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Default Expanding Foam

Hi

Bought a can of Polycell expanding foam for a job the other day - £7 odd in
Focus. Used a small amount. Wanted to use it again over the weekend and
everything is gummed up solid.

After its first use I wiped the thread on top of the can, cleared the tube
as best I could, but still U/S. Cleaned it all prior to second attempted
use, still U/S.

When I was in Machine Mart the other day I saw some 'No Waste' expanding
foam, but too pushed for time to look and it isn't on their web site.

Any tips on which brand survives more than one use?

(I don't intend to fill a canoe with it BTW).


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257


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Default Expanding Foam


I had this same issue and eventually, having tried everything I could
to get the nozzle cleared, screwed a small screw down inside the
plastic nozzle then when it got to the bottom and I heard some hissing
of the gas propellant, pulled it out with a pair of pliers...

It dragged this plug of solid foam ( that I couldn't see) out of the
plastic nozzle...

Lo and behold...Foam application started working again...

Ged



The Medway Handyman wrote:
Hi

Bought a can of Polycell expanding foam for a job the other day - £7 odd in
Focus. Used a small amount. Wanted to use it again over the weekend and
everything is gummed up solid.

After its first use I wiped the thread on top of the can, cleared the tube
as best I could, but still U/S. Cleaned it all prior to second attempted
use, still U/S.

When I was in Machine Mart the other day I saw some 'No Waste' expanding
foam, but too pushed for time to look and it isn't on their web site.

Any tips on which brand survives more than one use?

(I don't intend to fill a canoe with it BTW).


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257


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Default Expanding Foam


The Medway Handyman wrote:
Hi

Bought a can of Polycell expanding foam for a job the other day - £7 odd in
Focus. Used a small amount. Wanted to use it again over the weekend and
everything is gummed up solid.

After its first use I wiped the thread on top of the can, cleared the tube
as best I could, but still U/S. Cleaned it all prior to second attempted
use, still U/S.

When I was in Machine Mart the other day I saw some 'No Waste' expanding
foam, but too pushed for time to look and it isn't on their web site.

Any tips on which brand survives more than one use?

(I don't intend to fill a canoe with it BTW).


Buy a gun for it -
http://www.toolstation.com/messages....5661&mainWin=1

They're £9.90 and keep the foam fresh for months. Also more
controllable and less messy.

Otherwise I think Polycell do a resealable one, but it wasn't very good
when we tried it.

A

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Default Expanding Foam



The Medway Handyman wrote:
Hi

Bought a can of Polycell expanding foam for a job the other day - £7 odd in
Focus. Used a small amount. Wanted to use it again over the weekend and
everything is gummed up solid.

After its first use I wiped the thread on top of the can, cleared the tube
as best I could, but still U/S. Cleaned it all prior to second attempted
use, still U/S.

When I was in Machine Mart the other day I saw some 'No Waste' expanding
foam, but too pushed for time to look and it isn't on their web site.

Any tips on which brand survives more than one use?

(I don't intend to fill a canoe with it BTW).


Buy a gun for it -
http://www.toolstation.com/messages....5661&mainWin=1

They're £9.90 and keep the foam fresh for months. Also more
controllable and less messy.

Otherwise I think Polycell do a resealable one, but it wasn't very good
when we tried it.


Two questions about the guns:

1. What makes them easier to clean out than the plastic nozzle supplied
with the can?

2. The main problem I find with a part-used can is not with the nozzle
at all, but with the liquid inside the can very quickly going treacly
and losing its fizz.



--
Ian White
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Default Expanding Foam


"The Medway Handyman" wrote in
message . uk...
Hi

Bought a can of Polycell expanding foam for a job the other day - £7

odd in
Focus. Used a small amount. Wanted to use it again over the

weekend and
everything is gummed up solid.

After its first use I wiped the thread on top of the can, cleared

the tube
as best I could, but still U/S. Cleaned it all prior to second

attempted
use, still U/S.

When I was in Machine Mart the other day I saw some 'No Waste'

expanding
foam, but too pushed for time to look and it isn't on their web

site.

Any tips on which brand survives more than one use?

(I don't intend to fill a canoe with it BTW).


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257



A wet matchstick is your friend here. Do the usual 'spray other way
up' trick to clear most out by just having the propellant come out,
then insert a wet matchstick into the nozzle. When you next come to
it, pull out the plug that will have formed round the matchstick. The
tubes are fun to clear. I usually push a welding rod down and right
through a few minutes after last use.

Don't do what I did once, and drop a new can on it's nozzle and break
the valve so all the faom comes out without being able to stop it -
what a mess !

AWEM




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Default Expanding Foam

In article ,
"The Medway Handyman" wrote:

Bought a can of Polycell expanding foam for a job the other day - £7 odd in
Focus. Used a small amount. Wanted to use it again over the weekend and
everything is gummed up solid.


I have found (over a couple of years, with more than one can) that the
trick is to wait for everything to solidify, then use appropriate tools
to pick, scrape, push out the solidified foam. I use an old hat pin (!!
dunno where we got it) to push the core out of the main application
nozzle. Because of the smooth surfaces of the applicator there's never
much of a problem in cleaning off solidified foam.

The wife's nail varnish remover is used for cleaning stuff that's still
gunky.

john
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Default Expanding Foam

In article , The
Medway Handyman writes
Hi

Bought a can of Polycell expanding foam for a job the other day - £7 odd in
Focus. Used a small amount. Wanted to use it again over the weekend and
everything is gummed up solid.

After its first use I wiped the thread on top of the can, cleared the tube
as best I could, but still U/S. Cleaned it all prior to second attempted
use, still U/S.

When I was in Machine Mart the other day I saw some 'No Waste' expanding
foam, but too pushed for time to look and it isn't on their web site.

Any tips on which brand survives more than one use?

Cleaning out the tube & nozzle with cellulose thinners will make it more
likely to be reusable. Drip some in the nozzle, shake out then put in some
more & leave upright.
--
fred
Plusnet - I hope you like vanilla
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Default Expanding Foam

Ian White wrote:

Two questions about the guns:

1. What makes them easier to clean out than the plastic nozzle supplied
with the can?


You buy a can of cleaning solvent that mounts on the gun in the same
way. So after each use you flush all the foam out of it with the solvent.

2. The main problem I find with a part-used can is not with the nozzle
at all, but with the liquid inside the can very quickly going treacly
and losing its fizz.


That seems to be caused by the can leaking its propellent through a non
sealing valve.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/
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Default Expanding Foam

John Rumm wrote:
Ian White wrote:

Two questions about the guns:
1. What makes them easier to clean out than the plastic nozzle
supplied with the can?


You buy a can of cleaning solvent that mounts on the gun in the same
way. So after each use you flush all the foam out of it with the
solvent.

Ahh, I see... thank you.

2. The main problem I find with a part-used can is not with the
nozzle at all, but with the liquid inside the can very quickly going
treacly and losing its fizz.


That seems to be caused by the can leaking its propellent through a non
sealing valve.

Funny, they all seem to do that for me, and there's never any obvious
evidence of leakage.


--
Ian White
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Default Expanding Foam

You only use the cleaner after you finish a tube, and not necessarily
after every tube - every 3 or 4 tubes is usually fine.

The gun has a metal rod down it's nozzle which is retracted to release
the foam, so the seal is made at the very tip of the gun. There is
therefore no foam exposed to air after you've finished, so nothing
dries up - effectively the gun becomes part of the can, not an
extension nozzle.

Because this valve mechanism is higher quality than on a disposable
can, it doesn't leak propellant, so a part used can keeps for ages.

The important thing is to always keep a can on the gun, so you need to
have the next can ready for when you finish one.

Andrew

Ian White wrote:
John Rumm wrote:
Ian White wrote:

Two questions about the guns:
1. What makes them easier to clean out than the plastic nozzle
supplied with the can?


You buy a can of cleaning solvent that mounts on the gun in the same
way. So after each use you flush all the foam out of it with the
solvent.

Ahh, I see... thank you.

2. The main problem I find with a part-used can is not with the
nozzle at all, but with the liquid inside the can very quickly going
treacly and losing its fizz.


That seems to be caused by the can leaking its propellent through a non
sealing valve.

Funny, they all seem to do that for me, and there's never any obvious
evidence of leakage.


--
Ian White




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Default Expanding Foam

Andrew wrote:
You only use the cleaner after you finish a tube, and not necessarily
after every tube - every 3 or 4 tubes is usually fine.

The gun has a metal rod down it's nozzle which is retracted to release
the foam, so the seal is made at the very tip of the gun. There is
therefore no foam exposed to air after you've finished, so nothing
dries up - effectively the gun becomes part of the can, not an
extension nozzle.

Because this valve mechanism is higher quality than on a disposable
can, it doesn't leak propellant, so a part used can keeps for ages.


Thanks - you've made a sale!

The important thing is to always keep a can on the gun, so you need to
have the next can ready for when you finish one.


Yep, understood.


--
Ian White
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Default Expanding Foam

Thanks Andrew & John - I am a wiser man. I shall be ordering a gun & some
gun grade foam.


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257


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Default Expanding Foam

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Andrew Mawson"
saying something like:

Don't do what I did once, and drop a new can on it's nozzle and break
the valve so all the faom comes out without being able to stop it -
what a mess !


I had an unusual scupture spontaneously form in the back of the van from
a leaky foam can.
--

Dave
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