What glue to use for equipment foam

[Sniper9 563]

When I washed my pro stock hp45x pants, I removed the thigh boards and noticed the glue was failing. I'm gonna clean it up and re attach but am having trouble deciding which glue is best. I'm assuming contact cement was used on the factory but I also read that contact cement and other solvent based glues can eat away at EPS foam (the hard foam).

 

Anyone have any advice on what glue to use? Maybe a water based contact cement? I THINK a water based glue could've been used since I noticed the glue from the factory started to gum up a bit when I was washing the pieces of foam separately

Tia. 

[malcb33 103]

I don't know if it's the best option, but I've had success using a urethane based glue like Aquaseal. It's waterproof and stays flexible, and bonds pretty well to foams and plastics.

https://www.gearaid.com/products/aquaseal-repair-adhesive-shoe

[Sniper9 563]

9 hours ago, malcb33 said:

I don't know if it's the best option, but I've had success using a urethane based glue like Aquaseal. It's waterproof and stays flexible, and bonds pretty well to foams and plastics.

https://www.gearaid.com/products/aquaseal-repair-adhesive-shoe

Thanks for the reply. That stuff would be a good option especially when attaching the plastic insert over the EPS foam board (same as using a polyurethane adhesive like construction adhesive, gorilla glue etc).

 It would also work attaching the EPS foam board on the softer neoprene like backing as well (not pictured) but the only issue is that unless the glue has a high tack, I'll need to clamp the softer foam to the eps board which would likely distort the foams after being clamped for x hours.   

I deliberated over whether I should risk it and use hot melt glue since I've used it on foams before and even though it does melt the foam a bit these pieces are pretty thick and by the time the glue cools down it wouldn't have done much damage. 

I even thought of using industrial adhesive Velcro on both prices and attach it that way but I didn't want the added bulk the loop and hook would create. But this option would've been the quickest and least tedious option. 

I figured the best options in attaching the EPS board to the softer neoprene foam are:

- 3m super 78 foam adhesive (harder to find in Canada and $$$$)

- water based contact cement (again a bit harder to find and more expensive than regular solvent based contact cement)

What I ended up using was an OLD can of spray 77 that doesn't contain any acetone like thr newer ones. I tested to see if it was still good and surprisingly it was still good even for a 20 year old can lol. 

I mean in hindsight the thigh boards aren't going to be undergoing much stress in terms of being peeled and pulled from one another. All forces would be direct impact and the boards will be encapsulated inside the pant shell,  so maybe I put way too much thought into this 🫠

 

Edited 7 hours ago by Sniper9

[malcb33 103]

Glad you found a solution. 
 

Aquaseal does have a pretty good tack to it. All I’ve every done was use weights or clothes pins well curing, and never had an issue. 

[Sniper9 563]

3 hours ago, malcb33 said:

Glad you found a solution. 
 

Aquaseal does have a pretty good tack to it. All I’ve every done was use weights or clothes pins well curing, and never had an issue. 

Thanks. I'll def look into this option for future users.