Re: Foam-core Toroids

["brian foley" <ka1bbg1-at-mcttelecom-dot-com> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

Hi Gary, I'm just up the road and hour or so from you in nh. I had been
talking to a guy who ran a plastic molding shop(vacum formed) and tried to
get an idea of how to mold foam as well. He says to get density control you
must be able to cap off the container your filling and having just the right
amount of foam helps. As it needs to be capped off this means the mold has
to have a lot of sidewall strength. I am still trying to come up with a way.
I wunder if there is a conductive coating that could be aplied inside the
mold first so the end result would be a smooth outer conductive shell(that's
how all these fancy bass boats are made.) gel first then decals then color
then fibre layer. hmmm  cul brian
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Sunday, September 10, 2000 1:43 PM
Subject: Foam-core Toroids


> Original poster: "Lau, Gary" <Gary.Lau-at-compaq-dot-com>
>
> While there is nothing that looks as nice as a professionally spun toroid,
> consider the agony you would feel if and when it fell off the top of your
> coil and became permanently dented.  I think most of us that have made
> toroids out of corrugated aluminum duct have eventually had them dented
from
> these sorts of mishaps.
>
> I recently tried an experiment to improve upon the durability of home-made
> toroids.  I attempted to fill my 6" x 22" Al duct toroid with a
polyurethane
> foam.  This stuff cures to a fairly rigid high density material.  The
stuff
> I used is called "Great Stuff", at Home Depot, for $3.97 a 12 oz can (not
to
> be confused with a latex-based product also sold there).
>
> I drained two cans of the stuff and it appears that another 1-2 cans are
> still needed to completely fill it.  I would recommend that anyone
> attempting this have more cans than necessary on hand so that it can be
> filled in one operation, rather than on successive days, with a portion of
> the filling hardened, then filling more.  I was initially concerned that
the
> foam wouldn't cure being in an air-tight container.  The can said that to
> ensure curing in enclosed spaces, to sprinkle some water, so I squirted a
> couple oz. of water into the toroid prior to foam injection.  It turns out
> that there is no problem with the foam curing, it hardened just fine.
>
> The resulting foam core toroid is now more dent-resistant than a
non-filled
> one, but the density of the Great Stuff foam is still less than what I
would
> like it to be to render the toroid totally dent-proof.
>
> What I would REALLY like to find is a vendor who can supply a nice smooth
> styrofoam toroid, ready for me to cover with aluminum tape.  I think the
> density and light weight of this construction would make it very resistant
> to denting, and hopefully such a foam toroid could be bought for far less
> than a spun metal toroid.
>
> I'm interested only in sizes larger than my 6" x 22" so life preserver
cores
> don't help.  Any thoughts on whether such a styrofoam core could be
> custom-made for a nominal fee?
>
> Regards, Gary Lau
> Waltham, MA USA
>
>
>
>