Foam Pads

[Linda Caviglia]

 

Hi, I need to get some new foam for a 2 octave group I’ve recently started working with and I know I’ve seen lengthy discussions on the “L” about the best place to get them from a price and quality  standpoint.

 

I don’t want to invest a lot of time in the purchase, but I would like to be sure that the pads I’m getting are the softness that I want.  The current pads this group uses are too hard for the lower bells so that we really can’t do some ringing techniques because they simply don’t sound good with the hard foam. 

 

For my church group, I bought an additional table (when we got our 4^th octave from Schulmerich) but I didn’t really pay attention to the specifications on the foam.  I believe the table and foam came from Schulmerich… but the pad was much firmer than my others… It’s fine for the high bells, but not good for the lower octaves.

 

When I look at the Jeffers site, it only says “Density; specialized for ringing and selected by experienced directors.”  Well… that’s good, but what does it really mean?  I’m happy to pay a little more and just get them from Jeffers, but I have no clue how hard they will feel. 

 

Any advice… or a link to get the archived past discussions?

 

Thanks!

Linda Caviglia

 

 

 

[nancy tipton]

The foam we've purchased from Jeffers tends to be pretty firm, which I personally like, and so do my ringers. Even my bass ringers like it, and we play six octaves. 

Sent from my iPad

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[Silver Woodbury]

I know that Schulmerich selected the density for the foam they carry to work well on all bells in a 7 octave range.  You must be careful using softer density foam with bass bells.  If it’s too soft, your castings won’t be adequately protected for martellatoes and you could potentially damage them.  I find that, in many cases, the table coverings have even more of an effect on how well the different articulations sound.   The technique that I have noticed that is most affected by the type of table covering is the echo technique.  Some fabrics damp the bell too much, muting the echo effect. 

 

Silver

Mrs. Silver D. Woodbury
Silverbell Enterprises
Regional Independent Sales Representative for Schulmerich Bells
Oklahoma - Kansas - Arkansas - Northern Texas
Authorized Dealer for Murphy Robes in Oklahoma
10012 Carnie Circle, Yukon, OK  73099
405-519-0331 mobile
888-735-5407 toll-free voice and fax
silve...@cox.net or SWoo...@SchulmerichBells.com

 

[Karen]

Hi LInda,
Malmark offers super soft density foam 4" thick in 30X36. Or, you can
try some non-handbell sources like fabric or furniture suppliers. I
have seen foam that was firmer than what I'm accustomed to using and I
don't care for it either. Malmark recommends their medium density
foam.
Happy ringing!
Karen Eastburn
Plano, TX

On Mar 27, 12:09 pm, "Linda Caviglia" <cav...@comcast.net> wrote:
> Hi, I need to get some new foam for a 2 octave group I've recently started
> working with and I know I've seen lengthy discussions on the "L" about the
> best place to get them from a price and quality  standpoint.
>
> I don't want to invest a lot of time in the purchase, but I would like to be
> sure that the pads I'm getting are the softness that I want.  The current
> pads this group uses are too hard for the lower bells so that we really
> can't do some ringing techniques because they simply don't sound good with
> the hard foam.
>
> For my church group, I bought an additional table (when we got our 4th
> octave from Schulmerich) but I didn't really pay attention to the
> specifications on the foam.  I believe the table and foam came from

> Schulmerich. but the pad was much firmer than my others. It's fine for the

> high bells, but not good for the lower octaves.
>
> When I look at the Jeffers site, it only says "Density; specialized for

> ringing and selected by experienced directors."  Well. that's good, but what

> does it really mean?  I'm happy to pay a little more and just get them from
> Jeffers, but I have no clue how hard they will feel.
>

> Any advice. or a link to get the archived past discussions?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Linda Caviglia

[Colin Walker]

I bought all new foam around a year ago from FoamByMail.com. Because
we ring on 5 octaves, I bought 4-inch foam, though would probably have
gone for 3-inch if we only had a two-octave set. I ordered their Poly
Foam, which is a good firmness for bells. A few lessons learned:

* Foam dimensions are close, but not precise. Of the 14 3-foot pieces
I ordered, most were within 1/8" of the correct dimensions, but some
were off by up to 1/2 inch. This posed a slight problem when I was
getting them into the muslin wraps from Jeffers, but a year later it's
hard to notice any problems.

* The Poly Foam is some of the softest they sell, yet when using it
for bell tables, it's very firm. It took some getting used to, but I
definitely prefer it to the old stuff. We get much crisper marts, and
our lower 5th octave sits on top of the foam, instead of sinking in an
inch or so. There was a slight breaking in period.

* Shipping is free if you order at least $75 worth of foam, though it
takes a while to get to you. Also, plan on little to no contact from
the vendor after placing the order. In the 3+ orders I've placed with
the company (all of my bell table foam, plus a couple of couch
cushions after my experience buying bell table foam), I've simply
placed the order online, and the foam shows up - nicely shrink wrapped
- a week or so later without any additional contact from the company.

A year ago, I paid $27.90 for 36"x30"x4" poly foam, and $37.20 for
48"x30"x4" poly foam, with free shipping. This was, by far, the
cheapest I found... a local vendor wanted around $50 per 3' piece, and
Jeffers charges $62 if you include per-piece shipping. While I
initially had reservations about ordering from a place called
FoamByMail.com, and received strange looks from people who I told
about the place (Really? There's a place that sells FOAM on the
Internet?), I really had a great experience.

I also bought velcro for our new table covers from a place called
BuyHookAndLoop.com, but that's a story for another time.

Colin Walker
Handbell Director, Cross of Christ Lutheran Church, Bellevue, WA
Member, Emerald City Ringers

[Linda Caviglia]

I sent a note about an hour ago, but it hasn't shown up yet in my e-mail so
I'm sending it again (sorry if you get it twice).

Thanks to everyone who weighed in on the foam pad question! I will check
out the FoamByMail site and also Malmark...

I certainly agree that you don't want foam that's too soft, but when it's
too firm, the bells in the 4's range just aren't completely damped on a
mart. I work with different groups on three different sets of bells, but we
all are using similar table coverings, so I don't think that's the problem.

I do appreciate your time and thoughts on the issue!

Linda Caviglia
Springfield Presbyterian Church
Sykesville, MD

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[Linda Caviglia]

Thanks to everyone who has weighed in on the foam question! I'll check out the FoamByMail place and Malmark ...

I agree you don't want foam that's too soft, but if it's too hard a mart by the bells in the 4's just doesn't damp well enough. All the groups I work with have a small ribbed corduroy material covering the pads, so I don't think that's the problem

I do appreciate your time and thoughts!

Linda Caviglia
Springfield Presbyterian Church

Sykesville, Md

Peace & Light

[Cynthia Arbour]

Back in 2010 we purchased foam for our 2-3 octave choir from the Foam Factory: www.foamdistributing.com .  Our existing foam was only 3" thick, so we decided to replace all the foam with new 4" thick stuff. 
 
We ended up purchasing three "half sheets" that were 82" long, 36" wide, and 4" deep for a total of $140 for everything - shipping and handling was free for orders over $100.  I just checked the website, and the prices are still the same.  We then cut them to size, getting two 30"x36" pieces per sheet for 6 pieces total.  The remaining 22" left from each sheet we cut into wedges for when we want the tables set up in a "V" shape.  We bought the Poly Foam, which we're very happy with.  But they also have "Super Soft Foam" as well, for a little more money.  I'm not sure how the Super Soft compares to the Poly Foam, though.
 
Similar to the FoamByMail, it all arrived safely, shrink-wrapped into an amazingly small size, with little contact from the company.  We all had fun opening up the box and watching the foam expand to size ... (I know, it doesn't take much to entertain us! ...)
 
Cyndi
Simpson UMC
Pullman, WA
 

> Subject: Re: [HB-L] Re: Foam Pads
> From: cav...@comcast.net
> Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2012 09:20:25 -0400
> To: handb...@googlegroups.com