NEW Adams Readi-Board (Dollar Tree Foam)

It looks like Adams has put out a new version of their standard board. It's being sold as a replacement product and has a new SKU:

OLD 30525
NEW 30524

http://www.goadams.com/products/readi-board-foam-board/

The NEW version is bright white and has a different texture. From the 3 boxes worth I saw in the store, the boards seem to be more consistent in their flatness. I didn't really see any that were warped like the OLD board is sometimes. The NEW board feels a little more 'spongy' in your hand, I'm not sure how to measure this but it's noticeable.

SHEET WEIGHT
Original = 112g
New = 115g

TESTING
I will be using rolls of tape of various weights and large popsicle sticks at 8g each. To keep this from being too large of a post, all weights were verified off camera on a digital scale.

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TEST 1 - Failure test on width cut

​I cut 4 inch strips out of the width of the foam. So 4x20. The new foam feels more bendy in my hands. Due to the grain of the foam (for both sheets) a strip cut out of the width of the foam will be weaker than one cut from the length, I'm not sure by how much, but we'll see. 

How does the new foam hold up compared to the old in a failure test?

​No load control. Foam sits 4.6cm off the table.

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144 gram load

​NEW FOAM

​OLD FOAM

​NEW foam deflected 1cm and the OLD .9cm.

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200 gram load

​NEW FOAM

​OLD FOAM

​NEW foam deflected 1.5cm and the OLD 1.3cm.

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220 gram load

​NEW FOAM

​OLD FOAM

​NEW foam deflected 1.55 and the OLD 1.4cm.

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270 gram load

​NEW FOAM

​OLD FOAM

NEW foam deflected 1.9cm and the OLD 1.65cm.

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300 gram load

​NEW FOAM

​OLD FOAM

​New foam deflected 2.05cm and the OLD 1.8cm.

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460 gram load

​NEW FOAM

​OLD FOAM

​The NEW board produced a bent board that deflected all the way to the table without immediate failure. By the time I was able to grab a picture it had failed completely. With the NEW foam failed I will continue to find the OLD foams failure point.

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508 gram load

​OLD FOAM

​OLD foam held 500g and then failed at 508g.

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TEST 2 - ​Failure test on length cut

I am now going to do the same test but from the length of the board, I'll start at 400g. No load control is 4.6cm as before. 

400 gram load

​NEW FOAM

​OLD FOAM

​Similar results but as you can see length cut is WAY stronger than width. I always keep this in mind for my builds, wings, stabs and fuse should ALWAYS run length wise.

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600 gram load

​NEW FOAM

​OLD FOAM

​Again, similar results. The NEW foam is holding up better with the length cut.

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800 gram load

​NEW FOAM held at 792g and then failed at 800g.

OLD FOAM held at 814g and then failed at 822g

The NEW foam held up decent in the length cut test.

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TEST 3 - Paper removal

Grabbing the corner and peeling back produced the same results on one side of the NEW board. It looks like one side of the NEW board has better adhesion though. This was consistent with 5 other boards I bought from the same batch. 

To my understanding Adams doesn't use an adhesive on these boards. The paper is rolled/pressed onto the foam while it's still hot. Because of this lack of adhesive, Adams board suffers greatly from moisture exposure. Will this be the same for the NEW board?

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TEST 4 - Water

​I left the foam pieces in water for 10 minutes. Then I took them out and let them dry for 30 minutes.

​The paper nearly fell off both NEW and OLD foam. It looks like there is no change here in the bonding method.

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TEST 5 - Humidity

I put a NEW (left) and OLD (right) board in my humid garage for a week, standing on edge as shown here. The NEW board is drastically more prone to warping in humid environments.

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TEST 6 - Building

​I'm doing my first build with the new foam. 

I do not like it.

The paper cuts as though it were saturated with water. It snags my blade much easier and it's much harder to produce a 'clean' build.

I replace my blades with a fresh one often and have never had this level of blade snag before. Even when taking my time the cuts I produce on this new board look like I'm rushing through.

If you get any glue on the paper it's nearly impossible to clean it off without ripping up the paper pretty bad. I think overall the new foam will still work but it's not as enjoyable to build with and the finished product won't look as clean.

I'm pretty bummed out that Adams has taken this direction. I know our hobby is a drop in the bucket to their customer base but this new product is sub optimal.

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Test 7 - Brittleness