CNCing EPS: endmilling vs hot wire, waste
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URL: https://forum.bhpc.org.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=6530
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Topic: CNCing EPS: endmilling vs hot wire, waste
Posted By: runcyclexcski
Subject: CNCing EPS: endmilling vs hot wire, waste
Date 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.
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