# Good score on free foam



## Erebus (Jul 28, 2009)

Searching craigslist yesterday and found a 1/2 day old post about free foam. E-mailed the guy a left my number. 15 minutes later, received a call from said guy and on the road. Luckily he was 10 minutes down the road (not an easy thing to do when you work in downtown dallas). Clocked out, picked up said foam, and back at work 24 minutes later. Whole ordeal, less than an hour. Now time to rebuild all of my old tombstones.


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## IMU (Apr 8, 2009)

Nice! Lots of foam for lots of props!


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## Jaybo (Mar 2, 2009)

Erebus said:


> Searching craigslist yesterday and found a 1/2 day old post about free foam. E-mailed the guy a left my number. 15 minutes later, received a call from said guy and on the road. Luckily he was 10 minutes down the road (not an easy thing to do when you work in downtown dallas). Clocked out, picked up said foam, and back at work 24 minutes later. Whole ordeal, less than an hour. Now time to rebuild all of my old tombstones.


The wife was scouring craigslist in our area yesterday for deals. How did she miss that!! Good find!


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## fick209 (Aug 31, 2009)

Wow, that's a lot of foam, good find!


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## SKAustin (Dec 12, 2009)

Sweet! Nice Score...... Wish I could score like that.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Man, you're going to have one humongous graveyard!


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

So, how thick is it?


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## Erebus (Jul 28, 2009)

Its all 1" but with a little glue, it can be as thick as I need it. I kind of wanted it 1" though so I don't have to waste foam on the inside of the tombstone. This way I can just add supports on the inside of the tombstone, make it as think as I need, and still have more foam left over. I will take some pictures this weekend of my progress. I am planning on building a 5'-6' oblisk tombstone.


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## bobzilla (Nov 13, 2008)

Awesome find ! I've gotten a lot of free foam off CraigsList too. Try looking under "free" spas/jacuzzi for the foam covers. Usually they are 2"- 3" thick.


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

Looks like you have enough to build a crypt.  Nice find!


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## The Archivist (May 31, 2009)

You lucky S.O.B.!! You have no idea how much I search the Craigslist out here in Socal. Unfortunately, around here the competition to score styrofoam such as what you found is so high, it's next to impossible unless you're watching the boards 24/7 or have good connections.

I'm jealous of your luck...


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

In case you didnt know, if your going to use liquid nail to glue them make sure you get the one for use on foam board. Some people have used white glue (elmers), but I have always used liquid nail (spread thin).


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## morbidmike (Sep 11, 2009)

great find I got some 2 in free from a job site not nearly that much buy if it's free it's for me!!!


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## spideranne (Jul 17, 2006)

Great score...no need to unload that before Sat.


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## Dixie (Feb 18, 2009)

Jaybo said:


> The wife was scouring craigslist in our area yesterday for deals. How did she miss that!! Good find!


Hahaha, I DID see it, but didnt want to drive that far.... and I'm glad I didnt bite. It would have sucked to get into a brawl in the man's driveway for foam... with a make n take pal!!! Hahaha!! (Worse than that would have been to LOSE the brawl, which I would have, LOL)

Congratulations on a KILLER haul!


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## Erebus (Jul 28, 2009)

I started on my first tombstone a few days ago. I only have a little bit of time a day so it is going slow. So far I only made the base. The bottom of the base is 3" and the top part of the base is 2" and since all of this foam is 1", I am doing it in layers. Also, I am doing it like lincoln logs to hold them together better and the center hollow to same foam. I am going through glue like a fat kid with ice cream. Here is a picture of the tombstone I am working on now. It is close to 4' tall, and 3'-8" wide at the bottom. I am not sure what I am going to write in the middle yet. Also, I am making an Obelisk that has a whole through the middle close to the top and I am going to put one of those water misters in it. That will come in a couple of weeks though, once this one is done.


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## fick209 (Aug 31, 2009)

ohhh, I like that. Are you going to post any progress pics?


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## Erebus (Jul 28, 2009)

Yup. Once I get home, I will take some more pictures and post them up. I am going to carve out the ornate stuff on the sides this weekend. All of that is all glued together, just need to cut it.


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## Erebus (Jul 28, 2009)

I gave up for a while over the weekend. Killed my third wall wart, and broke my last guitar string. I am stopping by Radioshack to buy a transformer so I can make my own version of the GOE power unit. Since I really don't like order things online, I finally found out how to make one with parts from local stores. I will build this tonight, take some pics, and post them up. Hopefully I can get majority of this tombstone finished by the end of the week. Here is my next tombstone I am going to make.


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## The Watcher (Sep 13, 2008)

That is a nice score!


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## Erebus (Jul 28, 2009)

I built my new hot wire foam cutter last night. I used the same transformer as in this instructable. I didn't use their cutter setup since I have a table saw already. It works very well. This is the transformer I used. I will make a thread on how I built that later, once I get a box to put it all in. Anyways, here is a shot of what I have done so far. I will start working on the ornate stuff today. The long sides that flare out at the bottom, and the ornate stuff on the very top will have to wait til I build a bigger table saw since mine is only 6.5" tall and those parts are 7 and 8 inches thick. More pictures to come.


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## Erebus (Jul 28, 2009)

I worked a little on it last night. I got the ornate corners cut out. I printed the design on paper, cut them out, and then glue the paper (with a glue stick) to the foam. Since the hotwire won't cut through the paper, it was an easy way to do it. After you cut them out, just pull the paper off.


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

Looks great. I really like the angled pieces in the upper right background. Did you cut those from foam or is that an obscure something else in the photo?


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

Nice job, looking forward to the how-to on the cutter.


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## Erebus (Jul 28, 2009)

DarkLore said:


> Looks great. I really like the angled pieces in the upper right background. Did you cut those from foam or is that an obscure something else in the photo?


Nope that isn't foam. That is part of my basketball goal.


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## Erebus (Jul 28, 2009)

I was able to work on it a little more this morning. I ran out of glue so it is all taped together in the picture, but I ran to HD and bought some more glue so it is drying right now. All I need to do is cut the top out, cut the flares on the sides, then paint. Then I will start working on the obelisk. Since the fiance is super mad at me right now, I guess I will get a lot of it done tomorrow.


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## fick209 (Aug 31, 2009)

Nice job erebus, looking great so far, can't wait to see your finished product


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

That does look good, and I hope you fiance has forgiven you


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## Erebus (Jul 28, 2009)

Ok, I have been super busy the past few weeks and I finally had time yesterday and today to work on it. I finished cutting everything, and as in the pictures, they are taped up and drying. All I need to do now is put a layer of sheetrock stuff just so I can smooth out all of the seams. I am just worried about what that stuff will do when I rains. I am going to put a few coats of primer and paint on it, I just don't know if that is enough. Well here are some pictures. It sits at 47.5".


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## Joiseygal (Sep 3, 2008)

Looks really good so far. Thanks for the progress pictures. I haven't done a tombstone yet and it helps to look how people put it together. Is it pretty strong since some of it is hallow?


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## SKAustin (Dec 12, 2009)

Looking Good! Nice looking structure. Almost seems a waste not to put the empty space inside to use as a fog chiller


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Erebus said:


> Ok, I have been super busy the past few weeks and I finally had time yesterday and today to work on it. I finished cutting everything, and as in the pictures, they are taped up and drying. All I need to do now is put a layer of sheetrock stuff just so I can smooth out all of the seams. I am just worried about what that stuff will do when I rains. I am going to put a few coats of primer and paint on it, I just don't know if that is enough.


I think you're going to be fine as long as you use an exterior latex to paint your tombstones. We have a couple of real stones with latex paint lettering on them that have sat outside for almost two years now, and that paint ain't going nowhere


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## fick209 (Aug 31, 2009)

Looking good Erebus!


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## Erebus (Jul 28, 2009)

Joisegal, yes it is pretty strong with it only being 1" thick. That one is put aside until I can figure out what I am going to cover it with. Here is my next one. This one is going a lot faster. This is only about 3 hours of work so far.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

I like that one, Erebus. Is it going to have a little bell at the top inside that opening?


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## Erebus (Jul 28, 2009)

Roxyblue, it won't have a bell, but one of those water misters. If you go look at post 19 in this thread (page 2), you can see what it will look like when it is done. I should be close to finishing it this weekend, so I will try and get a video of the mister in it this weekend and post up on Monday if not earlier.


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## haunted canuck (Feb 8, 2009)

Nothing like the smell of free foam in the morning, Almost ready to start my projects almost warm enough up in Canada to work in the garage,Yah...


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## fick209 (Aug 31, 2009)

You are making great use of all that styrofoam, both tombstones are looking great so far


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## abner135 (May 31, 2009)

Thats a lots of tombstone


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## Uruk-Hai (Nov 4, 2006)

Great looking tombstones! Looking forward to seeing them finished. I sure wish I had that much foam.


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## Erebus (Jul 28, 2009)

Well, I didn't get as much done as I wanted, but almost done. I ran into a little problem with the top part that required a few hours of trimming to get every to fit right. Everything is drying right now, in the next couple of days, I am going to make the bowl for the inside and seal all of that up so it won't leak. Here is the pic.


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## fick209 (Aug 31, 2009)

Okay, when you are all done with your own tombstones at home...please come make some for me:googly: They both look great so far and looking forward to seeing them finished!!!


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