Can I use white glue to attach blue insulation styrofoam to plywood?

[CQ_O&W]

Greetings everybody.  I am creating my first layout, and I have 4x8 sheets of 1/4" plywood that I want to attach 1" blue styrofoam sheets to.  My local hobby store owner suggested I use white glue, and was wondering if anybody else out there has experience doing this and knows how it will work?

 What other glue products have people successfully used for this type of glueing?

 Thanks!

[Doc in CT]

 The glue will "never" dry. 

You need a foam friendly water base adhesive like construction adhesive PL300 or "liquid nails".  Has to be listed for use with foam.  Many solvents dissolve the foam, not pretty.

[locoi1sa]

  My HO scale modules are glued together with white glue. They have held up very well in all types of weather and tremendus changes in humidity from day to day. The outside frame is painted 1x5 pine with pink and blue (what ever I could scrounge or buy) foam glued to the inside with white glue. I did buy a caulking gun tube of PL3000 for foam but never opened it yet. I have modules going on 6 years old with no glue issues. The only problem is that the foam dents easily and when some one rips a piece of detail off I have a pink or blue dirt spot under it.

        Pete

[SpaceMouse]

I've done it. It's not that it will never dry--just a really long time--like a week.

[cacole]

 I use the cheapest latex caulking I can find.  Spread it evenly using a wide putty knife and place weights on the foam until the caulk has set.

Any type of liquid glue will take forever to dry becuase the foam won't allow evaporation, but the small amount of solvent in the caulk will be quickly absorbed by the plywood.

Liquid Nails for foam would be okay, too, but is a lot more expensive than latex caulk.

[dstarr]

You will get better stick using latex caulking compound.  Comes in tubes for caulking guns.  All brands are good.  Spread it out with a putty knife.  Or PLZ300 foamboard adhesive. 

Rumor has it that Liquid Nails is solvent based and the solvent eats foam.  Last time I looked, my hardware store had a dozen flavors of Liquid Nails, none of which said "Safe for Foam" on the package.  So I bought the PLZ300 with does say "Safe for Foam" and  it works just fine. 

[CTValleyRR]

I use yellow carpenters glue.  I glue it, weight it (old textbooks are perfect for this), and let it dry overnight (say about 16 hours).

Works like a charm.

[fluff]

i live in a 1 horse town with 2 good sized hardware stores. liquid nails for foamboard is a 20-80 shot so after that, i gambled with plain old clear silicone, the 100% stuff that i thought for sure would eat the pink foam away. but instead it works great and does not hurt the foam. if necessary, i can to pry it apart, peel away the dried silicone, and reuse the pieces also. 

[ARTHILL]

I agree with all those people, BUT, I still prefer low temp hot melt glue. A few minutes rather than a few hours or few days with large pieces fits my mood better.

[DaveInTheHat]

 I use clear silicone. Takes 24 hours to dry. I've used Gorilla glue too.

[Doc in CT]

 MACCO ADHESIVES LNP-903 QUART HEAVY DUTY LIQUID NAILS - GLUE

Listed  for under $6 a Quart at an Ace Hardware Store.

Claims to be polystyrene foam safe.

However, the suggestion for using  latex caulkingor silicone makes a lot of sense for keeping costs. down.  Everything I've read/heard says that the carpenters glue just doesn't dry for quite a while, especially if near the center of a large block or sheet.

[ivyrun&evergreen]

I've tried white glue, carpenter's (yellow) glue and liquid nails for small projects, personally I like carpenters glue, it dries in a day or so and you don't need to ventilate the room

White glue works, it just takes longer to dry 3, 4 days

[CQ_O&W]

Thanks to everybody who replied for the information.  I went to Lowe's yesterday, and picked up some foam board compatible liquid nails to use for my project.

 I will just have to save the white glue I had bought for steps later in the project.  I understand it works to secure track to the foam board, so I can use it for that step when I get there.

[railroadinmedic]

I am another firm believer of a HOT GLUE GUN, I have been using it for 2 years, with no problems, and it drys very fast. No problems with it coming undone or other issues. Hope this helps.

[Allegheny2-6-6-6]

 What I have been using with great sucess is Liquid Nails for projects. A tube is about $4.00 in Lowes and one tube should be more then enough. I just took a couple of scrap pieces of plywood and layed them on top of the foam and put heavey stuff like gallon paint cans and a tool box on top to compress the glue and hold the panel in place. It dries in about 20 minutes.

[dsmith]

I have used white glue and carpenter's glue with great success to glue foam on foam.   Spread it on, place weights on top and wait 3 days.  For foam to plywood you only need to wait a day since the wood soaks up the moisture.

[4020deere]

I used Loctite Power Grab...worked like a champ. Supposed to be "flexible" with temp/humidity changes. My room is in the basement, so the temp is pretty consistent year round, so I don't have much to worry about. For gluing down the roadbed and track on the foam, I used DAP Alex caulk for painters. I saw David Popp use it in his Naugatuck "HOW TO" series, and thought I'd try it. I have to say, I'm pretty pleased with its performance. There ya' go...good luck and most of all, have fun!