Casting with EVA

[Naphtali]

Has anyone tried casting with 4# EVA foam?

[Mint]

You mean like with a mold and whatnot? I..I don't think so, not sure how that would work exactly.

[Ragefire]

Being that the most effective builds are done with multiple densities, I don't know what this would get you. If you could mold one piece that was a combination of 4# and 2#, that would be something.

[Dangus]

Sculpture major here.

My experience casting in mixed-liquid polyethylene is somewhat limited, but I can tell you this: It's expensive, extremely messy and time sensitive and does not produce a surface that would be suitable for striking. Granted, I mostly used the stuff for relief sculptures, so your mileage could vary.

My advice , if you do play around with foam casting: Wear gloves. Don't cast in hydrocal, no amount of pre-waxing will get foam out of hydrocal.

[Naphtali]

My thought was to just cast a 4# eva center box with the pvc already inserted. Then a 2# blade could be added later. It seems that the density of the eva is determined in part by the mix and in part by the amount used. The whole thing is under pressure and the mix is injected. All the moulds I saw in manufacturing vids were metal. SO if I built a 2" x 2" box of the length I would want for my core and lined it with sheet metal. Then took a pvc core and drilled a series of holes in it along the blade area. Capped both ends with pvc end caps. Then drilled out the hilt end cap and attached a fixture for injecting the eva. Placed this in the box and filled it... Bam, strong, mass produced core boxes. I figured the Nerf weapons have to be cast with their cores already in them in a similar fashion.

[LoganSteele]

if you were to make one succesfully i would buy one at a decent price to test it out. I would ponder about the strength of the pvc core with the holes drilled in it. also i would wonder if you could do the same thing but with fiberglass tubes.

[Sir Thurat]

Naphtali,

If you were going to try that, use something more along the lines of 10# or 12# foam. 4# is nowhere near rigid enough to act as a core. As well, unless you can find something with the rigidity and strength of fiberglass, I don't see that going very far.

Good luck, and if you do try it, let us know how it turns out, and post pics/video of it all.

Cheers,

Thurat