Glueing Formica to Styrofoam

[John Lankers]

I need to glue formica to two 2'x2'x2" pieces of styrofoam, I've always glued formica using contact cement but I'm afraid the solvent would dissolve the styrofoam. What are my options?
Thanks in advance.

[Walter Plummer]

I would use white glue and a weight to clamp it. I think any solvent based glue would risky.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

John...I went to "This-to-that" website. I was able to choose to glue Styrofoam to different materials. In every case, they suggested not using a solvent based adhesive as it will cause erosion of the Styrofoam and could cause the release of toxic fumes.

[Robert LaPlaca]

You can use water based contact cement to glue the Formica to the styrofoam, the typicial solvent based stuff will melt the styrofoam.. Epoxy works also, the down side is you need to clamp or weight down the Formica, you want to use slow set epoxy.

This was a fairly typical construction technique from my r/c plane days, except the material skinning the styrofoam was a glue up skin of contest balsa.. Actually the preferred method was slow epoxy because it added less weight to the stress skinned surfaces..

[John Lankers]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.
I know solvent based glue is a no no, learned that when I was young and dumb - I'm not so young anymore :eek:.
Walter, I'll have to try white PVA glue on a sample, if it works that'd be the easiest and cheapest way to deal with it.
Ken, thanks for the link - nice website, I bookmarked it.
Robert, now that you mention it I used epoxy on styrofoam some 25 years ago and once it has cured it will not let go - but I have to do 16 sqft. plus the edges that would be cost prohibitive. Water based CC is definitely worth trying, but it would only be half the fun without the aroma :)

[Jamie Buxton]

PVA cures by getting rid of water. Water certainly isn't going to go through the formica, or be absorbed by the formica. If you're really using Styrofoam -- the stuff coffee cups are made from -- the water isn't going to get out that way either. So I'd predict that there might be a little curing of the PVA right at the edges of the joint, but for the most part the PVA just will not cure. Epoxy or water-based contact cement would more likely succeed.

[John Lankers]

PVA cures by getting rid of water. Water certainly isn't going to go through the formica, or be absorbed by the formica. If you're really using Styrofoam -- the stuff coffee cups are made from -- the water isn't going to get out that way either. So I'd predict that there might be a little curing of the PVA right at the edges of the joint, but for the most part the PVA just will not cure. Epoxy or water-based contact cement would more likely succeed.

Good point, thanks.

[Davis Young]

No first hand experience but 3M makes a polystyrene adhesive, No. 78. Looks like it comes in regular and inverted spray can with 100 sq ft coverage.

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Adhesives/Tapes/Products/~/3M-Polystyrene-Insulation-78-Spray-Adhesive?N=5396314+3293194237&rt=rud

[Curt Harms]

I wonder how polyurethane construction adhesive works with styrofoam insulation? Or liquid nails, which is now a water based formulation, I think.

[Rick Whitehead]

I have used 3M Fastbond 30 water-based contact cement to attach laminate and 1/8" lauan panels to Styrofoam.It works well.
Rick

[keith wootton]

gorilla glue. have glued polystyrene to itself without problems, so it should glue to formica as well. you could try it on a scrap if you are worried. keith

[John Lankers]

Update
PU failed, it glued up fine but due to the swelling I ended up with a slightly uneven surface by as much as 1/16". I'll have to do redo it but this time with water based CC - lesson learned.

[Michael Zerance]

I purchased some spray glue made by CRC to glue laminate to foam but never got a chance to try it out. It is supposed to work with foam.

Harbor Freight stocks it.

I can test it out when I get into the shop later, if you want me to.

[John Lankers]

I purchased some spray glue made by CRC to glue laminate to foam but never got a chance to try it out. It is supposed to work with foam.

Harbor Freight stocks it.

I can test it out when I get into the shop later, if you want me to.

Thanks Michael for the offer.
I'll redo it with water based CC, I should have thought about the foaming of PU when it cures.

[Andy Morton]

You can try "hard as nails" made for foam--it is used to glue the blue rock insulation to siding and used in home construction. I used it in making duck decoys out of left over blue rock---waterproof and indestructable.

You can buy it at any big box or hardware store.

Andy

[Rick Lizek]

I'm curious as to the application of laminate to foam? What's the project?

[Michael Zerance]

I can't speak to the original poster's application but my use was for creating curved and radius edges when fabricating concrete countertop forms. I found a better way to accomplish what I wanted to do so I never ended up using the laminate-glued-to-foam combination. I still use both when making concrete countertops but have not had a need to glue them together.