Chris Reitz dot Com

OK, now that the glue is dry from Part 1, we get to do the fun stuff. Read that ‘the complicated stuff’. Consequently, this post will have more pictures than text, because a picture is worth a thousand words, or in this case, the pictures are priceless. There’s no way I could describe in words how to put the foam tile together.

Marking the Bevel

So. First step is to mark off and cut bevels on the front of the now-wooden-frame that you just glued. There is only one tool that can really do this well and safely. It’s a bandsaw. Get one, rent one, do something, but I really wouldn’t try cutting these bevels with any other tool.

The bevels

Cut your 1/8″ particle board so it’s just a little smaller (~3/16″ on each side) than the outside of the frame. The reason why you want it smaller is so that, when the tile’s finished, you don’t have particle board sticking out past the sides.

Cutting Cloth

Now, get your cloth, and cut a square that’s a little bigger (~4″ bigger on each side) than the frame. Iron it. I know most of us reading this will be dudes, but ironing is a good skill to have, and it makes ALL the difference on this project. Last thing you want is a huge crease down the middle of your foam tile.

The foam in the frame

OK, now get the foam, and make sure it fits in the frame. If it doesn’t, cut the foam with some scissors.

Put the foam and particle board aside for a sec, and put the frame on the cloth.

We’re basically going to be wrapping the frame like a Christmas present, and leaving the back open, so we can put the foam back in.

Wrapping the Frame

It will be tricky, and your first couple tiles won’t come out looking too great, but after a few, you’ll get the hang of it. Wrap up two sides, and then staple the extra from the inside.

Wrapping Corners

Next thing that will be a HUGE help is to cut some excess cloth off, as I have done in the ‘wrapping the frame’ picture. That will make folding nice corners waaay easier.

Mine came out pretty decent. It’d be nicer if those wrinkles weren’t there, but considering I’m a dude, they came out pretty good! The trick is to try to line up the fold with the corner of the frame. It’s tricky, but possible. Once you’ve got it, staple it down from the inside.

Gluing the Back On

OK, now we can put the backing on. Put the foam into the frame, and get the particle board, a nail gun (staples work too, but brads are nicer) and some aerosol glue. Sniff the glue——–just kidding! find a well-ventilated area. You know the drill. For the glue, you can use 3M Formula 77 or Formula 80 (? – the green can) glue, or special Auralex Foamtak glue. I’ve used both with no problem.  The Auralex stuff costs waaay more, though.

Coat both the foam and the bumpy side of the particle board with glue, wait ~30 sec, and then assemble. While holding it down, use the nail gun to nail the particle board to the frame.

The Finished Product

Once you’re done, drill a 1/4″ hole 1.5″ down from the top, right in the middle, hammer a nail into a nearby wall, and hang the tile on the wall. Voila!

The process is a little time-consuming, and quite tricky, but the end result looks very nice. Especially compared to what the raw (nicotine-yellow / ultramarine-colored) foam looked like!

OK, so I’ve been putting this off for WAY too long. I promised a tutorial on how to make old acoustic foam pretty, so here’s Part 1. (You’ll have to wait for the glue to dry for Part 2.) I should add that, although good acoustic foam is rated at least Class B for fire safety, chances are, my trick here is NOT Class B, so don’t try this in a commercial studio. This will also change the sound absorption qualities of the foam a bit (that disclaimer is just for the audiophiles). However, the stuff still works, just not as well as it could in an ideal world.

So we're going from this.....

....to this.

The materials you’ll need are some ok-quality 8′-long 1x2s (they don’t have to be perfect, but builder-grade furring strips don’t quite cut it — you also need them to be exactly 2″ wide which furring strips are not), the foam (duh), some 1/8″-thick particle board, and some nice-looking, thin fabric. Add to that some tools and glue, but I don’t want to list all of that, down to how many nails you need. That’s not the point.

1'x1' foam tile

OK, first, cut the foam into manageable sizes. I made my tiles 1′x1′, 2′x2′, and 1′x2′. That way, there’s a nice variety. Makes things prettier in the end.

Now, you’ll want to cut the 1×2 into whatever lengths you’ll need…four 2-footers, two 2-footers and two 1-footers, or four 1-footers. The closer you get to perfect measurements, the better, but remember it’s all going to get covered up by the cloth, so don’t spend hours trying to get these cuts perfect.

Marking off the lap joint

Now, we’ll cut lap joints on either side. Quick math lesson, but if you want a lap joint using a 2″x3/4″ board, you’ll need to cut a notch in each board that’s 3/4″x1″. Here’s the setup, and the finished product(s). As you can see, I’m making more than one tile, not one weird octagonal one.

The cut lap joints. Next step: glue!

As you can also see, I like using Titebond II glue.  It dries fast, is pretty strong, and doesn’t do weird stuff to the wood.

Note that all of the boards look the same, and that they have the lap joints on the same side. It is SO easy to put the lap joints on the wrong side, and then you have to buy new wood. Not fun.

OK, now, using plenty of clamps, glue it up, and then measure the diagonals of your tile, to make sure it’s square. Both diagonals should be the same length. If not, bend/twist/torque the tile until they are.  Then let dry.

Clamping hte frame

And I’ll see you again when the glue’s dry.

Actually, one thing to note. I mentioned it before, but you don’t need to make the frame look like it’s made by a master cabinetmaker. It’s going to be covered by fabric. Make sure things aren’t too far out of whack, but if they’re off by up to 1/16″, it’s not the end of the world. The fabric will hide it.

OK, gotta run some errands and wait for the glue to dry. Peace out!