DIY Spray Foam Kit (not propane tanks)

ADSR · Jul 21, 2016

Guys, for bigger jobs, the pro's want huge money for some point and shoot. And I know they make a killing, as I know the owner of a company here. I'm looking at pics, and there really isn't much to these kits. The A/B guns can be bought around 500 bucks. I'm not sure how the pump works. Maybe a air compressor would work? I'm thinking I want to mickey duck one of these up. I guess the chemicals would have to be sourced as well. This has to be pretty doable.

treblediva · Jul 22, 2016

I like the way you're thinking! Unfortunately, I don't have the resources to do something like this, myself. I'm interested if you actually do this, how it turns out!

NUTTSGT · Jul 22, 2016

I know they used to sell them on Ebay. I, once considered trying to buy one as a side job for my days off but life happens and now there are a couple of those that do it fairly local.

Ironhorse74 · Jul 23, 2016

Looks like a Lincoln Industrial transfer pump.

https://www.lbusupport.com/asp/distributors/access/WebPhotoArchive/Lincoln_Web/images/84668.jpg

ADSR · Jul 23, 2016

Ironhorse74 said:
Looks like a Lincoln Industrial transfer pump.

https://www.lbusupport.com/asp/distributors/access/WebPhotoArchive/Lincoln_Web/images/84668.jpg

Dude, you're right! That's awesome! One step closer.

cajunfirehawk · Jul 23, 2016

Not sure but I would imagine you will have to have all kinds of epa related certs to buy those chemicals in bulk, IMHO. Other than that I am interested in where this goes too, I cant see spending several thousand dollars when I can do it for much less.

Roddyo · Jul 24, 2016

Keep us updated with what you end up doing. I'm pretty interested

Zeke · Jul 24, 2016

I don't know much about spraying foam but I do know about airless spray systems. Paint spray systems run at a high pressure like 2000 lbs. However, there is only a single component in almost all cases. This is where it might get interesting.

I need to know if any air is used at the A/B gun. Also, while you're looking around look at chopper guns used in fiberglass. Not a lot there that is directly related to the system shown in post #1 but they do have dual lines and a mixing head to introduce the catalyst at a much smaller ratio than you need here. And of course the chopper head is useless for this application.

Point being, there is more than one way to move viscous fluids from a container to a gun. Limited in size quantity wise is the pressure pot. I've seen those up to 5 gallons. How many square feet can you do with 10 gal of material?

Doesn't seem much to this rig:

pgilmore7 · Jul 24, 2016

Not a bad idea, life has taught me that the pro stuff is usually better than the DIY stuff, thats in almost everything.

Zeke · Jul 24, 2016

The more I look into this the more I realize that the only advantage to building or owning you own rig would be in buying large barrel sized quantities of materials. If the gun alone is $500 then that's the break point I would use to establish savings on a home-built rig.

And the fact that you would be using isocyanates and need to suit up with an outside air supply factors in all that gear. Just hire the guy to do this and find another way to save money.

DCarr2 · Jul 24, 2016

the biggest issue your forgetting is the one that will literally ruin your life

your chemicals need to be mixed pretty well damn near perfectly or you risk real health risks both during and after application.

google spray foam sickness.

Just thought I would point that out

DpSyChO · Jul 24, 2016

This place is local to me. There are a couple of pages on their site about becoming a contractor and what not and may or may not answer some of your questions.

crguy · Jul 24, 2016

Like previous posters have said: Find some other way to save money.

ADSR · Jul 24, 2016

Zeke said:
I don't know much about spraying foam but I do know about airless spray systems. Paint spray systems run at a high pressure like 2000 lbs. However, there is only a single component in almost all cases. This is where it might get interesting.

I need to know if any air is used at the A/B gun. Also, while you're looking around look at chopper guns used in fiberglass. Not a lot there that is directly related to the system shown in post #1 but they do have dual lines and a mixing head to introduce the catalyst at a much smaller ratio than you need here. And of course the chopper head is useless for this application.

Point being, there is more than one way to move viscous fluids from a container to a gun. Limited in size quantity wise is the pressure pot. I've seen those up to 5 gallons. How many square feet can you do with 10 gal of material?

Doesn't seem much to this rig:

Hmmmm.... You got me thinking. I own an airless paint gun. Now what if you had two cheap airless paint systems? One in the A foam and one in the B foam. A goes to one side of the mixing gun and B to the other side? I can't see why this wouldn't work. I have mixed A/B foam by hand for boats before, and the fluid is much thinner than paint, so the airless shouldn't have any problem moving it.

ADSR · Jul 24, 2016

crguy said:
Like previous posters have said: Find some other way to save money.

Nope. Not when 1500-2000 dollars of product costs 10,000 to 15,000 to blow in, in a big project.

crguy · Jul 24, 2016

LORDDiESEL said:
Nope. Not when 1500-2000 dollars of product costs 10,000 to 15,000 to blow in, in a big project.

If you have that big of a project, then buy a proper unit to spray it.

Zeke · Jul 24, 2016

crguy said:
If you have that big of a project, then buy a proper unit to spray it.

Right. And you don't have to buy the biggest one. You don't need to do this all in one day whereas a contractor has to do as much footage as possible each day.

The 2nd airless might work. You will need a good metering block before the fluids travel the hose to the gun. The gun can't do much for you AFA proportioning.

Resu · Jul 25, 2016

Half the fun of this stuff, to me anyways, is the research and finding out what's what. Then seeing how to do it. I think folks really miss out sometimes on the thought experiment portion of doing. I realize you're completely serious and will definitely be interested to see where you're able to take this, hopefully to accomplish what you need.

As in cudos for diving in and seeing what can be done!

ADSR · Jul 25, 2016

Zeke said:
The 2nd airless might work. You will need a good metering block before the fluids travel the hose to the gun. The gun can't do much for you AFA proportioning.

You're talking a proportioning valve to even the flow precisely to the gun head.

Richard Cranium · Jul 25, 2016

I don't think this is where to try to save money.

Dragfluid · Jul 26, 2016

Zeke said:
The more I look into this the more I realize that the only advantage to building or owning you own rig would be in buying large barrel sized quantities of materials. If the gun alone is $500 then that's the break point I would use to establish savings on a home-built rig.

And the fact that you would be using isocyanates and need to suit up with an outside air supply factors in all that gear. Just hire the guy to do this and find another way to save money.

BINGO.
I'm all for saving money and researching and inventing, too. But not when it involves risking my life.

Isocyanates will F you up! They crystalize your lungs. Lots of deaths involving that stuff.

bmwpowere36m3 · Jul 26, 2016

Foam also degrades with time... I'd rather use densely packed cellulose than spray foam. Spray foam (closed-cell) is big money, they estimated my house 1600 sq at 15+ k for exterior walls and attic cathedral.

Since I don't live in Alaska... the ROI is terrible for me. More important than insulation is migrating infiltration. My old ranch built in '55 after a remodel/gut had a measured ACH of 0.3-0.5.

86turbodsl · Jul 26, 2016

I'm an engineer who likes to DIY, and understand the principles. I researched this subject extensively when i was doing my house. I came to the conclusion there are a lot of other places to save money and this was not the one place to do it. With that said, theres some merit to the smaller kits that let you spray your own in small areas if you need a touchup. Even the pros will use those kits for that application.

I'd move on if i were you. For what it's worth.

86turbodsl · Jul 26, 2016

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DIY Spray Foam Kit (not propane tanks)

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