Foam Recipe
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Looking for post of successful foam mixes using Suave Shampoo. The Honey Do Carpenter says it's great but I cant find his mix ratio. I'll post my results when I have some data.
But hay please post any successfull mixes you have made blocks with. I sure do not want to reinvent any wheels.
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From personal experience 32:1. But this needs to be individualized by experimentation with your water. The way I did it was make foam and measure the collapse after 45 mins. The time was arbitrarily chosen.
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I made my first full batch pour of 94lbs Portland type I/II and my 30oz Suave/5galbuck foam solution which had given me foam denser than the 3oz Domegaia recommends. It did not turn out well but almost completely collapsed. Am I using the wrong Portland? I later tested my rain water I used and found it to be between 6 and 6.5 pH.
it seems the variables is Portland solution and water. I am using the solution mix which has worked for most who have tried it and presumably good Portland. The only thing left is the water unless someone knows other factors like water/environment temp, humidity etc
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@anthonydjones Note in the excel pic. the Jar used is the constant weight of 14oz and the numbers to the left are the weights on my digital scale. The spreadsheet subtracts that constant from the weights and produces the actual foam weight in oz per quart.
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Interesting. I was shopping for a foaming agent this day. Let me say, It left me cross eyed. I am going to try the Seventh generation and see what I get. I wondered about some others like, Simple Green? I picked up a tip, that you might find some good luck useing comercial Foaming agents. At which point: I am inverted and cross eyed. Now after all this vertigo settles I think it would be interesting to find out how some of those options play out. Ultimately I have a strong gut feeling if the recipe Hajibran lays forth is followed (By Weight) ... Not Eye A good outcome is in the offing. Perhaps, We might hear from other builders about thier varied and most instering experiances???
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Wish you luck Brian. I am disappointed so far with my results using shampoo and dish soaps. You can see my results below.
I am hoping the data will assist others who have been successful to critic my findings and help me out. I know others have done this repeatedly. I just don't know what I am doing wrong.
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@anthonydjones When you mixed your foam did you do a test to see how long the foam lasted?
I had fair results using Dawn at about a 1:20 ratio, using moderately warm city water.
If you follow Aircrete Harry's (Talyn71?) youtube videos you'll find some good examples of foam/crete mixes.
But as of note - in his "Aircrete Collapsing Time Lapse" he documented two bowls of 'crete with the same mix but one collapsed entirely. The only difference I saw was that one of his bowls had some 'crete left over from a prior experiment.
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I live in Canada and I cant get Drexel, I tried Dawn and despite getting the right weight on my phone I never got the foam to last long enough to get good aircrete. I have been using a similar product to Drexel called Trekker Trax, is a lot more expensive than drexel but it has allowed me to make good aircrete so it was a good buy for me in Canada. I have been playing with airecre for a while and I have found that there are more than one factor that will affect your aircrete quality other than foam density. For example for me one big factor is the speed and time it takes to mix the foam with the concrete, I found out by trial and error than at high speed mix is best but also it was to be done quickly, the longer you mix the more you break bubbles. Another important thing to keep an eye is that your compressor is keeping up with the air pressure throught the whole foam making process. I have a smaller compressor rated for 2.7 cf of ir at 90 psi which is what Hajar recomends but it does not keep up for a full 50 gall bucket mix. So if you start with good weigh foam but it later gets lighter you wont notice by just looking at it, so I always keep my eye on the little dragon's pressure gauge, if it goes below 85 psi I have to stop.
Finding the right foam agent is crucial but it is not the only thing to get good aircrete or to avoid collapsing...
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@anthonydjones He gives his suave mix ratio at about minute 17 of his latest video:
Youtube Video
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@anthonydjones I wanted to think about your difficulty. Its interesting because the mix ratio is not something generaly blasted out there however in the main on the website is is discussed. Althought the vids are vanishing quickly. I can say its paramount the weight of the foam produced. I have learned that you want to let the finished aircrete set up a bit and take your time. It did help to get ahold of the student handbook. I will be working a second pour and am makeing some adjustments on the proceadure. I plan to vid/ document this. One thing that is definately on my to do list it to attend a workshop. I am hopeing that in the next year they do more on the main land. The travel is a bit distant. Keep working at it and it will happen. Cheers brother Jones
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@atravis4 I inquired at my local agricultural COOP if they could get Drexel and how much it would cost. They said no but had something similar. So apparently they use the Drexel like product to mark where they have sprayed herbicides on a pasture to ensure everything gets sprayed. I read also the surfactant in it makes it stick to the plants better. The lady at the COOP said they referred to it as a marking agent. So maybe if you try to get some from Ag supply stores you could ask for the stuff that they use to mark where they have sprayed or the stuff they add to make the spray stick to the plants. I have checked several different Ag stores here and they give you a blank look when you ask about a foaming agent.
