Anyone have experience splicing Ultra Board sheets together?

[Harry Hagan]

I’ll be covering several 3/16” combined sheets with speaker fabric for another home theater project and need a proven adhesive that will adhere to the PVC surface and won’t fail over time. 3M recommends an acrylic adhesive for longevity but their double-stick tape is EXPEN$IVE.

In other words, I need an adhesive to glue Ultra Board to Ultra Board and speaker fabric to Ultra Board without using staples or pins. Yes, I’ve used ¼” plywood, but that’s much more labor intensive than simply gluing Ultra Board together—if I can make it work.

[Joe Pelonio]

Ultraboard comes in several varieties, what I have used the most is the polystyrene faced version.
I use banner tape, 3/4" that costs under $10 at the local sign supplies. Anything solvent or petroleum based will attack and melt the foam inside. Gorilla Glue works, but expands some so it has to be clamped tightly. If you are gluing only to the face, not to the edges, I use E-6000.

[Harry Hagan]

Joe,

Thanks for your response. I'll check out the banner tape and hopefully it will adhere to fabric too. Double-stick tape would be the way to go for convenience and cost containment. My last job had over 250' of edge to seam or bond fabric.

Any tips on cutting or routing Ultra Board?

[Joe Pelonio]

Cutting_Equipment.jpg

Joe,
Any tips on cutting or routing Ultra Board?

I would not suggest routing it, and even with fine teeth a table saw can cut it rough. I always used a 4' long metal rule or T-square, and utility knife with a fresh blade. If you don't tighten them too much you can use clamps to hold down the ruler. The best method is a wall mounted knife-bladed
cutting system as above, but probably not worth buying for just one job. I have a business associate with one that is used for ultraboard, mat, and even 3mm PVC board and he lets me use it.



There are other tools made just for this:

http://www.foamboardsource.com/creat...d-cutters.html

[Harry Hagan]

Joe,

The edges will be wrapped in fabric so rough edges won’t be a problem if a straight edge is maintained. I contacted the saw blade and router bit manufacturer in Arkansas that Ultra Board recommends—but they never did follow up with me on the questions I left with their operator over a month ago.

I’d like to use a routing template to cut openings for the TV/Monitors to peek through. My last job had fourteen openings: eight to show TVs (two 82", two 55", and four 40") and six speaker openings that were covered with fabric.

Looks like it’s time to buy some Ultra Board and experiment. Thanks for the link to those cutting tools.