How to Decide Which Machine to Use When Cutting Foam and the Type of Foam to Cut

How to Make a decision Which Machine to Use When Cutting Foam and the Type of Foam to Reduce

There is a vast development in demand for foam cutting today, specifically for fabrication and machining. The demand for foam cutting and machining is vital in a variety of sorts of industries, like props, sculptures, indicators, monuments, displays, prototypes, architectural shapes, crown moldings and wall caps for building, packaging insulations, wings and so a lot more.

Businesses cutting foam require to use top of the line cutting equipment to supply a wide range of foam cutting services. The cutting can be accomplished either by using a CNC hot wire foam cutter, a CNC router or a CNC laser cutter. The hot wire can reduce practically any thickness of foam, and up to 12 feet projects and far more While the laser cutter is cable of cutting quite thin cuts (up to ¾”), manufacturing a high-high quality surface finish. The CNC router on the other hand uses a machining drilling-like motion to reduce any 3D foam cut. The choice of regardless of whether to use a laser or a hot wire cutter is primarily based on the kind of foam (for instance, Polyurethane, also recognized as PU foam can only be cut with the laser), on the thickness and the size of the foam to be cut.

Most CNC hot wire foam cutters are capable of cutting the following sorts of foam:
EPS foam – Expanded Polystyrene
EPP foam – Expanded Polypropylene
XPS foam – Extruded Polystyrene

The smaller foam cutters will normally cut wings, fuselages, logos and letters. The medium foam cutters will cut equivalent shapes to modest ones, with the addition of being able to reduce crown moldings and trims utilised in the architectural industries, although the huge foam cutting machines are employed mostly by construction contractors and massive sign manufacturers.

The following types of foam can be cut with the laser cutters and engravers:
Polyurethane – Mostly for packaging, insulation and gun circumstances
Polyethylene or EVA foam – For 3D shapes, packaging and tool trays
Polystyrene – For packaging, crown moldings, indicators and props
Polycarbonate (also known as Plexiglas) – For cutting and engraving
MDF – For vacuum molding types.
If the components to be cut are wood or light metals, the use of a CNC router is required.

The diverse cutting machines differ in their dimensions and size, like their powerful cutting on the X axis (horizontal) and the Y axis (vertical), their hot wire length, and other features such as cutting speed capabilities, how a lot of blocks of foam can be cut in a single single reduce and the kind of cuts made (tapered or not tapered).

For projects requiring machining foam or fabrication of foam there is a need to have to use CNC routers or a combo of a CNC hot wire foam cutter with a router technique. Complete scale racing vehicles, 3D topographic maps (up to 10’x5’x20″ on a single cut), props and art perform can all be machined, and foam molds can also be developed.

All of the cutting machines are CNC, which implies they are controlled by a personal computer and come with specialized cutting software program.
The procedure of cutting the foam requires specialized files that incorporate the shape drawing. For 2D shapes a DXF file is required, although for 3D shapes an STL file is required, which allows to rotate the shape and see all the angles of it for far better accuracy.
As soon as the correct file is received, the data is entered into the computer which is connected to the foam cutter, which includes all the coordinated needed for cutting that certain shape. Upon finishing of cutting the shape necessary, it can be sanded to either a rough or a smooth finish, according to the customer’s request. Large scale shapes are made in many pieces, then glued collectively to make the comprehensive shape. The cut can also be coated with Polyethylene coating, Polyurea and paint it if necessary. The finish solution wants to be durable, powerful and extended lasting.

About our organization
WeCutFoam has vast experience in customized cutting shapes out of foam, Plexiglas, Polyurethane, EVA, acrylic, wood and metal. The organization cut indicators, letters, logos, architectural shapes, sculptures, prototypes, crown molding, packaging material and much more. It specializes in producing custom foam props for events, movie sets, theaters, museums and theme parks. The firm also supplies scanning, sanding, carving, coating and painting solutions for any project, producing full scale 3D shapes up 100 feet and far more.

Electrical engineer with over 30 years expertise with hardware, computer software and motion manage. He is the owner of Foamlinx LLC www.foamlinx.com designing and manufacturing CNC hot wire foam cutters and CNC routers, and WeCutFoam www.wecutfoam.com supplying foam cutting services utilizing his own machinery line.