Polyfoam - the heat-insulating material which is widely applied in individual construction. It is sold in sheets, so it is often necessary to cut off the desired length. Anyone who has encountered such materials understands that it is difficult to do this qualitatively with conventional tools. How to cut foam at home? Let's consider further.
What is styrofoam?
The full name of the material - the type of thermal insulation refers to foamed (cellular) plastic gas-filled masses. If you look at this material, you can see many small balls fastened together. Therefore, during ordinary cutting, a large number of small debris, and the cut itself is uneven. The question is interesting and relevant.
Kinds
There are two main options for density:
- Soft. Such layers have a porous structure. When cutting, they crumble a lot, break.
- Solid. This material is easy to process. Minimal crumbling, cuts are more even.
It is worth noting that the first option is cheaper than the second.
Applications
For the most part, this material is used as a heater. Moreover, it is used for external and internal work. With the help of foam, many designers create interesting compositions; it is also used for the production ceiling tiles, plinths, cornices, stucco moldings and other things. This area of application is associated with several main advantages of the material:
- environmental friendliness;
- a light weight;
- low price.
All these areas are directly related to the question: “What is the foam cut with?”.
Knife
You can take the usual stationery tool. And make a cut. In this case, the process will be accompanied by a creak, a large amount of debris, the edges may crumble. This option is suitable for a small amount of trimming and thin sheets. In this case, it will be necessary to frequently replace the blade.
Handle the canvas on a flat, solid surface. To make the maximum possible smooth edges, you should mark the material and attach an even bar to the line, pressing it with your hand. The knife must be driven straight, the guide will serve as a stop for the tool. Plus, by pressing it, you can prevent a strong formation of debris. This is one of the most common answers to the question of how foam is cut.
Hacksaw for metal
This type of tool will allow you to cut sheets of any width, but the performance will be small. Garbage and creaking will also accompany the whole process. The edges will crumble. This method is suitable for a small number of cuts. Work should be done on the table. The cutting part is shifted from the supporting structure so that it is possible to work with a hacksaw.
power tool
How to cut foam at home with a power tool?
With large volumes of use of expanded polystyrene, this actual question. Consider what equipment can be used:
- Electric jigsaw. It seems that the process is partially automated, the speed of work will increase. But the quality of the cuts will be low. Again there will be a creak, garbage. At the same time, one must understand: plates with a thickness of more than 80 mm are unlikely to be cut with such a tool.
- Bulgarian. It also speeds up the cutting process. But at the same time, the litter will scatter in all directions, and even there is a strong noise from the operation of the tool. If, nevertheless, a grinder is chosen for cutting, then it is better to purchase a diamond wheel with minimum thickness, this will help improve the quality of the cut.
Separately, it is worth considering such a tool as a soldering iron.
Figured cutting of foam
Often, designers use expanded polystyrene to create any decors.
What is the foam cut with? In such cases, figured cutting of good quality foam is required. The edges should be even, not crumble. For these options, a conventional soldering iron is used. In order to achieve maximum effect, the tip of the tool is flattened or a nozzle of the required size and shape is made. A heated soldering iron allows you to perform high-quality even cutting, which is necessary for decors. Another important point: when working, there will be practically no small rubbish.
Facade polystyrene
This material can be produced in several variations:
- pressed;
- suspension unpressed;
- suspension unpressed self-extinguishing;
The thickness of panels for facade insulation is from 70 to 150 mm. You need to understand that such work is accompanied by a large number of cuts. Therefore, the previously listed methods of cutting foam will not be very relevant.
Thermal cutting with a knife
For this method, you need to consider heating the tool. An open flame or heating equipment may be used. The knife itself must be well sharpened. It is necessary to stock up on a guide bar for cutting. It is best to work outside. This will prevent the accumulation of harmful odors that adversely affect health.
The cutting line is marked, a guide bar is applied, a cut is made with a heated knife. This method allows you to do it quickly and efficiently.
Nichrome wire
As noted earlier, cutting is best done under the influence of temperature. is no exception. Russian people have always been distinguished by their ingenuity, which helped them come up with equipment for manual cutting. Required:
- Desktop;
- transformer that converts 220V to 12 or 24V;
- nichrome wire;
- adjustable rheostat;
- wires.
The wire for cutting foam is fixed across the table with a gap for the required dimension. Wires, rheostat, transformer are connected. When heated, the wire will easily make a quality cut. The material should be fed without much pressure, the heating temperature of the wire is also important. Too high can form sagging.
Designers also use this tool in their work. The wire allows you to make a number of curly cuts.
Security measures
Why is it better to take a transformer for 12 or 24V for this device. By negligence, you can get an electric shock. With such parameters, it will be just a burn, while at 220 V the situation can end badly. Another important point: under the influence heat treatment polystyrene foam emits harmful substances, so it is required to use products personal protection respiratory system - respirator. Polyfoam has received a wide scope due to its unique properties. The light weight of the material and at the same time high thermal insulation properties make it possible to use it for large-scale insulation of facades, floors, roofs. Such work does not exert a significant load on the foundation, and this is a very important factor that allows you to save on strengthening the foundation. The use of this material in design developments again depends on the ease of the resulting structures, environmental friendliness and the ability to manufacture any products.
But in any of this area, cutting of the material remains important. How quickly and efficiently it is carried out depends on the term of work and the final result. Which cutting option to choose is decided individually for each specific case.
Standard construction has long since sunk into oblivion. This is noticeable when visiting zones low-rise construction. Each house is individual, unique. But each household requires insulation, if it was not provided during the construction process. It is unlikely that foam manufacturers will produce boards customized size for small orders. You'll have to cut. But how to cut the foam when installing the thermal insulation of the building with your own hands?
Foamed polystyrene foam is easy to process by cutting. Before cutting foam at home, you need to decide on the required accuracy and cleanliness of the cut. After that, select the necessary device for cutting foam plastic from the following:
- saw (hacksaw);
- string;
- thermal cutter;
There is no single answer to the question: “What is the best way to cut?” as long as there is no certainty in terms of volume and linear dimensions of the workpieces.
Foam plastic milling is not carried out due to the extremely low mechanical stability of the material.
Just cutting
When carrying out work on the insulation of the foundation, underground utilities, floors under the screed, the facade under the plaster, special accuracy and evenness of the cut is not much needed. Especially if the building has a simple facade configuration. In this case, you can use hand tool for cutting foam: knife, hacksaw, metal string.
Their use will lead to the loss of granules at the cut boundary and the formation of an uneven edge. The presence of a loose fit of the plates can be leveled by filling the voids with mounting foam.
Rectilinear cutting with a knife with small notches is justified with a material thickness of 50 mm, a hacksaw can cut insulation up to 250 mm thick. You can use a serrated kitchen knife to cut the styrofoam. A hacksaw with a small tooth is purchased at a hardware store.
For the convenience of using a string for cutting foam (you can use old strings, for example, from a guitar with a spiral winding), we install wooden handles on its ends. They cut the insulation with reciprocating movements, as if they were using a two-handed saw. Large slabs can be cut by two people. In this case, the sheet to be cut must be fixed.
Before cutting the foam, the cutting edges must be treated with a liquid lubricant. This will create a certain comfort during work (improve slip, reduce noise).
Figured carving on foam using this tool is extremely difficult.
Using a thermal knife
Do-it-yourself cutting of polystyrene with the use of a thermal knife is justified with a plate thickness of up to 50 mm. To cut off a piece of polystyrene, the hot knife is advanced at a medium speed, which ensures the quality of the cut without tearing out fragments and melting the edges.
Purchasing a longer blade for this appliance is not entirely beneficial. At hand cutting it is impossible to cut strictly perpendicular to the surface. The end of the sheet will have a bevel, which is extremely inconvenient during installation. In order to better cut a thick sheet, it is necessary to cut from both sides, deepening the hot knife by half the thickness or a little more.
We manufacture and use a thermal cutter
For cutting polystyrene with your own hands, devices with a thin hot element are most often used. General principle the actions of any thermal cutter for foam plastic are one.
The heated element separates the material with subsequent sealing of the opened volumes. Using thermal cutters for foam plastic, we get a perfectly smooth cut, which is very important for high-quality insulation work.
The purchase of a factory-made foam cutting machine is not economically feasible.
Only if it is not decided to do it professionally and permanently. In most cases, when cutting curly elements is not required, you can use a homemade foam cutter.
Making a foam cutter with your own hands is quite simple and quite inexpensive. After completion of work, it will not lie dead weight, take up space. It can be assembled and disassembled as needed. If not needed, its components can be used for other purposes.
Before you make a foam cutter, you need to prepare everything you need:
- blank for the working surface;
- nichrome wire;
- laboratory adjustable transformer (LATR);
Chrome-plated nichrome wire can be used without a step-down transformer, but this increases the risk of electric shock.
- electric wire, mount for it,
- springs for thread tension;
- adjustment mechanism.
When manufacturing and using the device, follow the rules for the design and operation of electrical installations.
To make equipment for cutting foam, start by marking and trimming the working surface. Determine its geometric dimensions in accordance with the dimensions of the cut plates. It is better if the table surface is larger than the sheet area.
We install racks (supports) with the possibility of adjustment. This may require a small tool in the form of hex bushings with internal thread. They will make it easier to adjust the cutting height. The cutting wire is tensioned with springs. We lay and fix an electric wire on different sides of the thread. We connect the other end of the cable to LATR (if there is no LATR, it can be replaced using an autotransformer for charging batteries vehicle). The device is ready to work.
Cutting foam at home must be carried out in compliance with safety measures. During heat treatment, toxic fumes are released. Therefore, we cut out parts from foam either on the street, or use respiratory protection at a workplace equipped with exhaust ventilation.
The use of such a device for cutting foam allows you to speed up the process of preparing insulation fragments as much as possible.
We use automated systems
The delights of architectural design also require insulation. In order to preserve their expressiveness, it becomes necessary to manufacture complex elements. How to cut out such details? More affordable option- processing of a heater by milling. But foam plastic milling is not carried out for the reason that the cutter pulls out large enough pieces of material during its rotation.
Dense polystyrene foam has a higher mechanical strength and is well milled. Anything is made from it: a letter, a number, graphic element any complexity. At least a hedgehog. It is recommended to cut penoplex on large angular speeds at medium linear feed. To install the manufactured fragments on the facade, ceresite is used.
Foam laser cutting is the most advanced technology, which combines a hot cutting tool and the precision of an automated system. Laser cutting of foam allows you to produce parts of any complexity with the highest precision with a minimum level of waste. Laser cutting foam provides absolutely smooth surface cutting using a hot beam of directional light moving at high speed. For him, there are no restrictions on the thickness of the material and the complexity of the element.
The choice of cutting equipment used for foam boards and for extruded polystyrene foam should be conscious. Reply technological requirements on finished products and be economically justified.
Styrofoam is used to insulate the room, and also make elements decorative look. The material is easy to use, it can be cut to the required dimensions on your own, at home, without resorting to the help of specialists.
- The main working tool is a device that resembles a saw crane and consists of a frame with a fixed stick. The upper end of the tungsten or nitromethyl filament is firmly attached to the rod. The lower end passes through the "toe", which is attached to the foot and does not conduct current. For the wire, a wire of about 12 volts is used. The foam block is placed on the frame. After turning on the flow, the foam moves from front to front, and the wire can easily wash away the foam.
Features of cutting foam
Styrofoam is produced in the form of plates certain size, but they are not always suitable for various jobs, so the material is cut. In some cases, the edges of the sheet need to be made decorative, or the plate cut to the desired size, then the cut is cleaned. The composition of the foam contains small balls that can crumble when cut, which will lead to an uneven cut line, and then the material will not be suitable for work. Cutting foam at home is done independently, and does not require much work. To do this, you need to use special tools, thanks to which you can avoid crumbling the material, and get a clear cut line.
If the foam is broken, then the edge will also not be even, it will be difficult to work with such material.
What tools are used to cut foam?
To cut foam at home, use a cutter, it happens different types, mechanical and thermal type. Using a mechanical tool, you can cut a small amount of foam sheets in tight spaces. In this case, the cut may not be of the same quality as we would like. The thermal sight tool is professional and can cut straight lines in any kind of foam. The basis of such a cutter is a wire or thread with a high temperature. The thermal tool is branded and homemade. In the first case, the cutter has a factory production, it is very convenient and easy to use. A branded cutter is a special knife or a large thermal tool that is used to cut foam.
Cutting foam with a mechanical tool
Mechanical cutting is performed with such tools: a knife, a jigsaw, a grinder, a saw. All these tools must have a mechanical effect on the material. Mechanical type tools are used if it is not possible to purchase a thermal type cutter, and also if it is necessary to cut a small amount of material. If the sheets are cut to insulate the elements in the ground, then it is enough to use a clerical knife. With this tool, you can cut plates up to 8 centimeters thick, while the edge will be even. When using a jigsaw or grinder, the rotation speed should not be too high, otherwise you can ruin the sheet. If it is not possible to purchase a special device for cutting foam, then using a grinder and a jigsaw, you need to take a thin disk or blade. The saw is used if there is no need to obtain an even cut. When using this tool, uneven force is exerted and the edge of the material may be uneven.
Cutting Styrofoam with a Thermal Tool
For this type of cutting, a special thermal cutter is used. Such a tool consists of the main working part - a transformer, voltage is supplied from it. The transformer can be powered from the mains or batteries, it depends on the type of device. There are two arcs on the transformer, which are the frame of the main element. On each arc is a special wire, it is stretched from one end to the other. When the transformer is turned on, electricity passes to the arcs, and they heat the wire. The heated wire is able to evenly cut foam of any kind and size. Because the foam breaks easily at high temperatures, thermal cutting is easy without burrs. Work with a thermal cutter is carried out with high precision. The most ideal cutting is performed by laser devices. Nichrome, of which the wire consists, is very hot, and easily cuts foam sheets, while no effort is required, thereby eliminating a possible error.
Cutting styrofoam with a homemade thermal tool
The thermal cutter can be made independently, for this you need to purchase a transformer small size, it can be taken from the old household appliances. Then you need to install the arcs, for this they use a wooden bar and two long screws. Thanks to the wooden material, electricity will be supplied directly to the stretched wire. The wire is fixed between the upper elements of the screws. After that, the transformer is connected to the screws, electricity is supplied, and the voltage is adjusted. It is not necessary to set too much voltage, otherwise the wire will burn the material, and the cut will be uneven.
Mechanical process of cutting foam
Cutting foam can be done with a clerical knife, while the blade must be new and sharp. In this way, it is possible to cut material with a thickness of not more than 5 centimeters. The thicker the sheet, the more irregularities will form on the cut. With a sharp blade, the work is not so difficult, and the edge is more even. First you need to mark the sections that need to be cut off, for clearer lines use a ruler, and then proceed to the main work. The ruler is applied to one side of the foam, and a knife is drawn along it, then the sheet is turned over, and the same action is performed. The knife does not need to be deepened much, after which the cut off part is broken off along the line.
Using electric jigsaw, the material crumbles strongly, only sheets up to 5 centimeters thick can be cut. Due to crumbling, the edges are not too smooth. The blade for working with a jigsaw should be thin and sharp, then the material will crumble less. First, markup is performed, and then proceed to cutting.
If there is no need to perform a perfectly even cut, then mechanical cutting is used, while all devices must be sharp, this greatly facilitates the work and prevents severe crumbling of the material. Various foam shapes cannot be cut in this way, as they will have fuzzy contours. The mechanical method is used for material with a thickness of not more than 5 millimeters, otherwise the blade should be longer, but the cut will be uneven. When using a grinder, take the thinnest disk so that the balls are removed to a minimum.
First, the distance to be cut is measured, marked with a pencil, and the material is cut.
Thermal foam cutting process
If you need to cut out various shapes or make decorative edges from foam, then a thermal tool is used. First, the necessary figure is drawn, and then a drawing is cut out of the foam using nichrome wire. The wire must not be overheated, otherwise it will burn the material and not give the desired result.
With the help of a heated wire, the foam is cut uniformly, the material does not crumble. When cutting in this way, you can perform various decorative elements, edges of a figured appearance, and other necessary patterns.
Applications and advantages of styrofoam
Polyfoam is used in construction, it is used to insulate roofs, walls, foundations, and other structural elements. Various decorative elements can be cut from such material.
Polyfoam has a number of advantages:
- This material has low sound conductivity, and serves as an excellent insulation, retains heat, thereby saving heating costs.
- The foam is resistant to moisture, thanks to which various fungi and mold do not appear.
- Styrofoam is a lightweight material, so it is not difficult to work with it. It is durable, as it does not lend itself to aging and destruction as a result of dampness.
- The material is resistant to temperature changes, therefore it is used for both external and internal work. From it you can make various decorative elements inside and outside the room.
- Cutting foam can be done independently at home, without resorting to the help of specialists. Thanks to the thermal cutting method, you can get perfectly smooth edges. This method is used to cut various figures or edges with precise evenness.
Advantages of mechanical and thermal foam cutting:
With the mechanical method, you can save money on the purchase of expensive tools. If sharp blades are used, this greatly facilitates the cutting of the material and also minimizes its crumbling. This method is used to cut a minimum amount of foam up to 5 centimeters thick.
With the thermal method, a high quality cut of the foam is obtained. This method allows you to cut out various decorative elements, and curly cuts due to high precision. At the same time, the material does not crumble, and does not deteriorate. Cutting is done with a special heated wire. The thermal method allows you to evenly cut thick foam.
If you plan to cut a small amount of material, it does not matter what the cuts will be, and irregularities are allowed, then you can use the mechanical method. For this, tools such as a grinder, an electric jigsaw, a knife or a saw are used, all devices must have a sharp and thin blade, this greatly facilitates the work and allows you to achieve maximum evenness of the cut.
If high-precision curly cutting is planned, then the thermal method is used. To do this, use a special thermal cutter. Cutting is done with a wire heated from a transformer, which is supplied with electric current. This device can be purchased ready-made or made independently. To do this, it is necessary to fix special arcs to the transformer, and pull the wire, which will serve as a cutting element, as a result of incandescence.
Homemade tools for cutting foam
- Power supply for homemade thermal cutters
- Homemade cutter for working with flat sheets of foam
- Homemade thermal cutter for curly cutting
- Homemade thermal cutter from a soldering iron
Styrofoam - light, technological and durable material, which also has low thermal conductivity, is a godsend for the builder or home master.
It can be used not only as a heater, but also as a structural material for the formation of a wide variety of models, blanks, forms, etc. But foam plastic is produced in the form of rather large blocks, when cutting with a knife or saw, the material crumbles due to the destruction of its structure.
Figure 1 - Scheme of an adjustable power supply.
An electric foam cutter, the working element of which is usually a nichrome wire heated to a temperature of several hundred degrees, cuts the foam neatly, evenly and without crumbs.
This happens because, upon contact with the heated wire, the foam instantly melts, forming a strong sintered cut.
In this article, you can get acquainted with the designs homemade cutters for polystyrene for various purposes.
Power supply for homemade thermal cutters
Figure 2 - Scheme of a cutter that allows you to cut flat sheets from a block of foam.
The power dissipated on a nichrome wire at a given heating temperature depends on its length and cross-sectional area.
It is better if the wire is thin enough (0.1-0.2 mm). Its cold resistance is on the order of a few ohms. The operating temperature corresponds to the beginning of the reddening of the wire. With a wire length of 50 cm, about 50 W of power is dissipated on it at a current of about 5 A.
If the foam cutter is used only occasionally, a battery can be used as a power source. Sometimes it is even more convenient, and from a safety point of view, better than using a mains power supply.
The glow of the filament can be adjusted by changing the number of batteries connected in series.
But when working systematically with cutters, a universal network power supply is preferable. It is not difficult to make such a source with your own hands. Its basis is a step-down transformer, designed for a power of at least 100 W, having a secondary winding designed for a voltage of 15 V.
The diameter of the wire with which it is wound must be at least 1.5 mm.
To smoothly change the current, you can, of course, use a suitable rheostat or make a secondary winding with taps and put a switch.
But the most convenient option is to use an autotransformer with continuously adjustable output voltage (LATR), to the output of which a step-down transformer is connected. A diagram of such an adjustable power supply is shown in fig. 1. Here T1 is LATR, and T2 is a step-down transformer.
Homemade cutter for working with flat sheets of foam
Figure 3 - Horizontal cutter with spring.
First, let's look at how the cutter works, which allows you to cut flat sheets from a foam block.
A schematic representation of such a device with the power supply described above is shown in Fig. 2. The load on this device keeps the nichrome thread heated by the current in a taut state, which, when heated, greatly elongates.
Instead of a weight, a spring can be used for the same purpose. A photograph of a device with such a method of maintaining the wire in a taut state is shown in fig.
3. When moving the foam block on the surface of the table, the heated wire cuts it no worse than a heated butter knife. The result is flat foam sheets, the thickness of which is determined by the distance between the table surface and the cutting wire.
Scheme of a vertical cutter: 1 - cutting nichrome wire, 2 - load, 3 - frame, 4 - working surface.
To cut parts from flat sheets, a cutter with a vertical cutting wire is used.
It, like the previous device, can be made by hand. How the vertical cutter works is shown in Fig. 4. Its base is a frame (3) made of wooden bars or metal profile. In its lower part there is a working surface (4) made of textolite, thick plywood, chipboard, etc.
Through the hole in the table (it is desirable to press a piece of metal tube flush into it) a cutting nichrome wire (1) is passed, to which a load (2) is suspended from below, pulling it.
On such a machine, it is convenient not only to cut sheet foam, but also to carry out its curly cutting. For accuracy, it is desirable to first draw a cut line on the foam.
Homemade thermal cutter for curly cutting
Scheme of a manual cutter: 1 - cutting wire, 2 - wooden block, 3 - spring, 4 - handle.
For cutting sheets of large size and thickness, or if it is impossible to place the foam on the desktop, a manual electric cutter is useful.
It can also be made by hand (see Fig. 5).
Its base is a frame made of wooden bars (2) hinged. A cutting wire (1) is stretched between the lower ends of the vertical bars. In the taut state, it is supported by a rubber band or spring (3). When working, the tool is held by the handle (4).
A similar tool can be made on the basis of a hacksaw or a manual jigsaw, where the file is replaced by a cutting wire.
On one side of it, a tension spring and an insulator should be placed.
Thermal cutter, the device of which is shown in fig. 6, allows you to make recesses in the foam, cut cavities in its thickness, chamfer, etc. With its help, it becomes possible to handle this material in much the same way as a sculptor handles clay.
Scheme of a manual thermal cutter: 1 - cutting nichrome wire, 2 - screw with nut and washer, 3 - textolite handle 4-5 mm thick, 4 - electric cord.
This device is arranged quite simply:
- cutting nichrome wire (1);
- screw with nut and washer (2);
- textolite handle 4-5 mm thick (3);
- electrical cord (4).
To expand the possibilities of figured cutting of foam, it makes sense to make several similar cutters with tips of various shapes (see Fig.
A good figured thermal cutter for foam plastic can be a device for burning wood, if you connect a tip of nichrome wire of the required shape to it.
For the same purpose, you can use an impulse soldering iron, if its standard tip is also replaced with a piece of thick nichrome wire.
Homemade thermal cutter from a soldering iron
Scheme of a thermal cutter from a soldering iron: 1 - safety screen, 2 - 2 M6 bolts with clamps, 3 - brackets, 4 - rack, 5 - straight tip cut, 6 - copper plate, 8 - wooden plank, 9 - support legs.
For processing foam plastic, not only a heated wire, but also a heated metal plate can be used.
The basis of this thermal cutter (see Fig. 7) is a conventional soldering iron with a power of 60 W, designed for a voltage of 220 V. Instead of the usual sting, this device uses a plate knife, which is the main element of the cutter. It can cut not only foam, but also any hot-melt synthetics.
The base of the device is a sheet of heat-resistant plastic, plywood or a wooden board (8), to the bottom of which support legs (9) are attached.
They are needed because in the middle of the base there is a slot into which a heated knife falls. Opposite the slot on the edge of the platform there is a stand (4) with brackets (3) for mounting the soldering iron.
The stand is made of a metal tube, and the brackets are made of 2 M6 bolts with clamps (2).
Do-it-yourself foam cutting at home
A safety screen (1) is also fixed there, which protects the hands of the worker from burns.
The thermal cutter knife is a copper plate (6) pressed into the cut of the straight tip (5) of the soldering iron. The cutting edge of the knife is sharpened at a slight angle.
It can be sharpened on one or both sides. The degree of heating is selected empirically.
As you can see, there are a lot of ways to heat-treat foam and designs of devices designed for this - choosing what is right for you is not difficult at all.
Every person in the modern world understands that it is most profitable to work for yourself, that is, to open your own small business. Best to organize own production at home.
But this requires special equipment, which requires money. Any business requires capital investments and you need to be prepared for this.
One of the fresh and profitable business ideas is the production of polystyrene foam, you can make decent money on it. Such a business has minimal risks. For such a case, there is a special production technology that must be strictly followed in order to achieve a positive result.
Material Features
Styrofoam became most popular only in the 20th century.
It entered the market and immediately attracted consumers, as it came in handy in several areas of human activity. Most often, this material is used in construction - for the insulation of buildings.
It is very popular because it has the following positive properties:
- thermal insulation;
- resistance to precipitation;
- reliability, regardless of ambient temperature.
Manufacturing process
For the production of foam at home, there is a special technology that must be followed in order to be successful.
In addition, special equipment is required. The basis is a building material called polystyrene.
Stage 1
Foaming of polystyrene and processing under the influence of high temperatures. Raw materials are placed in a special container, after which, under the influence of high temperatures, polystyrene granules increase. In home production, this process takes only 3-5 minutes and is carefully monitored by workers.
You need to use special equipment.
Stage 2
The result of the first stage can be drops of moisture that form on the surface of the granules. It is removed by drying. Drying at home takes place under the action of hot air. This period lasts about 4 minutes.
Stage 3
The aging process can be up to 6 days.
Its flow rate depends on the size of the granules and the ambient temperature. During this period, the granules should fill all the airless space. This step does not require special equipment.
Stage 4
At this stage, the formation of granules into the final form begins.
This process at home requires special equipment. Granules are fed into the block mold, which, under the influence of high temperatures, acquire the desired shape.
This is done quickly, in 7-10 minutes.
Stage 5
When the blocks have acquired the required shape, they are sorted and stored. After that, the plates are cut in thicknesses of 20, 30, 40, 50 and 100 mm. Most often, blocks of this thickness are used.
The foam production technology is not so complicated, the main thing is to purchase everything necessary equipment for making at home. All stages are carefully controlled by workers. In order to make foam at home High Quality, you should work hard and invest some money in the business.
Room requirement
Business requires a specially equipped premises, which, according to all requirements, is suitable for this type of activity.
The size of the room must be at least 70 m2. Some of it needs to be stored. finished products, i.e. warehouse. The height of the workshop should be 3-5 meters. The room must be equipped with electricity. In addition, it is necessary to organize the supply of dry water vapor with a certain pressure.
In order for the production to be reliable, fast and profitable, you should first purchase a blowing agent, which will come in handy at the first stage of production.
For aging, a special bunker is required. There is a complex for cutting polystyrene, without which the production will also not do.
Do-it-yourself foam cutting
Packs foam blocks with an automatic or semi-automatic machine.
Expanded polystyrene plates are a popular building material.
Styrofoam business will bring high income, but do not forget about high level competition in this area. A large number of products are made from foam plastic. Businessmen involved in this business buy polystyrene in bulk from manufacturers.
By making products yourself, at home, you can save a lot, but when organizing a business, it is important to use only high-quality equipment and raw materials. Foam production at home is a profitable and profitable business!
Fenochny milling The presentation was prepared by a teacher of technology of the highest category
plastic thread foam
They are characterized by low density, thermal, acoustic and electrical insulating properties.
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Expanded Polystyrene Cutting Methods
Homemade styrofoam knives. How to make a thermal cutter from improvised materials.
Department: Garden equipment and tools
Styrofoam (expanded polystyrene) is an extremely fertile material for the home craftsman or builder.
Its most precious features are low thermal conductivity, light weight, elasticity, and durability. Thus, it can be used as a heater and as a building material for the production of various shapes, structures, blank parts, packaging and bases for small architectural forms.
Expanded polystyrene is made in the size of more than a meter block on each side, then the desired thickness of the panel is cut from 3 to 20 cm thick (on request).
To fulfill your creative or building plans the plastic foam should be cut into the right size and shape regardless. Styrofoam is simply cut with a knife or wire. But in this case, the structure of the foam is destroyed, because it is a sintered "sphere" of Styrofoam.
Extruded polystyrene is one mass, but it can also be damaged. Therefore, the use of special electrical patterns for heat treatment is the preferred choice for foam cutting. Their working body is usually a thin nerve wire that heats up, conducting an electrical current through several hundred degrees.
Upon contact, the foam instantly melts and forms a highly sintered layer. The end of the incision becomes smooth, uniform and not colored.
For small slabs, it is best to use a blade with a vertical wire distribution.
The basis of this cutter is a frame made of metal or wooden rods (if it is small). At the bottom of the frame is a work surface - a table. It is made of thicker plywood, particle boards, sheet metal or textolite. Any durable flat material. Above the bezel (see sketch) is a nichrome wire that runs through a hole in the table. If the table is made of flammable material, a piece of metal tubing should be pressed against the wire hole that blends into the table surface.
At the top, the wire is attached to the frame with a screw, and Bottom part wire is a mass of hundreds of grams.
The fact is that the heated wire is very elongated and that it supports the tension and serves as weight. Electrical wires lead to wire ends. If the table is made of metal, the top beam of the frame to which the wire is attached must be insulated from it. For example, the end of the carrier itself may be light. If the table is made of a dielectric material, the frame may be entirely metal.
On this blade, it is suitable for cutting sheet material, making figurative cutting, because the sheet can be turned in any direction.
For high quality cutting, it is better to mark the next cut line on the foam.
However, for "cutting" sheets of size and thickness, as well as in circumstances in which it is impossible to bring the foam to the work table (for example, when performing work on heating houses, excess shear and protruding parts that holes in the entire state of the foam) can be useful and electric hand lamp.
You can also do it yourself.
To do this, you need a wire, preferably with a removable handle. With the help of a cutting apparatus - grinding machines cut teeth from the blade. (They won't be lost - you can get a good garden saw with a narrow cloth of them).
At the end of the rest of the canvas, we drill a hole to attach the nichrome wire.
Attach a tin plate to the handle to secure the other end of the wire. Of course, the blade of the wire must not touch.
To compensate for the expansion of nichrome, when heated, we install a small but strong spring. When cold, the wire must be well stretched and when heated, it must remain in a low tension state to keep the wire straight.
We connect the wires to the end of the wire (we use a saw blade as the wire at the end of the wire that is on the handle). This is a polystyrene hand cutter.
Styrofoam is more suitable than a hot oil knife. However, it should be borne in mind that it is impossible to make milling cuts, just straight (due to the straight blade of the wire).
It is not possible to change the "path" for cutting in the process - correct it correctly. If you need to cut out a complex shape, you need to do it for more repetitions.
The power to be sprayed onto the wire should be approximately 100-150 watts at a length of 50 cm. The resistance of the wire is typically 1-3 ohms. Operating temperature is on the edge of wire redness.
The surge transformer can be used as an AC adapter. On the secondary winding, it should be 6-12 volts with currents up to 10 A. However, "interference" with the transformer makes sense if the cutter is used very often and a lot.
If blade work is fairly sporadic, it's wise to use a small battery. In addition, it breaks hands in terms of mobility. After all, you can work with the battery, although you are standing on the stairs and moving around construction site. And from the point of view of electrical safety, the battery is better.
When working with small details or for very precise sizing, as well as for curved cutting you can use a cutter made from an impulse soldering iron.
Pulse soldering is a very large current transformer and low secondary voltage. The tip of such solder is small in the shape of the letter V of thick nichrome. It is connected to the secondary winding of the transformer and heats up within a few seconds to a high temperature. As a cutter, you can use a soldering iron with ordinary sewing and a self-adhesive soldering iron.
The home cutter is made of thick nichrome wire. It is properly shaped and is attached to solder clamps instead of a regular beam.
A wooden burner can also be a good foam rubber, especially if this model has a nichrome tip.
The Styrofoam cutter will also come from a regular soldering iron, in which the tip is a copper rod. You don't need to remove the sticks, but you can make a nozzle - a knife and a tin.
The soldering iron should be strengthened stronger, 60-100 W, so that the nozzle warms up well.
As you can see, there are many ways to reduce foam, so it's easy to choose the best one for a particular request.
Konstantin Timoshenko © 11/11/2011
You can discuss and discuss other forms of PPC blades on the forum
Polyfoam and foam plastic are materials that are used as insulation in various areas of construction.
What and how to cut foam boards?
They are easy to process, have a small mass, are not subject to the formation of mold and fungus, but are destroyed when exposed to acetone and similar solvents. However, with a huge similarity of materials in some parameters, a significant difference is also visible.
To understand how foam plastic differs from polystyrene, you need to compare their production methods and consumer properties.
This will help to correctly find the scope for each insulation.
Manufacturing features
The raw material for the production of foam plastic and foam plastic is expanded polystyrene. The difference lies in the manufacturing technology. Styrofoam is produced by processing polystyrene granules with dry steam. The result is a material that is 98% air, hence its lightness and inexpensive price.
For penoplex, the extrusion method is used, which contributes to the formation of a single structure.
The resulting material is denser and its degree of breathability is much lower.
Wanting to know what is warmer foam or foam, you need to compare the thermal conductivity coefficients of heaters. For foam plastic, it is 0.035-0.05 W / m × ° C, and for foam plastic it is slightly lower and amounts to 0.28 W / m × ° C. According to the indicators, penoplex retains heat better.
Feature Comparison
Other properties by which both materials are compared include:
In terms of flammability, both materials are easily ignited materials, but foam is more prone to ignite.
To eliminate this drawback, a special treatment with flame retardants is used, which increases the resistance of materials when exposed to fire.
Application area
When figuring out whether polystyrene or polystyrene foam is better as a heater, you need to compare their characteristics in a comprehensive manner. Then for each case you can choose the best option.
It is better to insulate the facade with foam plastic, since it is cheaper and has good breathability.
Therefore, you can save not only on thermal insulation material, but also reduce the cost of vapor barrier.
For thermal insulation of a flat roof, two options are beneficial.
When insulating a balcony, the thermal insulation should be as thin as possible so as not to take up extra space. In this case, it is advisable to choose penoplex, which has a low thermal conductivity.
Overview Styrofoam or foam plastic: similarities and differences.
In construction, work is often carried out related to the insulation of structures, where foam is used, as the most inexpensive material. Accordingly, the density of such a heater is low, which leads to the formation of a lot of garbage when it is cut, which is quite difficult to collect, since the pieces of foam tend to become electrified and stick to everything that comes in their way. To facilitate the process of cutting insulation material, there are many methods and devices that help cut foam without crumbs.
Styrofoam cut-outs with even cuts
How and how to cut foam
In order to cut certain form insulation, any device for cutting foam can be used:
- hacksaw for wood or metal;
- soldering iron;
- angle grinder, called "grinder";
- thin metal wire like a string;
- thermal cutter;
- foam cutting machine;
- electric jigsaw with a heated saw blade.
If a wood saw is chosen, then its teeth should be as small as possible. All tools that are not heated to a certain temperature do not guarantee that the foam will not crumble. Such tools are used for small amounts of work, but when it is necessary to insulate all the enclosing structures of the house, it is better to use a foam cutting machine, the action of which is based on heating the cutting element.
How to cut foam with a knife so that it does not crumble
When do-it-yourself plates are used in the process of insulating walls, floors, roofs polymer material, thermal cutters are not always justified. Designs, as a rule, have strictly geometric shapes, and it is quite possible to cut the material with a simple knife, the main thing is that the blade is thin, and its length exceeds the thickness of the insulation sheet. A good tool for such work is a clerical knife if you have to cut polystyrene foam of small thickness.
To cut foam with a knife, you need to choose a long blade The fact is that the blade of such a tool is very thin and when cutting a sheet, it is unlikely that it will be possible to achieve a large thickness of an ideally even cut, convolutions may form on the cut, which will not allow to make a tight fit of the individual parts of the insulation. And this will lead to the formation of cold bridges.
In addition to the knife, you will need:
- Measuring rigid ruler or rail of ideal shape.
- Roulette.
- Simple pencil, marker.
Polystyrene is cut on a solid base so that the sheet does not “play” in the hands. Marks are made on the surface of the polystyrene plate right size, after which a rigid ruler or rail is laid, and a cut is made with a sharp knife. If the length of the knife blade is not enough, you can make cuts on two opposite sides of the sheet, the main thing is not to go astray. Then, along the cut, the sheet is simply broken. With proper skill, the work will go quickly, without extra noise and electricity costs. Garbage, of course, will be, but not so much as from a hacksaw. The main thing is that the tool is very sharp and the right length.
Before cutting the material, the tool must be heated, and the blade must be sharpened periodically.
Styrofoam cut with a clerical knife and a thermal knife - comparison of the cut line How to cut foam without using thermal devices
The principle of cutting foam sheets with a hacksaw, regardless of whether it is a metal or wood blade, is no different from cutting with a knife, the main thing is that the teeth are small and the blade is of sufficient length.
In this case, the cut will be more even and a lot of small debris will not form. The movement of the saw must be done smoothly, without jerking. But even with this cutting method, there will be a lot of crumbs of expanded polystyrene.
You can cut foam sheets using an electric jigsaw or an angle grinder (grinder). However, with this method, a huge amount of garbage is guaranteed.
Bulgarian for cutting foam The high speed of rotation of the grinder disc and sufficiently large teeth will provoke a strong destruction of the material structure at the point of cut. When using a jigsaw, it is also impossible to obtain a perfectly flat surface on the cut, due to the vibration of the file, which also leads to the formation of small polymer debris.
The least foam crumbs are formed when cutting it, if a home-made device for cutting foam is used. The simplest kind such a device is an ordinary thin wire (string), to the ends of which handles are attached, for greater convenience. The diameter of the wire must be chosen the smallest, no more than 0.5 mm. Here one person can not cope, you will need an assistant. The wire is installed at the intended mark on the foam and uniform movements are made from both sides. As a result of the friction of the metal wire on the polystyrene foam, it heats up and the material begins to melt at the cut point.
Cutting foam with a string - the method is the most efficient in terms of the formation of a minimum amount of debris, but the time spent on such work is much longer than when cutting with other tools.
Thermal devices and devices
Cutting foam on a thermal machine Not always the use of insulation involves cutting it to the correct geometric dimensions. Sometimes you have to cut semicircles, holes and other shapes with intricate contours. And here a knife or a hacksaw will no longer help. But a foam cutting machine, which can be built with your own hands, will be able to cope with such work.
Figured products made of foam plastic and foam plastic The principle of operation of such devices is that an electric voltage is applied to the cutting element, as a result of which it heats up to a certain temperature, which can be controlled by a special device. And given the fusibility of the material, cutting polystyrene foam with a heated string or wire is easy and fast. And at the same time, stubborn small debris is not formed.
How to build a thermal foam cutter yourself
If you choose the better to cut the insulation without the formation of small debris, then in the first place, of course, will be professional equipment. But for home use, acquiring such a device can be an expensive "pleasure", so many craftsmen make a foam plastic cutting machine with their own hands.
Schematic drawing of a thermal cutter for horizontal cutting of foam Necessary materials and tools
To assemble a cutting thermal device, you will need:
- Tungsten (nichrome) wire Ø 0.2mm.
- Materials for the manufacture of the frame - bars, metal profiles of any section. Springs for attaching a tungsten filament.
- Rheostat or step-down transformer.
- Insulators.
- Terminals.
Tungsten wire can be bought at a specialized store or obtained from household appliances - from any heater, oil coma. Cut off the desired piece of the spiral and straighten it so that it is even.
In the heater, the spiral is made of tungsten wire On a solid and solid base, you need to assemble the frame of the device. It can be a table, workbench or some other surface. Need to attach vertical elements from metal to the base at such a distance that a sheet of expanded polystyrene freely passes between them. Next, springs are attached to the vertical posts, insulators to the springs, and tungsten wire to them.
Springs are needed in order to support the wire in horizontal position, since when heated, it tends to change its dimensions upwards, which threatens to sag if there are no springs. Instead of springs, weights can be used, the task of which will be the same as that of springs.
When such a cutter is rarely used, a battery can serve as a power source, which is undoubtedly safer than electrical network, where the voltage is more than 220 V, while the battery gives out no more than 10 -12, and this is quite enough to heat the wire. In the presence of a rheostat, the voltage applied to the tungsten filament can be adjusted depending on the thickness of the sheet and the speed of its movement on the table.
This device will allow you to cut the foam into horizontal plates, the thickness of which will depend on the distance between the wire and the table. If you want to cut the material vertically, the wire must also be installed vertically.
1 - Tungsten wire 4 - Device base
The vertical foam cutter is suitable for cutting extruded and regular foam shapes. When using such a device, the cut is smooth and without crumbs. This device works on the principle of a jigsaw. In order to make a figured part, it is better to use foam plastic, a material obtained by extrusion from a polymer feedstock - styrene, while foam plastic is not pressed styrene.
Cutting foam plastic with a modernized soldering iron You can quickly make a thermal cutter from a soldering iron. To do this, a blade is installed at the end of the tool, if you need to cut the foam vertically or horizontally, or a crown from an electric drill, when you want to make a hole in the material, a notch. Instead of a crown, it is allowed to use a home-made round part, which is made of galvanized iron.
The main essence of the article
How to cut foam - with a mechanical tool - a knife, a saw, an electric one - an angle grinder, a jigsaw, or using devices with a heated cutting element, everyone chooses at their discretion. Thermal appliances eliminate the formation of debris, but are expensive. For home use, there is an opportunity to save money and make a thermal foam cutting machine with your own hands.
How to cut polystyrene so that it does not crumble
Styrofoam or expanded polystyrene refers to a universal material that is used for insulation and sound insulation in building structures. The basis of its structure is formed by foamed plastic. This explains why the foam often crumbles when cutting. 
When processing the material, it is necessary to decide how it needs to be cut so that the cut line is even and the crumbs are as small as possible.
Styrofoam cutting is carried out using mechanical and thermal types of tools. For beginners, especially with small cutting volumes, it is recommended to use a mechanical tool.
Mechanical cutting . The most common tools at hand include a knife, a jigsaw, a saw and a grinder.
Ordinary knife . The main focus when choosing a knife is its blade. If it is sharp, then the cutting process is faster, and less waste is generated. The knife must be preheated before cutting.
The disadvantage of this method is that the use of a knife is possible with a foam thickness of 1-5 cm.
shoe knife . As a rule, this knife is initially quite sharp. Therefore, its blade is relatively easy to pass through the cellular structure of the foam.
Disadvantages in use:
Ability to cut only thin sheets;
The knife blade becomes dull quickly;
The need to have a grindstone.
stationery knife . The clerical version of the knife is best used for soft material. This knife has thin and flexible blades, so it is not practiced for processing thick plates.
Advantages:
Little garbage;
Availability of acquisition;
Low cost.
The stationery knife has a set of interchangeable blades. Blunt blades break off, which leads to their high consumption.
Electric jigsaw
. Trimming with a jigsaw is used when cutting foam up to 10 cm in thickness. This method does not require much effort. 
Flaws:
The cut is never perfectly even;
A sufficient amount of crumb is formed;
Cannot be used when there is no power supply
Hand saw for wood . If the thickness of the foam reaches 40 mm, then it is better to cut it with a hacksaw for wood. The method is quite simple and fast, without the cost of special physical effort.
A saw with fine teeth is better. This tool is only used for making straight cuts.
"Bulgarian" . The advantages of the grinder are that it, as it were, cuts the foam itself, if you use the thinnest circles.
However, it is not recommended to cut thick material with a grinder. You will not get a qualitative result, but there will be an extremely large amount of garbage.
In addition, this option is not very good due to the screeching that occurs when the foam plastic interacts with the circle of the machine. Plus, the noise of the tool's engine is added to it. Therefore, in the case of cutting a large number of foam plates, you should wear headphones from the very beginning. Add to this list also the cost of electricity that you need to pay.
Nichrome wire cutter . The practice of working with foam shows that a high-quality cut is formed when using a tool with a heated wire. The edges are even, smooth, and there are practically no crumbs. The advantages of the method include high cutting speed and productivity in volumes similar to industrial ones.
The active use of the method is hampered by the difficulty of acquiring it due to the lack of it in stores. With an urgent need for a machine, there is only one way out - to make a cutter yourself. This is a separate issue, to which many good articles on the Internet are devoted, containing step by step instructions and illustrations.
Easy way to cut
Cutting can be done with thin steel wire. It should be fixed on wooden handles. They are located at different ends of the surface intended for cutting. Sawing resembles the process of sawing firewood. You will need an assistant who will take one of the pens. Friction heats the string, so the cut line is even and smooth.
Follow the safety rules, considering that when heated, the formation and release of substances harmful to the body occurs. Work in a well ventilated area or outdoors.
Outcome
From the review, we can make a general conclusion that the process of cutting foam plastic proceeds quite simply and quickly. The processing method is selected depending on the selected tool, the amount of work, the shape (rectilinear, sinuous or volumetric) in which the result is to be obtained.
How and how to cut foam at home
The widespread availability of massive full-sized foam boards automatically led to a boom in the use of a relatively durable, soft and at the same time easy-to-work material at home. In fact, it became possible to manufacture a huge number of all kinds of useful things from a thick foam sheet, you just need to choose a way, how and with what to cut the foam, in order to prevent deformation, breaking or crumbling of the material.
Why is it difficult to cut foam
The widespread use of foam material was largely constrained by a porous structure resembling a compressed layer of tiny polystyrene cells filled with a gas-forming agent.
If you have ever cut foam sheets, then you probably noticed this feature:
- The denser and heavier the material, the easier it is to cut it with sharp tools. The thinner the cutting edge, the easier and faster it is to cut even the hardest carbamide foam;
- Lightweight foam grades are easiest to cut with power tools. The faster the cutting edge speed, the cleaner the cut surface. In industrial conditions, thin foam boards cut with a thin water jet, practically without waste;
- When trying to cut a slab with a sharp blade with several movements, a situation arises when each new cut almost doubles the amount of foam sawdust and dust.
Advice! Craftsmen prefer to cut thin foam plates using a shoe method. To do this, with a sharpened wide blade, a cut is made with a knife “on itself” with great effort, without changing the angle of inclination and the depth of the cut.
Most modellers and craftsmen who work professionally with foam will argue that cutting foam plates is not difficult at all, especially since the density and strength of the material is relatively low. And they will be right. Cutting foam at home is not difficult, you just need to accurately select the mode and equipment for cutting foam.
The number of options for the practical application and use of polystyrene for those who know how to work with their own hands has long exceeded a hundred. Dozens of different models, injection molds, toys, stucco, decorative elements, insulation, parts of acoustic systems and even refrigerators. The main problem that accompanies any attempt to process the material mechanically, is the selection of the mode, how and with what to cut the foam so that it does not crumble, as a result, cutting is always accompanied by the formation of a large amount of waste.
If the tip cutting tool insufficiently sharpened or moving at low speed, when trying to cut the smallest gas-filled balls, the cutting edge does not cut them, but slides over the polystyrene foam, crushes and tears out of the compressed foam mass. It is possible to cut a foam sheet in this way, but a huge amount of waste is generated.
Technology, how to properly cut a foam sheet
For home conditions, you can offer several proven methods:
- With the help of a sharply sharpened shoe or construction knife;
- Hacksaw for metal with an improved hacksaw blade;
- A powerful soldering iron with a razor blade mounted on the tip;
- Thermal cutter or hot nichrome spiral;
- Electric jigsaw or grinder.
Important! Any attempt to cut the foam sheet with hot blades, wires, or high-speed tools must be done under a fume hood or outdoors, as large amounts of volatile toxic substances are released when the foam is melted.
If the foam needs to be cut with a jigsaw or grinder, then be sure to use a respirator and goggles. Styrofoam dust becomes highly electrified during cutting and sticks with incredible force to the skin of the hands, face, gets into the eyes and lungs.
Styrofoam cutting scheme mechanically
The easiest way is to cut a thin, up to 50 mm, plate with a regular, even a table knife. To do this, the foam plate is placed on the edge of the desktop and a cut is made. The cutting edge of the knife should be as close as possible to the reference plane. Before cutting, the blade must be sharpened and touched up on a polishing wheel.
The cut off part of the sheet must be supported so as not to break off the material under load. In order to cut with maximum quality, the knife is moved with little effort in one direction - “away from you”, the reverse stroke of the blade is performed “idle”. If you have to cut a sheet laid out on the table top with a shoe knife, then the direction of the application of force changes to the opposite - “to yourself”.
It is strongly not recommended to cut thin-sheet foam material on weight or in a vertical position.
It is much easier to cut the foam with a hacksaw. For dense grades, the hacksaw blade can not be changed; for highly porous foam sheets, the side surfaces of the blade are ground on a sharpener to remove the teeth divorce. A hacksaw can be cut in almost any position without restrictions.
The most productive tool for cutting sheets is an angle grinder or angle grinder. Depending on the diameter of the cutting wheel, the grinder can cut foam up to 50 mm thick on the fly. In this case, the quality of the cut will be much higher than in the case of using a knife or saw. The disadvantage of this method is a large amount of dust and chips. If you reduce the foam cutting speed to a minimum, the material will begin to burn and melt, which is not always allowed by cutting conditions.
It is enough just to cut the foam sheet with a jigsaw. In terms of performance and quality of cut, the jigsaw is inferior to the grinder, but it has an invaluable advantage - it can be used to make curly cuts that are difficult to obtain by other mechanical cutting methods.
Thermal methods for cutting foam
The second most common way to cut foam is a thermal cutter. In fact, this is a nichrome thread laid on a frame in the form of a frame. When passing electric current along a nichrome wire, the metal surface heats up and melts the foam. There are several cutter design options. The simplest looks like a nichrome string stretched over ceramic insulators mounted on the ends of a wooden or metal frame.
With such a tool, you can cut not only foam sheets, but also wooden slats, plastic pipes, any material with a melting or decomposition temperature of up to 270 ° C.
If you need to cut plates with a long cut length, then it will be more convenient to use the machine in the form of a vertically stretched thread on a textolite stand.
To control the heating of a nichrome string, an LATR or a rheostat is used. Excessively high surface temperatures can cause the foam to melt and even ignite. A remarkable property of this cutting method is the complete absence of dust and chips, in addition, the cut surface is fused, as if coated with alkyd varnish.
If only small fragments of the foam block need to be cut during the processing of the foam, for example, when making a sculpture or a model, it is best to use a nozzle for a powerful electric soldering iron.
Separately, we should mention the most interesting way of cutting foam with a laser. Perhaps it will seem fantastic, even at home, laser cutting of foam is possible, photo. A conventional LED laser with a power of 2-5 W allows you to cut a sheet of foam in a completely arbitrary trajectory.
While such a tool is able to cut paper and foam within 10-15 minutes, it will be very difficult to achieve large volumes of cutting on it.
Conclusion
It is possible to cut foam plastic with a laser beam only if the white surface of the foam plastic is treated with a black or dark absorbing layer, for example, with ordinary acrylic paint. It would be more rational to install a laser on a machine or a homemade CNC gun carriage from a router. In this case, you can not only cut, but also form 3D models from thick foam blocks. To get the exact dimensions of the model, the laser must be pulsed.
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How to remove mold in the bathroom
Styrofoam boards are a thick and highly porous material, they consist of more than 95% air, and it is difficult to cut them if you are not used to them. How to cut foam depends on the type of cut, the availability of a tool and the amount of cutting work.
Ordinary polystyrene - terminology and material characteristics
In a broad sense, foam plastics are an extensive class of cellular (foamed) plastics based on polyurethane, polyvinyl chloride, urea, phenol, and even formaldehyde. All these materials are united by a minimum density and an internal structure in the form of often located and small gas cavities. However, in practice, one has to deal with the only type of foam - low-pressure polystyrene foam, abbreviated PSV.
Only it has an affordable cost, all other cellular plastics in production are much more expensive and are rarely used in the construction and repair business. international name low pressure polystyrene foam (PSV) is the brand name styrofoam, patented by the developer BASF back in the 50s of the XX century. Documentation for imported foam often uses the abbreviation EPS. For practical purposes, it is important to know that all these terms - styrofoam, PSV andEPS - denote an ordinary and well-known from childhood polystyrene foam.
The structure in the form of small gas pores and the significant dimensions of the plates determine the main operational advantages of the foam:
- Excellent thermal insulation from any side of the house. It is possible to perform, it is possible to carry out this procedure from the outside, it is possible to combine external and internal thermal insulation, and the cost of such a “double” protection will still be lower than the estimate for a newfangled roll insulator;
- Excellent acoustic protection of the premises. In fact, sound comfort is already achieved during thermal insulation work - if frost cannot penetrate the foam layer, then loud sounds are even more unable to do so;
- Environmental Safety. The foam is absolutely non-toxic, including on exposed cut lines and with prolonged use. Some varieties are allowed to come into contact with food, which is regulated European standards quality (!). Moreover, polystyrene is safe during repairs; there is not the slightest need to try “by the tooth” the walls pasted over with it;
- High resistance to mold, dampness, microorganisms, fungi, algae and other unwanted companions of human life. In order to enhance the durability of such consumer qualities, do-it-yourself foam cutting must be done accurately and competently;
- Ease of installation due to miniature weight. This quality greatly simplifies the transportation and laying of foam, however, when working outdoors, you should pay attention to possible "wind difficulties" - even a slight breath of breeze will easily carry away the foam blank.
Of course, before any use of the foam, it is necessary to take into account possible complications. Firstly, this material is destroyed by exposure to most technical fluids - from acetone and gasoline to white spirit and enamel solvents. This destruction is intense even with the vaporous action of technical fluids on the foam.
Secondly, it is necessary to turn Special attention on the expected operating temperature of the surface pasted over with foam. Already at +50 ˚C - +60 ˚C, some types of foam boards begin to crumble, their internal bubbles combine into extensive gaps and cavities. Painting surfaces insulated with foam plastic must be thought out in advance, otherwise the thermal comfort of the entire room will suffer from toxic nitro paint.
To repair kitchens, saunas and brightly lit facades, foam plastic should be used with great care - high temperatures destroy it.
Areas of application for foam...
… are not limited to the construction and repair direction. Foam boards and sheets are widely used in the following areas of human activity:
- In medicine - cases for equipment, packaging for glass and sharp objects;
- In the organization of active leisure - inserts in life jackets, the contents of buoys, floats;
- In the repair of refrigeration and climate equipment;
- In shipbuilding, as an unsinkable compartment filler on small vessels (boats, boats);
- For design purposes, in construction and modeling.
So, not only for or thermal protection of walls, the question of how to cut polystyrene is relevant. You can make a boat model from it, build a protection for the refrigeration circuit in an air conditioner, or make a decorative figurine of a unique design. The light weight and affordability of the material should not be misleading about the simplicity of its machining - foam cutting has a number of its secrets and tricks.
How to cut foam at home - simple and effective ways
Cutting small pieces of foam (for modeling-construction) is done with a well-sharpened knife with a rubber tip on the tip. It is advisable to secure the workpiece in a vise or other auxiliary device. The fact is that it is easy for a steel blade to slip off a small part, and there is a chance of cutting yourself. All movements when cutting small foam blanks should be directed “away from you” and to the side.
For particularly precise cutting of foam elements, you can use a soldering iron with a special nozzle-knife. With light movements of the heated blade, the material is given the necessary shape of an arbitrary type. You should be careful about the danger of getting hot drops of plastic on your hands or other parts of the body. If it is necessary to cut sheet foam, with precise fitting of parts for continuous installation, the following techniques are used:
- For sheets up to 40 mm thick - an ordinary shoe knife with a wide blade and a blunt point. Before work, the blade is sharpened, and in general the sharpener must be kept at hand - every 1.5-2 meters the knife will have to be corrected again. The work will be accompanied by a characteristic "squeal" of the foam being cut, so it does not hurt to stock up earplugs or headphones. Knife cutting is good for fitting the sheet to a specific mounting dimension, for example when installing the final strips of thermal insulation;
- Hacksaw, but with fine teeth, suitable for sheets of thickness< 80 мм. Чем меньше величина зубцов, тем точнее и ровнее будет срез. При резке с помощью ножовки прикладывается гораздо меньшее усилие, чем при использовании самого sharp knife and much less chance of injury. The method is relevant if you need long, straight cuts of the same type;
- Hot wire cutting is the best and most productive way to cut foam. Unfortunately, it assumes a stationary location of the cutting tool, but it has no equal in terms of speed and accuracy of cutting.
We need a long knitting needle, nichrome wire, a 12-24 Volt step-down transformer, an adjustable rheostat and electric wires sufficient section. Electrical components are assembled in serial circuit, the knitting needle is fixed on the layout, a nichrome thread is pulled between its ends. When a small current is applied, nichrome heats up and easily cuts the foam of arbitrary thickness.
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