast and use it liberally! It goes waaaay further! If your wire wheel takes it down easily...what have you got to loose but a little elbow grease?

Keep those pics comin!

 

[DarkSoul]

I dont know how you were doing with the wire wheel, but after all the work i did with my dremel wire wheel, It turned out to be entirely pointless as the cement took on its own texture, and pretty much rendered what I had done useless lol.

I also found it best to just let it dig in, and then lose control with it (in a controlled manner) like literally, just let it jump around and skip all over the place like it was naturally inclined to do.

that texture IMHO looked really really good, exactly like something you would see underwater, and it also appeared to "flow" with the water, so to speak.
had I used grout all over, it would have been creamier and filled in the nooks and crannies better.

for me, I found it would have been better to simply blast expanding foam on my foam boards, and cement it like that. woulda saved time too, sheesh.

also, you shouldnt be running out of propellant before foam with those cans, I have used expanding foam products EXTENSIVLY, and not once used up the gas, before the product.

but if you buy the Mono brand stuff, you can have the can turned in upright, and the foam still comes out (even says specifically on the can, that it may be turned upright, once the product has begun dispensing.)

this bg is gonna look good man, I cant wait to see it fininshed.

 

[Derringer]

It might indeed end up looking really cool - and I hate to make judgements prior to completion, but at this point it sure looks like you're going to lose a lot of tank volume. I too cant wait too see more ...

 

[cvermeulen]

It might indeed end up looking really cool - and I hate to make judgements prior to completion, but at this point it sure looks like you're going to lose a lot of tank volume. I too cant wait too see more ...

I don't think you read my first few posts... the background will be hollow, so the fish can hide behind it.

 

[cvermeulen]

I dont know how you were doing with the wire wheel, but after all the work i did with my dremel wire wheel, It turned out to be entirely pointless as the cement took on its own texture, and pretty much rendered what I had done useless lol.

Oh, man this aint no dremel wire wheel It's a 7" diameter wheel I use to take scale off vehicle frames prior to painting or welding. It'll take out a 2" deep x 5" wide swath in one pass, so I'm just using it to do very rough shaping. I had 2" deep of styrofoam bits on the floor around the tank.

I'm counting on the fiberglass and grout to fill small cracks and voids, and create the texture I want... I hate trying to make a nice surface finish on stuff like this!

also, you shouldnt be running out of propellant before foam with those cans, I have used expanding foam products EXTENSIVLY, and not once used up the gas, before the product.

Yeah I dunno. I bought this stuff because it said "large gap filler" but it didn't expand anymore than the "low expanding foam" I've used before. Maybe I just got a crappy batch or something. I'll definitely get a different kind next time around.

I considered using the polyurethane pour in place expanding foam like they use on mythbusters... but it won't dissolve in acetone, and Its a bit expensive. (I know expanding foam won't dissolve in acetone either, but the styro will, and I'll deal with what's left with a DA grinder.)

 

[DarkSoul]

Oh, man this aint no dremel wire wheel It's a 7" diameter wheel I use to take scale off vehicle frames prior to painting or welding. It'll take out a 2" deep x 5" wide swath in one pass, so I'm just using it to do very rough shaping. I had 2" deep of styrofoam bits on the floor around the tank.

I'm counting on the fiberglass and grout to fill small cracks and voids, and create the texture I want... I hate trying to make a nice surface finish on stuff like this!



Yeah I dunno. I bought this stuff because it said "large gap filler" but it didn't expand anymore than the "low expanding foam" I've used before. Maybe I just got a crappy batch or something. I'll definitely get a different kind next time around.

I considered using the polyurethane pour in place expanding foam like they use on mythbusters... but it won't dissolve in acetone, and Its a bit expensive. (I know expanding foam won't dissolve in acetone either, but the styro will, and I'll deal with what's left with a DA grinder.)

Didnt know it was a 7" wheel.... the grinder is probably one of those two handed models huh? ..... little too powerful to let do its own thing on the foam
I thought at most it was one of those large handheld models, that you could still control.

And this is why I highly recommend the pink or blue construction foam. It makes os much LESS mess, cleans up really nice, sands amazingly for really intricate detail, and in general is about 100x less of a PITA to work with.

my pre-prototype foam background was the white stuff, and it was small...... I still ended up with foam everywhere in my apt for weeks. the stuff even staticly REPELS from the vaccuum cleaner, as well as being blown around..... man I hate that crap.

 

[cvermeulen]

LOL, yeah I tried blowing it all off myself with an air nozzle, but it would float around for a second then zap back onto my clothes .

Thing about it is, I bought a 3"x34"x96" board of it for $8. a 1"x24"x96" bink board would be like $25. Since my bg is so freakin' large, it made sense to use the low density foam.

 

[DarkSoul]

LOL, yeah I tried blowing it all off myself with an air nozzle, but it would float around for a second then zap back onto my clothes .

Thing about it is, I bought a 3"x34"x96" board of it for $8. a 1"x24"x96" bink board would be like $25. Since my bg is so freakin' large, it made sense to use the low density foam.

what are you talking about $25??? Its $6 CDN for a 2' x 8' sheet at home depot, or was when I bought it, and I actually managed to find some mis-cut foam in with the mis-cut wood, for $2.

find a construction site and tear some off the houses
just cut out what you need, and leave a little note and a few dollars behind.

 

[Derringer]

I don't think you read my first few posts... the background will be hollow, so the fish can hide behind it.

Ahhhh - you are correct, I had overlooked that part.