What's the best adhesive...

[Oren Grad]

...to use for reattaching the thin layer of plastic foam that has started to come off the split-back of one of my contact printing frames?

I guess I'm looking for something that won't bleed through or stiffen the foam so that it loses its resilience.

Or would it be better to look for sheets of self-adhesive foam, peel the whole thing off and replace it entirely?

[Gem Singer]

From my experience with a similar problem, it's better to replace the entire foam backing.

If you glue it, it will be difficult to remove in the future.

I found 8X10 sheets of black self-sticking plastic foam in the arts and crafts dept. at Wal Mart.

Worked like a charm.

[GPS]

Wouldn't a double sided Scotch tape do at least for some time?

[Paul Metcalf]

Wouldn't a double sided Scotch tape do at least for some time?
My vote as well, FWIW.

[Bob Salomon]

Contact cement if you don't use tape. Just test the cement first to make sure it won't eat the foam.

[Drew Wiley]

The best glue is Barge Cement, the same stuff they use to repair shoe soles. But several other products work quite well too. However, not all types of foam backing are
created equal. Many things will decompose over time and produce a lot of troublesome
fine dust, especially if UV light is involved. You should take a look at a site like
mcmaster.com, which lists the physical characteristics of many kinds of foam sheeting.
Some types are available with an industrial-grade self-stick backing. My own preference is for pure silicone foams becuase they are extremely resistant to degredation, but the color sensitivity of your print media is a factor in choosing the
right color foam. Most black foams are blended rubber, and some are good with light,
some extremely poor. Doing your homework ahead of time might save you some real
misery in the long run, unless your favorite aspect of photography is spotting!

[Oren Grad]

Thanks, everyone. At this point I think I'm inclined to try to replace the old foam, so I'll be looking further in that direction.

Drew, that McMaster site is very cool - I'd heard it mentioned here before but had never checked it out. I found their interactive specification-widget for rubber and foam sheets, bars and strips - whodathunkit?

FWIW, I use my frames just for ordinary silver printing, with my enlarger lamp as illumination source. No concentrated UV at this point.

[ghost]

yep- I have had bad experiences trying to glue it, you're doing the right thing..and McMaster Carr rules...

[shadow images]

I redid mine with transfer foam( used in picture framing buisness) and Super 77

[nolindan]

The traditional material for contacting frames is felt, not foam.

Felt will last, foam won't.

If you glue then use a glue that is easy to remove -- household rubber cement is probably best. There isn't much stress and strain on the padding on a contact frame, you could probably leave the padding loose for all that. If you glue the padding with shoe cement and it wrinkles you are in for a royal PITA getting it pealed off and put back on flat.

Cut the padding over-size, apply rubber cement to the padding, lay the wood on top, weight with a stack of books for a few hours, then trim the excess with a razor blade.