Makers Foam Board Badly Warped

[Icsbpowell]

I cannot be the only person experiencing this problem!

I have bought 5-20 ct boxes of Makers Foam Board in the last year. The first three boxes were nice and flat. The last 2, including one i just received last week from a recent production run are so badly warped/cupped they are virtually unusable. The box itself in the most recent delivery was even curled. It's not a big deal when a piece is folded over but on single thickness surfaces like a tail/horizontal stab or vertical fin/rudder they are so badly curled, the plane doesn't fly well at all.

The only response I get from "customer service" is a note saying it is within normal specifications. I'm sorry but that is totally unacceptable. The first three boxes were nice and flat but the last two have been terrible.

If others are experiencing the same issue, maybe Flite Test will actually inspect their inventory, see the problem for themselves and do something about it.

 

[Foamforce]

The quality definitely varies. It’s nice to get the straight box, but it usually doesn’t matter. Any structure that has a fold in it straights itself out. So wings and fuselage are usually fine. It’s the tail where it matters. If you have control over which way the piece is cut, you can orient the base of the fin to be perpendicular to the warp so that when it’s attached to the airplane, the warp is held straight.

I’m not defending the quality of some batches of foam board, this is just what I’ve done to get around it.

 

[Bricks]

You can try and lay out a sheet add some weight to flatten it and use a heat gun to warm it up and let it cool with the weight on it.

 

[Icsbpowell]

You can try and lay out a sheet add some weight to flatten it and use a heat gun to warm it up and let it cool with the weight on it.

I have tried both and neither method works. A minor warp is one thing but it has gotten steadily worse with the last two boxes. There isn't a straight edge on the board and I can't afford to cut out a tail from the center of a board wasting the rest.

It looks to me like the roller equipment used when gluing the paper to the foam has too much tension on one side causing it to warp as it sets up.

 

[Merv]

I have tried both and neither method works.

I use double layer tail feathers, 2 layers of FB glued together, the hinge is in the middle, bevel on each half. This make my tail feathers MUCH stronger, less hanger rash. I'm building with the original DTFB

For me warped FB is no issue. I cut out the part I'm working on, then glue them together so the warps cancel each other out. You need to cut the bevel on each side BEFORE you glue them together.