"What glue works with Foam board" Topic

I've heard a hot glue gun works, only if the gun is able to get super hot. My glue gun is your typical Michael's $8 USD gun, so I'm thinking it will melt the foam.

Is there a glue out there that works best for foam board?

I used Elmer's glue. Worked great, but you do need to wait a bit for it to dry.

If it is true foam board, and not foam core board, i.e. covered with paper, then there is a special foam glue you can buy in the craft stores. That said, it is expensive and essentially just thicker white glue.

The problem with hot glue is not melting the foam, but that if you are gluing a large surface area the first bits of glue start rapidly cooling and will bead, creating a gap between the two glue pieces.

CAVEAT: I have not tried this.
I would think that wood glue should work. If the foam is porous, the wood glue ought to get in there and do the job. You'll probably need a lot and have long drying time, though.

Looks like I'll stick with PVA glue then.

Thanks

UHU POR Styrofoam Adhesive

PVA and pins while it dries?

I do a lot of foam and foam core terrain building, and have always done just what vtsaogames suggested. White glue (or wood glue, honestly as I got a gallon of it cheaper than white glue at the time) and pins until dry.

3M makes a Styrofoam spray adhesive that works well. There is some overspray, but it isn't a big issue, as the spray doesn't come out in a fine mist.

Artist's matte medium can be used as an alternative to white glue, and seems to dry somewhat faster.

Liquid Nails

I've stuck it with PVA. I've been told it never actually dries because of non porous surfaces, but mine haven't fallen apart yet. I did take the precaution of spreading the glue on the outer surface so that it dried, like paint, across the gap.

These hills are two 1" thick bits stuck together with PVA, and looking closely you can see the join.

PVA and Cocktail sticks as "Nails" which, when the glue has dried, get get broken off flush with the outside surface and the rest left in.
This Little lot;
link
was built entirely of foam board using PVA and Cocktail sticks to bind the walls and roofs

I always used Aleene's turbo tacky glue.

I agree with Mattw above---that Aleene's glue is a step up from Elmer's and you can get it for a good price

Funnily enough I am sitting here with some foam core buildings (Mordheim), and am busy having a good hard planking….as in putting balsa wood planks for flooring on the foam board.

Throughout I have been using a generic all purpose glue that comes in tubes. Its from B&Q in the UK (Dial is the new brand name), its cheap and easy and sticks it all together well.

I haven't tried PVA / Wood Glue but would guess that works.

I have also found, that using textured masonry paint to seal in the foam is a very good idea, as you can then spray paint/undefoat the foam bored without it melting.

HTH.

The point of hot glue gun is the bond can still be cut by a hot wire cutter, so it lets you assemble flat foam pieces into a block then sculpt as normal. Hot glue does has very short working time, which is usually an advantage, but Dale Hurtt is correct this may be too short for sticking large pieces of foam together. Using higher temp hot glue may be an option (many glue guns have high/low temp settings) but test it on your foam first to make sure it doesn't melt.

Foam is non-porous so airtight so glues that cure by evaporation can only evaporate out through the seam between the two pieces. This is usually not a problem for small pieces, but with bigger pieces you can get the result that the edge of the glue near the seam cures and becomes airtight preventing the glue in the middle from curing. This can be an issue with PVA glues (white household glue, tacky craft glue, and yellow carpenter's glue).

Glues that cure by chemical reaction don't have this issue, as long as they don't get so hot the foam melts. That is the point of specialty foam glues as they are formulated to this purpose.

For years I use a low water content glue, like UHU. It has good adhesive and dries fast.

TeknoMerk,

Is that the standard All Purpose UHU in the yellow tube or one specifically for
Foamboard?

Have you ever had any issue in 90 degree joints where the glue is being applied to the foam insert of a wall when gluing it to a floor piece which is of course the paper side of the board?

I have always used Elmer's (PVA) or my preferred, Elmer's Wood Glue in mortised joints, with sewing straight pins securing the joint until the glue is cured.

I've used tacky glues if it's something that won't easily lay flat against each other in the construction, or white glue/PVA and pins if I had to. If it's a flat connection, you don't always need the pins…

I would use PVA hope it helps.

Take care

Andy