How to cut penoplex along the canvas

How to cut high quality foam at home

Foam boards are widely used as insulation. When arranging thermal insulation in a house, it is often required to cut the material according to the required size. Styrofoam cutting can be done with a variety of tools. But in order to do this smoothly, quickly and efficiently, a special device is required, which, if necessary, can be built with your own hands.

Easy way to cut

Cutting can be done with thin steel wire. It should be secured to wooden handles. They are placed at different ends of the cutting surface. Sawing resembles the process of sawing wood. You will need an assistant who will take one of the pens. From friction, the string heats up, so the cutting line turns out to be even and smooth.

From the review, we can make a general conclusion that the process of cutting foam is quite simple and fast. The processing method is selected depending on the selected tool, the amount of work, the shape (straight, winding or volumetric) in which the result should be obtained.

Self-made cutter technology

There are many options for constructing effective foam cutters from improvised means. Two of them are especially popular. a cutter and a machine with nichrome thread. Each tool is quite simple to use and is able to provide an even and high-quality cutting of cellular material.

How to DIY a Foam Thermal Cutter

If you choose the best way to cut the insulation without the formation of small debris, then, of course, professional equipment will come first. But for home use, the purchase of such a device can be an expensive “pleasure”, so many craftsmen make a machine for cutting foam with their own hands.

Schematic drawing of a thermal cutter for horizontal cutting of foam

Nichrome wire cutting

To use this tool, you will need to additionally assemble the device. It will include not only a nichrome thread, but also a 12 or 24 volt transformer. In advance, you must also take a piece of a small pipe and a table.

The string will be tensioned by a spring. Nichrome is a material that is part of any hair dryer. The apparatus must function in such a way that the thread heats up and can melt the foam.

Thanks to this, it is possible to obtain various complex shapes from the material.

In order for the device to start functioning, a wooden block is fixed on the table. You must first make a hole in it and install a piece of pipe. Next, you need to fix the nichrome wire on it using a spring. It will only heat up after being connected to the transformer. A piece of foam should be brought to it and given the required size.

Homemade machine

A stationary installation for cutting foam plastic allows you to more accurately cut the cellular product along the outlined lines. In the process of processing, you do not need to make movements with the tool, but simply move the material itself. You can make a machine with your own hands.

Homemade foam cutting machine

For the manufacture of a stationary cutter, you must prepare the following devices:

  • two long self-tapping screws with wide heads.
  • nichrome string;
  • wires for connecting current;
  • rheostat for adjusting the charge strength;
  • 12 volt step-down transformer.

A table is used as a basis. The supporting part can be made by yourself. The main condition for its manufacture is the presence of a flat, smooth surface. Table sizes are selected arbitrarily.

How to cut styrofoam with your own hands: step by step instructions

Typical construction remains in the distant past. Today, each owner strives to make his home functional and individual. At the same time, attention is paid not only to the design.

Sound insulation, heat preservation and proper ventilation are also important. A lot of work can be done with foam. However, manufacturers pack the material into large sheets.

That is why it is important to choose a reliable and comfortable tool for cutting them.

Cutting polystyrene foam with an angle grinder

Cutting the expanded polystyrene plate can be done with an angle grinder, using a metal disc for this work (you need to choose the thinnest disc).

Such a cutting option is not efficient and comfortable enough, since the work is accompanied by a lot of noise, and after they are completed, a large amount of debris remains.

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How to cut penoplex lengthwise

Foam boards are a thick and highly porous material, they consist of more than 95% air, and if you are not used to cutting them, it is difficult to cut them. How to cut the foam depends on the type of cut, the availability of tools and the amount of cutting work.

How and how to cut polystyrene

In order to cut a certain shape of insulation, any device for cutting foam can be used:

  • knife;
  • hacksaw for wood or metal;
  • soldering iron;
  • an angle grinder called an “angle grinder”;
  • thin metal wire such as a string;
  • thermal cutter;
  • foam cutting machine;
  • jigsaw with heated file.

If a hacksaw is chosen for wood, then its teeth should be as small as possible. All tools that do not heat up to a certain temperature do not guarantee that the foam will not crumbly. 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 an apparatus for cutting foam, the action of which is based on heating the cutting element.

Knife cutting

When insulating the floor base or ceiling using foam plates, it is not at all necessary to use special equipment.

To cut polystyrene foam at home, you must have:

  • Good knife.
  • Ruler more than one meter long.
  • Pencil.

The procedure for cutting polystyrene foam boards in this way is quite simple:

  • Preliminarily, on the surface of the material, the points of the beginning and end of the cutting line of the cut are marked with a pencil.
  • Next, a ruler is applied to these marks, clamped, and an incision is carefully made along it with a painting knife (it is not necessary to completely cut off a piece of foam).
  • The expanded polystyrene board is turned over to the other side, and the cut is made in the same way, parallel to the cut already made.
  • After making the cuts, you just need to break the foam along the mowing line.

This method of cutting material is the cheapest, quietest and fastest, and after the end of the work there is practically no debris. Be sure to check the sharpness of the knife before starting cutting the foam.

An unconventional cutting method. nichrome thread

All the methods presented above allow us to process expanded polystyrene exclusively in a straight, even mowing line. In situations where you need to make an unusual shape, semicircle or zigzag, you can use unconventional methods. For example, nichrome thread. With its help, you will learn how to cut polystyrene so that it does not crumble, with minimal time and physical costs.

First, you need to do some preparatory work to assemble the necessary equipment. So, you should take care of the presence of a small spring, a 24 volt transformer and nichrome wire. The working surface of the table is set at an angle of 20 to 60 degrees. We stretch the wire across the table. We fix the ends of the wire with a spring on each side of the table.

After that, we attach the wires coming from the transformer to the wire. When current is applied to the transformer, the nichrome filament heats up, which is evident from its appearance. We just have to put a sheet of any thickness in accordance with the previously applied markings. Under its own weight and due to the inclined surface, the polystyrene foam will slide down and at the same time cut through.

No garbage, everything happens very quickly and without unnecessary gestures. The only difficulty is the assembly of the necessary equipment, since not everyone has transformers.

Thus, there is nothing super complicated in what and how to cut the foam at home. Even with a conventional knife, all the necessary operations can be performed. If you purchase a better equipment, then the processing process will take a minimum of time, without additional effort, noise and debris.

Choice of paint

When working with penoplex, it is worth remembering that the material is afraid of organic solvents. When exposed to them, its physical properties deteriorate. They are included in most paints and varnishes. Therefore, when choosing a paint, you should pay special attention to its composition.

The paint should not contain substances that were mentioned earlier when describing the glue for working with foam boards. In addition, the composition must be without:

  • ether and solvents based on it;
  • polyester;
  • tar.

Do not use oil-based coloring compositions to paint foam boards. Mention should also be made of substances that are not capable of harming the material during interaction:

  • paraffins, as well as oil;
  • cement mortars;
  • water-based paints;
  • any acids;
  • lime;
  • alcohol paints.

For coloring penoplex, paint that has the RS marking is suitable.

How to cut the material

When performing various works with penoplex, the material slabs have to be divided into parts of certain sizes. Every developer faces such a problem. If you resort to a simple break in the material, the edges will be uneven, and you will not be able to make the sheet of the required size.

Therefore, the best option for dividing the penoplex into parts of a suitable size is cutting. For such purposes, different tools are used:

  • Stationery or painting knife. The advantages of this method include availability, lack of noise, speed of work. Cut quality depends on the sharpness of the tool.
  • Often, with such work, a jigsaw is used. The disadvantage of using this tool is that it produces jagged edges. However, the work is done as quickly as possible. In addition, such a tool allows you to work with material of any thickness.
  • A kitchen knife is often chosen for cutting foam. However, it must be sharpened well before work. Subsequently, the knife is heated. The hot tool does an excellent job of cutting foam. The advantages of such material include the absence of debris and obtaining smooth edges.
  • To perform curly cutting, you need to use nichrome wire. For this purpose, it must be connected with wires to a 24 V transformer. When current is applied, the wire begins to heat up.
penoplex

Penoplex has not only high thermal insulation properties, but also is easy to install. To work with it, you do not need to learn a complex installation technology. The use of this material provides maximum protection of the house from the penetration of cold. Provides high practicality of the material due to low water absorption, excellent strength and low thermal conductivity.

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A versatile material is also used in beekeeping. Building a penoplex hive is pretty simple. The main thing is to know the design features of the bee house. In addition, this material is often chosen in the construction of toy boats. The possibility of using penoplex to create various crafts explains its popularity.

Foam applications

are not limited to the construction and repair business. 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 climatic equipment;
  • In shipbuilding, as an unsinkable filler of compartments on small vessels (boats, boats);
  • For design purposes, construction and modeling.

So, not only for soundproofing the roof of a house or for thermal protection of walls, the question of how to cut polystyrene is relevant. It can be used to make a model boat, build a protection for the refrigeration circuit in an air conditioner or make a decorative figurine of a unique design. The low weight and affordability of the material should not mislead about the simplicity of its machining. cutting foam has a number of its own secrets and tricks.