With Martin Sargent and his "Twisted List" away on assignment -- to be honest, we have no idea where he is -- we needed to fill some time on the show. So Megan Morrone and Yoshi DeHerrera decided to run with a interesting idea they saw mentioned on Slashdot. Throughout today's episode, they'll be attempting an unusual case mod. Rather than messing with a boring old PC case, they're going to cover a computer's guts in polyurethane foam.

Why polyurethane?

It's as ugly as a sheep that's fallen in a lemon meringue pie, but hardened polyurethane foam has its advantages if you want to make your PC portable. Keep in mind, though, that any modern CPU isolated in a foam case may generate too much heat to remain operable for long.

• Polyurethane is a polymer that contains NHCOO linkages, meaning it binds stuff together well.
• It's cheap.
• It comes in a can and can be sprayed onto or into anything.
• It forms a semi-rigid, protective cushion after it expands.
• It's lighter than plastic.
• It more-or-less takes the shape of what it covers (your PC need not be large and rectangular).
• It's heat resistant.
• It's nonconductive.
• It's waterproof. It even floats, for Pete's sake.
• In fibrous form, it's the chief ingredient in spandex. Who knew?

Follow our progress

Tune in to follow Megan and Yoshi's foaming efforts. They'll update their progress in this space, as well.

That darn metric system
Megan here. Only a few minutes into the show we realize that three cans of polyurethane foam is not enough. Darci to the rescue! No, she doesn't have an extra can in her backpack, but she is more than willing to run to the hardware store for a few more cans.

Yosh and I also remove our first pair of gloves to prevent them from hardening to our hands.

Surprisingly, polyurethane foam doesn't smell as bad as I thought it would.

More foam!
It's Megan again. Yoshi is a man of few words. Darci came back with more foam. Unfortunately, it's the "minimal expanding" kind.

Oh well. Now that the boys see how much fun this is, they all clamour for the cans of polyurethane. I'm only able to get my hands on one can. Patrick forgoes the plastic nozzle and pops off the plastic top with Kevin's knife. He says it foams better that way. I am not convinced.

Two more cans seem to be enough to cover the PC.

Alright, while I'm here writing you, Yoshi's getting credit for my idea. Gotta go.