Material for Inflatable
Inflatable products use all kinds of
fabrics. No matter what kind of fabrics they are, they have the
following characteristics: durable enough for specific inflatable and
general/specific usage, appropriate melting point for air-tight products,
and good air-tight characters to hold pressure inside, etc.
Generally, inflatable fabrics are all PVC
material or PVC/PU coated nylon material. Its thickness starts from
0.18MM to 1.00MM or thicker. But most of fabric will fall within this
range. For example, most air-tight inflatable toys are made of 0.18MM or
0.24MM PVC, while inflatable bouncers and jumping houses use 0.50-0.60MM PVC/PU
coated material.
If it is non-airtight inflatable, then the
fabric has more choices, from nylon fabric to mesh reinforced, PVC or PU coated
fabric. Non air-tight can also use a mixture of several kind of fabrics
to make colorful inflatables.
Beside fabrics, air blower is another part
of whole complete set. Air blower can be gas-powered or
electric-powered. The power of air blower depends on the size of
inflatable. Generally, the bigger the inflatable is, the more power air
blower is needed to blow it up and keep it shape. Also air blower can be
internal or external. Some small inflatable may come with internal air
blower, so you just need to plug and play and get the inflatable set up in
couple of minutes
We take the
quality of our materials, our construction methods, and the finished end
product very seriously. Please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss our
products, materials and how we construct giant inflatables.
There
are subtle and extreme differences in helium parade balloon materials used in
the industry. The majority of inflatable balloon companies do not manufacture
their own helium balloons. Instead, they job them out to companies overseas,
especially helium products. There are only a hand full of companies in the
World that construct premium helium parade balloons or Airtight Inflatables and
Big Ideas Parade Giants is one of them.
The materials we use are tested by us for
strength, sealability, coating adhesion, and hot and cold exposure and how it
relates to performance and longevity of the end product. We have many fabrics
we use and many varied fabrics that we test. Some of the
fabrics we use are formulated (coatings) to our specifications and custom
milled for us. We can have custom fabrics milled to meet your specifications
too.
Our warranty reflects the quality of the
urethane fabrics we use and our proprietary construction methods. Included with
most of the helium retention and airtight products we produce is a 12 month
warranty that covers workmanship and materials on all our our custom helium
parade and inflatable helium balloon creations, however, you can expect many
years of use! We also
provide custom instructions for each custom helium parade balloon we
manufacture. Professional installation or training at your event is also
available for larger inflatable systems.
1. UV
Treated – for protection from the sun’s UV rays.
2.
Mildew Resistant – protection from moisture / water.
3. Fire
Retardant – fire rated and resistant.
Fabrics with these characteristics are the
best choice because they provide the best protection during use, and add to the
longevity of the product. These fabrics also provide ease of cleaning of the
product so it’s always looking it’s best. When it comes to
putting the shapes together, we use industrial sewing machines and commercial
sewing techniques to ensure strength and durability of the finished product.
Anything without these characteristics and manufacturing methods is an
inferior, cheaper product usually manufactured in China or India that will lead
in fact to early potential product failure and short product life. In most cases our Warranty covers product workmanship and
materials for a period of 24 months, however, expect many years of use from our
products
I'm starting this topic to both log my experiments and to petition
contributions and ideas from others.
The basic premise, to build a strong, inexpensive inflatable boat. If you look at the Zodiacs, you'll see they run into the thousands of dollars. Even the lower cost (smaller) inflatables at WestMarine sell for over a thousand and go up. My basic plan is to use some heavy canvas, and impregnate it with something to make it air tight. The canvas should add plenty of strength allowing it to hold a little bit of pressure and stay rigid. Everyone I've spoken to about this project has responded either that I'm crazy (possible), this is impossible (I'll never believe it), or both.
Lets start with the base material. I am really thinking of using a heavy canvas, like the kind available at the hardware store as painter's drop cloth. Purchased like that, I can get large pieces of canvas that are very sturdy and inexpensive. I've used this material to make bags, covers, and cushoins for my sail boat. So, I think its a good starting point.
Next up, a low cost way to make the canvas air tight and durable. An early thought was to use latex because its cheap and readily available. The problem is latex will not last very long exposed to the sun and elements. I have experimented with "PlastiDip" stuff used to plastic coat tools, and "liquid electrical tape" but, these two substances are hard to the saturate fabric with. Probably just as well, as these would be pretty expensive in the quantity required.
The basic premise, to build a strong, inexpensive inflatable boat. If you look at the Zodiacs, you'll see they run into the thousands of dollars. Even the lower cost (smaller) inflatables at WestMarine sell for over a thousand and go up. My basic plan is to use some heavy canvas, and impregnate it with something to make it air tight. The canvas should add plenty of strength allowing it to hold a little bit of pressure and stay rigid. Everyone I've spoken to about this project has responded either that I'm crazy (possible), this is impossible (I'll never believe it), or both.
Lets start with the base material. I am really thinking of using a heavy canvas, like the kind available at the hardware store as painter's drop cloth. Purchased like that, I can get large pieces of canvas that are very sturdy and inexpensive. I've used this material to make bags, covers, and cushoins for my sail boat. So, I think its a good starting point.
Next up, a low cost way to make the canvas air tight and durable. An early thought was to use latex because its cheap and readily available. The problem is latex will not last very long exposed to the sun and elements. I have experimented with "PlastiDip" stuff used to plastic coat tools, and "liquid electrical tape" but, these two substances are hard to the saturate fabric with. Probably just as well, as these would be pretty expensive in the quantity required.
Step 1: Trival Math
This is trivial but, still
something to consider.
The greater the airpressure in the inflated chambers, the stiffer the vessel will be. Determining the air pressure to use will come from a combination of material strength and size of the chamber. This will be modified downward with a consideration of material strength decline with age, consideration of forces from use (people sitting on it, waves, motor, etc) and a safety fudge factor.
Generally in the realm of inflatable boats, 5psi is considered high pressure.
So, for a 24 inch diameter tube, we get a circumference rounded up to 76 inches. So, 1 psi would equate to 76 pounds of force trying to tear it apart (2 would be 152). Since large tubes will be very hard to contain lots of pressure, a compromise could be to stack narrower tubes that could each have a higher pressure.
This asks for some pro/con cosideration.
Stacked Tubes:
The greater the airpressure in the inflated chambers, the stiffer the vessel will be. Determining the air pressure to use will come from a combination of material strength and size of the chamber. This will be modified downward with a consideration of material strength decline with age, consideration of forces from use (people sitting on it, waves, motor, etc) and a safety fudge factor.
Generally in the realm of inflatable boats, 5psi is considered high pressure.
So, for a 24 inch diameter tube, we get a circumference rounded up to 76 inches. So, 1 psi would equate to 76 pounds of force trying to tear it apart (2 would be 152). Since large tubes will be very hard to contain lots of pressure, a compromise could be to stack narrower tubes that could each have a higher pressure.
This asks for some pro/con cosideration.
Stacked Tubes:
PRO | CON• Higher pressuere (stiffer) | • Greater
weight• More air chambers safer if | • More complex construction there is a puncture | • More material/expense
The single tube is basically, the opposite of the
above. If material costs are kept low, the cost part may not be a big deal.
A quick and dirty method of measuring the strength of the material is to cut a one inch wide strip to a length equal to the desired circumference, plus a little bit for hangers. Hang it up and start suspending weights from it until it breaks. Do it a few times and pick the low value for the weight that causes it to break.
A quick and dirty method of measuring the strength of the material is to cut a one inch wide strip to a length equal to the desired circumference, plus a little bit for hangers. Hang it up and start suspending weights from it until it breaks. Do it a few times and pick the low value for the weight that causes it to break.
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