Help with Polyethelene pinning bottoms

[exoticimports]

Good morning Sirs,

I procured rolls of polyethelene sheet for pinning bottoms and have two questions:


1. The polyethelene did indeed come rolled. When cut to size, it still has a warp from being rolled. I've tried compressing it under weight, and hand-bending it, but it warps again. I can find nothing on the internet about flattening it. How might I do so?


2. I'd prefer not to glue the polyethelene to the drawer bottom which is hardboard (compressed junk wood). So the above warp is causing a problem. Is there any other way to secure it other than permanent glue?


Thanks,

Chuck

[leptraps]

Leptraps produces Entomology Drawers. When I secure the foam sheet to the hard board bottom in the drawer, I use a water base glue on the hard board bottom. Once the glue is applied, I allow it to sit for 15 or 20 minutes until it is tacky. I place the foam into the bottom of the drawer. I have 16 Guage stainless steel plates with a metal handle attached. The weight of the steel secured the glued bottom of the drawer to the foam. I leave the drawer with the foam and metal plate to sit over night.

I have heard and seen all types of problems with those attempting to put BioQuip kits together. I originally started with BioQuip Kits. Please remember, after I started producing Entomology Drawers to sell, I found a small furniture manufacturer to make my drawers. My minimum order to them is 100 Drawers.

I have over 500 Cornell Drawers in my personal collection. I use unit trays in the vast majority of my Entomology Drawers. It is easier to expand your collection with unit trays.

[bugboys3]

I have made several of my own drawers and used the rolled polyethelene sheets from Bioquip. I cut them to size and applied glue to the hardboard and placed the foam over it. I weighed the foam down with books and let sit overnight, similar to what Leroy does. I have never had a problem doing this.

[Paul K]

I used double sided tape ( wide same size that used for packing) once in the past.
It was good for few years until the tape adhesive deteriorated and the polyethylene started to wave and bubbled up. I ended up to remove and glue them to the bottom of drawers with construction adhesive the type used for styrofoam so it wouldn’t melt polyethylene.

[kevinkk]

Nov 5, 2020 16:10:57 GMT -8 Paul K said:

I used double sided tape ( wide same size that used for packing) once in the past.
It was good for few years until the tape adhesive deteriorated and the polyethylene started to wave and bubbled up. I ended up to remove and glue them to the bottom of drawers with construction adhesive the type used for styrofoam so it wouldn’t melt polyethylene.

I was about to suggest double sided tape, maybe there is a better product currently available, like gorilla brand.

[exoticimports]

I just used the glue bioquip provides with the unit tray kits.

Tried Barge glue first, didn’t work.

[leptraps]

I have made every Cornell Drawer in my collection. Either as Kits from BioQuip or from someone in Michigan. Sometime in the late 1990's. I designed my version of a Cornell Drawer (I basically copied a drawer from a BioQuip Cornell Drawer Kit.) I purchased a Top of the Line Table Saw, Plainer, two Routers with Tables. Router tooling, and two Pneumatic staplers. I built two Buck Fixtures to assemble the drawers. I made an assembly fixture for the Cornell Drawer and another for Cal Academy.

The issue with wood, it is not stable. Humidity makes it swell and excessively dry will make it shrink. and make the seal loose. When I designed my version of the drawer, I also designed the router tooling. It required a redesign of the tooling to make the top of the drawer sit Square and flat with bottem. It took three sets of Router Tooling to get it right. I have made numerous custom drawers.I maintain a standerd pattern design.

Leptraps has been an amazing journey. And my late wife, Ms Betty, was an important part of that journey. And then there was that attempt to produce a USNM Drawer. There are some things in this world that should be left untouched.

I would wager some serious coin that I will hear about this post as a marketing ploy for Leptrsps.

Way back in the mid 1980's, a group of Lepidopterist, mostly from Ohio, got together and we ordered from BioQuip, bottoms and sides along with tops to make 550 Cornell Drawers. We met the truck, a fruit hauler from California at a truck stop along I-90 near Madison. Ohio. We off loaded them by hand. My home in Huntsburg became the pick up location. It cost us about $10 per Drawer. Back then all of the participants were financially poor Lepidopterist. After that little endeavour, I began the journey to make my own drawers.

[kevinkk]

you misspelled leptraps. I'm sorry. I hate to be corrected. I'm in an unusual mood.

Feel free to market yourself anywhere you like. Customers are your best testimonials, assuming they're, well, you know.

I'm constantly mentioning I'm a tradesperson...

[papilio28570]

Dollar Tree stores and most other stores that have a crafts section sell Readi-Board made by R.L.Adams Plastics Inc. They are 20 inches by 30 inches and 3/16 inch thick. They are paper coated but can be easily peeled off by placing a damp towel over it. Just need to do one side unless you plan to double the thickness. Cut it to size before stripping the paper off...much easier The foam is just as good as Plastazote Foam and Dollar Tree sells them for $1 each. Trying to stick a #1 though the paper is difficult without bending. Remove the paper and the pin slides right in and is held tightly. They are still rigid with the paper removed.

I also use small strips in my relaxing chambers as a pinning bottom to elevate the butterflies and moths above the wet medium. The butterflies are pinned with a #1 or #00 and then slid about half way up the pin.

I only vouch for the Adams product since I have tried no other brands.

www.goadams.com/products/readi-board-foam-board/foam-board

www.dollartree.com/readi-board-white-foam-boards/809955