Camping Pillow. Technology

This project is rather the result of accumulating experience in creating an inflatable element from TPU film. There will also be no description of the nuances of the formation of the form, which is also very important, since obtaining the necessary form also requires experience.

On the other hand, here we will consider in detail the process of creating insulation, which is critically important for inflatable sleeping mats and other elements of tourist systems.

For me personally, this was an experiment in working out the technology within the framework of the u-tent urban tent project. More details on this topic can be found here www.u-tent.com

The most difficult to acquire was the TPU film. TPU means polyurethane laminated fabric. Previously, polyvinyl chloride was used for such tasks. But now all manufacturers are switching to PU. It has a number of advantages. It is lighter, more wear-resistant, more frost-resistant, more environmentally friendly (no smell).

The fabric used has two densities. Black has 70 den and blue 20 den. I ordered it on a well-known Chinese wholesale site, it is not available on retail. As a result, it cost me almost 200 euros (20 linear meters), which is already comparable to a top-end mat. Of course, there are options on European sites, but this will be even more expensive. In addition, I don’t think I’ve ever seen 20 den, and I wanted to achieve maximum lightness.

As insulation, I took a regular polyester mat 15 mm thick. Most likely, it is not the lightest, but it will do for the first try.

Lavsan mirror film is widely available as rescue blankets.

To glue the insulation, I used aerosol glue.

The tool is of great importance. This is a special iron for shoe production. It is also easily available on the Internet. Do not confuse it with a similar iron with a small pointed attachment.

Another important thing when soldering is baking paper. It allows you not to burn the film, and also to make even solders in those places where two films should not stick together.

Modern tourist mats use a sandwich of the insulation itself and a mirror film as insulation. When inflated, the insulation stretches, as it is glued to each of the inner sides of the film. This increases the size of the air chambers, and accordingly the effect of heat transfer by radiation. I tried such a mat with a mirror film and it really works.

On the other hand, if you work out the technology of self-soldering TPU film, then new opportunities will open up for you in terms of warm sleep in cold weather. You can make a mat as warm as you want. As you can see from the picture, I made a sandwich of two mirror films and three layers of insulation. I have not seen this in branded products.

Gluing is a fairly simple process and I will not focus on it. I will only say that the glue has a rather toxic composition and it is better to do this outdoors.

When the sandwich is glued, do not glue it directly to the film. Solder the two layers of film on at least one side. The thing is that the insulation will interfere with soldering. When two layers are soldered on one side, glue the sandwich first on one side, cover it with the second layer on top and glue it too.

A soldered valve always looks very professional and seems difficult to do at home. In fact, it turned out to be one of the easiest tasks. Cut a hole in the film, insert the valve from the inside. Then apply cookie paper to the outside and solder with an iron. The opposite part of the valve is simply put on top.

This will be your first soldering, so here is more about it. Do not forget that you are soldering two layers of polyurethane coating. Usually this layer is on one side, at least for the cases we are talking about here. So, always check whether you have connected the film on the right side.

I will tell you other nuances in the next section.

This is a very painstaking process, and most importantly, if you solder it crookedly, you will have to throw everything away. I tried to unsolder it with a hair dryer, and then solder it again. When disassembling, the lamination layer remains on the side of the denser fabric and after re-soldering, a lot of micro-holes are formed that are almost impossible to seal. I tried to restore it by re-laminating, but the result was not very good.

Perhaps it makes sense to start on a denser fabric, a positive result is more likely.

In this regard, I strongly recommend trying soldering on test samples. This will help to adjust the temperature and feel the speed when ironing. Set the iron to approximately 130C, test, get used to it and then tape the regulator with tape. Its setting can easily be knocked down during the ironing process.

Choosing the optimal temperature is very important. If you overheat it, the lamination layer will peel off the fabric. If it is underheated, nothing will be soldered at all.

Place two films on top of each other, and put cookie paper on them. I also recommend putting paper in the place where you don't want two films to accidentally stick together. This way the seam will be smoother.

The quality of the connection is checked in the standard way: inflate the pillow, fill the bath with water and lower the pillow into the water. Remember where the bubbles come from and solder again in that place.

Good luck!