Cutting foam

[NZMatt]

Gudday everyone.

Looking for some help with cutting foam. I know about 6" wall-board saws, craft knives (good for <1" thick stuff) and some other general stuff, but I was wondering if comeone could tell me how to smoothly and cleanly cut large pieces (e.g. saddles). How do the outfitting manufacturers do it and retain such a smooth finish? I've heard suggestions of hot wires and band saws, but wasn't sure.

Hot wires seem like they might be hard to keep straight and hot unless done with a wire heated by electrical resistance stretched across a frame - and wouldn't that lead to a melted appearance?

Band saws seem a likely option, but is it the right way and what sort of blade do you use?

Any thoughts?

Matt

[James]

I have heard the band saw works great, haven`t tried it myself. I just started using an old electric carving knife, works pretty good. The thanksgiving turkey might be trouble this year though...

Hacksaw blade isn`t too bad either. Or the breadknife when the significant other is looking the other way.

[Sir Adam]

The most "factory" outfitting I've ever seen done by a CBoater was Jamie Dors-he used a Band Saw. Apparently the trick is moving the foam at an angle to the blade (vs. straight on), but that is second-or third hand info. Personally, I use a wallboard saw (or hacksaw, depending on what's lying around), and then "finish" it with dragonskin or a rasp. Works well, and looks good, if you like that sort of finish. Sometimes I cement 1/8" neoprene foam over the top anyway-it's "grippy", and looks cool (it's black, vs grey).

If you find out any other tricks, let us know! I've noticed the "Outfitting" page gets a lot of hits, and I hope to do some major upgrades to it in the near future.

[Timzjatl]

A bandsaw is the ticket for cutting large sheets to size. I find that a relatively coarse blade at ~3000in/min of blade is best. For massive shaping projects, I've also found that a 4 1/2" Angle grinder can be used, just takes a steady hand, since it can remove lots of foam at once. I will NEVER do the big shaping work with dragon skin again!
Tim

[Cone Bone]

I've had good luck cutting minicell foam with various power saws: table saw, jig saw, sawzall, circular saw - all with good luck. The cuts are smoother than cuts made with hand tools, even with acoarse blade in the electric saw.

Sanding with electric sanding tools never seemed to work very well, the times I have tried it. I look forward to trying an angle grinder in the future.

[C1Deli]

I too aspire to that clean-cut look, but somehow it never ends up like that ...

I've had some success with using an iron (as in to iron your shirts with) and a piece of plain paper -- just press down on the foam with the paper inbetween the iron and the foam to stop it sticking.

Depending on the foam, you can get a really nice skin. The foam has to be sanded pretty smooth first though.

/edwin

PS make sure you don't leave any bits of molten black foam on the iron otherwise they end up on your wife's white blouse which means big trouble ...