CNCing EPS: endmilling vs hot wire, waste

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   Hi all --

when you make your moulds, do you hot wire EPS  to shape, and then sand? Has anyone tried to make a CNC router to streamline mouldmakin? Would you use a hot wire or a cutter? Hot wire sounds cheaper, but milling could work with more materials. T-slot extrusions, step motors etc can be light duty b.c. foam is so light. Arduino to control it all.

video to illustrate roughly what I have in mind:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_4UFNipVfY

Recommendations on where to get large EPS blocks for cheap? On ebay, a full block of EPS 1x1x3 meters comes up to about 200 quid.  Not a killer, but feels bad to burn 200 quid for 3 m^3 of fluff. Once I start generating a lot of EPS chips and waste -- is there any good use for it? Not looking to make any money off the waste, just don't wanna dump it on a landfill.

My experiments with balloons sucked: I was restricted to round shapes, and baloons shrunk during curing of polyurea shells.

Edited by runcyclexcski - 05 August 2017 at 10:07pm

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runcyclexcski Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List BHPC Member Joined: 23 May 2017 Location: east midlands Status: Offline Points: 63	Post Options Post Reply Quote runcyclexcski Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: CNCing EPS: endmilling vs hot wire, waste Posted: 05 August 2017 at 9:58pm
	Hi all -- when you make your moulds, do you hot wire EPS to shape, and then sand? Has anyone tried to make a CNC router to streamline mouldmakin? Would you use a hot wire or a cutter? Hot wire sounds cheaper, but milling could work with more materials. T-slot extrusions, step motors etc can be light duty b.c. foam is so light. Arduino to control it all. video to illustrate roughly what I have in mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_4UFNipVfY Recommendations on where to get large EPS blocks for cheap? On ebay, a full block of EPS 1x1x3 meters comes up to about 200 quid. Not a killer, but feels bad to burn 200 quid for 3 m^3 of fluff. Once I start generating a lot of EPS chips and waste -- is there any good use for it? Not looking to make any money off the waste, just don't wanna dump it on a landfill. My experiments with balloons sucked: I was restricted to round shapes, and baloons shrunk during curing of polyurea shells. Edited by runcyclexcski - 05 August 2017 at 10:07pm