Home Built Hot Wire CNC Foam cutter
Day 1 - Vertical Y Axis
Day 2 - Horizontal X Axis
Day 3 - Lead Screw
Day 4 - Electronics
Day 5 - Finalizing the machine
Other CNC foam cutters
A New Design - Hot wire CNC Foam cutter
Foam Sample Cuts
Foam Cutting Videos
Links - RC stuff, Stepper Motors, Lead Screws
More information - about stepper motors

Links
DIY Mach3 with Joystick and gamepad
FoamLinx Site - Foam Cutting CNC Machines
CNCLinx Site - CNC Router Tables
Foam Cutting Services - EPP, EPS, XPS
All About Foam Forum - Beta
Composites Prototyping and Design
Large and Configurable CNC Machines *
Online Store



Articles
How to coat EPS foam (Crown Moldings)
How to build an EPS Foam Recycler
How to build an EPS base and Cap cutter
How is EPS manufactured - molded
How to make RC foam planes
How to cut EPS, XPS, EPP foam
How to cut Polyurethane foam ( PU )
How to cut Acrylics - Laser cutting

What is - more info about foam
What is EPS foam
What is XPS foam
What is EPP foam - Expanded Polypropylene
What is PE foam - Polyethylene foam
What is Polyurethane foam
What is Memory Foam

                                 Interesting videos

EPS foam cutting - multiple wire foam cutter - FC5555 CNC foam cutter
With an 8020 extruded aluminum rod on which we mounted 3 wires
By adding 2 more wires (total of 3) we can triple the throughput of the machine


Another video of a multiple wire foam cutter - same machine cutting the 3M
Logo out of EPP foam, 3 wires means 3 times the amount of foam that
can be cut in a given time

The below video shows our larger machine - the FCX848 cutting multiple shapes

Same CNC foam cutter cutting a different shape running at 25"/min
Cutting 1LB EPS foam



Foam coating process -
1st step is to cut the shape
2nd step is to cover the EPS foam with an adhesive mesh
3rd step is to coat the foam with "foamtite"

 



EPS foam shredder - So much foam left over - what to do ?
We have a few shredders, all of the foam that is left over is
shredded and placed in bags, then we send it back to the
factory to be mixed with the raw material to make new foam blocks
More on EPS foam shredders
 

Another video showing how to coat EPS foam

 

Polyurethane foam cutter - Polyurethane foam should not be cut with hot wire
The way to cut polyurethane is with a blade or an abrasive wire.
There are two types of Polyurethane CNC foam cutters.
1 Blade type - very expensive - about $50,000 and up - runs very fast
1 Abrasive wire - not expensive - about $25,000 runs slower
Here is our CNC Polyurethane foam in action
For more information visit our official site at http://www.foamlinx.com/soft_foam_cutters.html

What I do for fun
We took a GWS tigermoth and strapped a Casio Exlim camera to its side
And flew it over the Baylands park in Sunnyvale CA
 

 
Simple way to get rid of EPS foam - cut to size and try to give away :-)
We call it a home made EPS foam recycler

 
Polyurethane and Polyethylene foam shredder
 

EPS foam shredder - we use it to shred the polystyrene foam and fill bean bags
This EPS foam shredder has a massive 7.5KW 3x220V motor !!

Notice in the video, how the foam is "sucked" into the machine.

Foam compactor Video

Cutting XPS foam (blue Styrofoam)


Polyurethane foam cutter cutting ESTER foam

Cutting a 6 foot tapered wing