Foamed PVC as framesheet material

Looks nice. Where did you find it for 3 dollars? Was it in the actual store? Looking online I seem to only be able to find it for $10 plus shipping.

There was a time in my life when I'd go through a half dozen 4-foot by 8-foot sheets of "Sintra" foamed PVC sheets each month.

http://www.foamboardsource.com/sintra-pvc-foam.html

It doesn't have the best strength to weight, but, as Andy demonstrated, heat-bending it and allowing it to cool, let's you form complicated curves quite easily (cooler for me, at the time, was you could drill a hole and glue a PVC plumbing fitting into it, creating a water-tight adaptor exactly where you wanted it). That's a trick I still use a few times a year on weird plumbing jobs.

You can solvent weld and get okay results with PVC glue from Home Depot. But using WELD-ON® 719™ (Extra heavy bodied, slow setting, high-strength, with high gap filling properties), you could make a joint that was stronger than the sheet goods themselves. If you have a curvature you want to stiffen up, glue some thin ribs length-wise up the frame sheet. Pre-bend as close as you can and then use lots of clamps. Twice the thickness gives 8 times the stiffness, so a few thin ribs add a lot of stiffness per weight.

http://www.weldon.com/solvent/industrial/pvc

You can also heat weld PVC to PVC. And, with an hot-air welder, use PVC fill rod in a fillet joint. But for DIY apps, I'd strongly suggest the extra-heavy glues over the expense and learning curve of hot-air welding. You have to wait 24 hours for a set, but you have a long work time.

Other PVC tips: NEVER burn it. It gives off HCL which is harmful top children and other living things. Even high-pressure, high-temp cutting can release HCL and we saw a lot of rust and corrosion on certainly power saw blades. Manual saws and drills avoid that, but if using a drill press, go slow and your drill bits will last longer.

@ Brandon: I bought it in the physical store. Their online prices show a minimum order price of 10 usually. But in store, you get an actual price quote.

@ David: Thanks for those tips! I thought about adding some ribs to it, but I think I like the slight flexibility/springiness that I got from just putting some bends and such into the sides/center etc. But I may try adding some in the future. Depends on if I ever have the need to carry 30 lbs+ on a trip to really test it out. I suppose I could just weigh myself down with lots of extra water next time I go on an overnight or weekend trip.

What I'd really like is a piece of that stock GoLite foam my 2013 pack comes with that's longer and twice as thick. The stock piece is very rigid for how thin it is (1/8") and is only 1.8 oz on my scale. that would be perfect for me.

That looks really neat! I've been tinkering around with different materials for pack frames, and this looks better than anything I had tried.

I had recently tried the corrugated plastic (that garage sale signs, etc are made of) and it worked pretty well, but this looks like it would top it.

John:

Those corrugated plastic signs have better strength-to-weight IF you need a flat sheet. The PVC foam sheet can be heat-formed into curves which those plastic signs can't.

I especially like retrieving the "Lose 30 pounds in 30 days" signs off of telephone poles.

– if on utility poles, it is trespassing, a safety issue, and always contrary to their rules;

– if on municipal poles, it is illegal;

– they are an eyesore; and

– losing 30 pounds in 30 days can really happen on some extreme hikes, unlike on some bogus diet plan.