Dimes for 42nd Street Please Help!

[Travis Bay]

Good evening!
First let me introduce myself, I'm Travis and I'm the parent volunteer/ set designer for our high schools production of 42nd street. I've been racking my brain and the internet for an inexpensive and simple yet sturdy way to make little round platforms for our kids to carry onstage and tap dance on. All i can find are yurt plans. Is there anyone here who's made something like this in the past with some tips and pointers?
Thanks in advance!

 

[AudJ]

I’m sure there are better ideas, but on a shoestring budget we used disposable round catering trays. Literally photocopied a dime and blew it up large enough to cover the whole tray bottom. The dance was not as effective, even though they could dance in the tray, it didn’t make sense for us. Weight is a factor too.

If I had to do it again, I’d probably sandwich foam board between two pieces of Laun or plywood. That’s a lot of circles to cut though.

 

[RonHebbard]

I’m sure there are better ideas, but on a shoestring budget we used disposable round catering trays. Literally photocopied a dime and blew it up large enough to cover the whole tray bottom. The dance was not as effective, even though they could dance in the tray, it didn’t make sense for us. Weight is a factor too.

If I had to do it again, I’d probably sandwich foam board between two pieces of Laun or plywood. That’s a lot of circles to cut though.

@Travis Bay @AudJ If you were going to make circular triscuits of rigid foam sandwiched between layers of luan or plywood, would you not glue them together while they're still square and cut all three layers in one pass once the glue has thoroughly dried optimistically cutting three times fewer circles? Yes?? No???
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.

 

[AudJ]

@Travis Bay @AudJ If you were going to make circular triscuits of rigid foam sandwiched between layers of luan or plywood, would you not glue them together while they're still square and cut all three layers in one pass once the glue has thoroughly dried optimistically cutting three times fewer circles? Yes?? No???
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.

Certainly - Need a good
Band saw or scroll saw for any thickness. A decent jig will make it go quickly. Either way - I think we made something like 20 of them for the dance - a lot of circles.

 

[Van]

Me? I'd do 3/8" MDF glued to one side of 1" - 3" foam. You don't need a hard surface on both sides, as a matter of fact having the foam surface on one side would make them less slippery. Cut everything into squares 1/4" larger than the diameter of the circles you want then cut them on a band saw with a circle jig.

Do we have a "Circle Jig" for a band saw in the Wikki? We should.

 

[Skervald]

@Travis Bay @AudJ If you were going to make circular triscuits of rigid foam sandwiched between layers of luan or plywood, would you not glue them together while they're still square and cut all three layers in one pass once the glue has thoroughly dried optimistically cutting three times fewer circles? Yes?? No???

I've used this method twice using masonite and rigid foam. It works great. Both times I contemplated leaving off the bottom layer of masonite but the minimal work and money it would save didn't outweigh the benefits of a little extra durability. Both productions were done in high schools with fairly robust volunteer programs so I didn't even worry about a jig. I just turned 3 or 4 willing workers loose and they made short work of it. The first time I did it, I made a stencil of a simplified liberty dime (mostly shadow) and we painted them. They look funny from 2 feet away but from 20, they look a lot like dimes. The second time I had a parent volunteer who worked for a company that printed the giant sticker wraps for buses and trains. I sent him a high res scan and he printed custom stickers for me. He convinced his boss to let him do it for a couple of tickets. I think I also gave him one for the shop.

It's too bad you aren't a little closer. I think I could still come up with a pretty good quantity of them for you!

 

[Calc]

Whatever you make, for a finishing touch you can wrap it in this:
https://www.thepackagingcompany.us/...uhYf8_0COo1mOSv_Me3LsBv-ubVIt484aAv34EALw_wcB
Comes in different lengths/widths. I think some of the big box stores carry it too, this was just the first link that popped up.

 

[kicknargel]

Are all the foam sandwich people leaving the edges raw? Wrapping in bendy board? Foam Coat or other?

 

[garyvp]

We made 8 of them for some heavy tap dancing.

1/2" ply rounds on 1x6 box frame, edged with 6" corrugated roll - online (https://www.ebay.com/itm/Thorntons-...316030?hash=item5b437d67fe:g:nSIAAOSww-BadRcL) and then painted silver - cheaper than foam.

 

[Travis Bay]

Are all the foam sandwich people leaving the edges raw? Wrapping in bendy board? Foam Coat or other?

We're going to wrap ours, they look like hell right now.

 

[Travis Bay]

Hello Everyone,
Thanks for your responses and ideas! We decided to go with foam since it was something the kids could work on and as volunteers we can't let them use power tools.
I'm liking the corrugated wrap idea, how well does it hold up?
I think the paint team will like it as well!

 

[seanandkate]

You might want to "paint" on a couple coats of glue / gesso to the corrugated cardboard to give it added strength.

 

[Skervald]

Are all the foam sandwich people leaving the edges raw? Wrapping in bendy board? Foam Coat or other?

I left the edges raw both times. Maybe my volunteers are just really skilled but the edges came out quite clean. I think we may have had to touch up a spot or two with sandpaper but on the whole they came out pretty smooth. Especially when you take the 20' rule into account. It didn't seem worth it to wrap them.

 

[Van]

Are all the foam sandwich people leaving the edges raw? Wrapping in bendy board? Foam Coat or other?

Man, I missed this earlier. I'd have said, "Good, Old-fashioned, Dutchman!" wrap the edge in muslin, feather out the top and bottom edges and paint it.