Than Cutting Styrofoam 100 Mm

How to cut polystyrene so that it does not crumble

Expanded polystyrene is a universal material that is used for heat and sound insulation of buildings under shock and noise loads. When carrying out repairs related to thermal insulation or redevelopment, it is necessary to cut large sheets of insulation. In this regard, the question arises of how to cut polystyrene foam so that the fishing line turns out to be even.

Consider equipment that is used for cutting foam at home. These include:

• Knife
• Hacksaw
• Small-sawed wood saw
• Angle Grinder
• Soldering iron
• Nichrome wire.

Before you start cutting, you need to mark the workpiece with a simple sharpened pencil. If a hacksaw or jigsaw is used as the cutting tool for the foam, do not make quick movements. This is due to the good thermal insulating properties of the material, when heat does not occur when friction occurs and it heats up, which complicates the process. Use a soldering iron if you want to quickly cut off the workpiece. To do this, it is necessary to flatten its end with a hammer and fix a special part, for the manufacture of which it is necessary to take the metal cap of the fountain pen and the blade. After warming up the device, proceed to cutting the sheets.

Using an angle grinder, cut the foam only very thin. It is unlikely to achieve a high-quality cut, the result will be the same as when working with a jigsaw. In addition, with this method of processing the material there will be a lot of debris and noise.

Choose the right knife

To cut the foam, you can use an ordinary knife, which should be sharpened well and preheated. The clerical option is suitable for cutting soft material, it has a sufficiently flexible blade and is not recommended for processing plates of significant thickness, since it is difficult to obtain an even vertical cut. The advantages will be a small amount of garbage, accessibility and low cost of the tool. Remember that the thinner the sheet, the more even the cut will be, the optimal thickness should be no more than 5 cm.

The most optimal way to cut

This method can be used if you have an elementary idea of ​​electrical engineering, for the manufacture of devices you will need to prepare:

The table is placed at an angle (20-60˚), and a wire is pulled across, one end of which is fixed rigidly, and a spring is used to secure the other. The wires of the transformer connected to the electrical network are connected to them. A current is supplied, the workpiece is placed on the table. Sheets are cut as a result of sliding under the action of their own weight.

You can pass current from the power transformer of the old TV. Another option is to include a variable resistance (rheostat) in the electrical circuit. The current strength should be controlled so that strong heating does not occur, the result of which will be the melting of the foam and the appearance of sagging along the edges of the line.

The attractive side of this method is the ability to cut fragments both in a straight line and along kinks and convolutions, which makes the process universal

It is important to remember that the wire should not be very hot. It will be enough if it just turns red slightly, otherwise the cut will turn out to be too wide

A strong spring should be selected, this will make it possible to adjust the length.

Features of working with large sheets

It is possible to cut foam boards with your own hands using simple but effective equipment, such as steel wire with a diameter of 0.5 mm and wooden handles fixed to the ends. Previously, the block must be marked out on both sides and begin to saw quickly. The thread heats and melts the material, as a result of which the surface will have a hard, smooth and fused crust. To determine what is the best way to cut polystyrene foam (polystyrene), it is necessary to evaluate all the advantages and disadvantages of the above methods and choose a tool based on the features of such cutting.

Foam plastering the first stage of wall finishing

Like it or not, but before painting the foam, it should be plastered (with the obligatory creation of a reinforcing layer). The protection performed in this way will ensure the long-term functional suitability of the thermal insulation layer. Regardless of the material from which the insulated wall is built, how the final painting will be done according to the foam glass, the decorative decoration algorithm is as follows:

Than Cutting Styrofoam 100 Mm

1. A plaster mortar is prepared, for which the dry mixture is diluted with water in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations.
2. The heat-insulating layer is cleaned of dust and debris to ensure high-quality adhesion of the solution.
3. A reinforcing (base layer) is applied to the reinforced heat insulator, namely:
4. Using a spatula, apply a thin layer of plaster (2. 3 mm) to an area of ​​not more than 2 square meters;
5. A reinforcing mesh (preferably polymer, as the metal is susceptible to corrosion and the appearance of “cold bridges” is embedded in the applied layer of the starting plaster);
6. The operation is performed by smoothing a polymer fiberglass mesh with a spatula;
7. The creation of the reinforcing layer starts from the corners. For this, the strip of mesh is folded in half in length and applied to the corner of the building, so that at least 30 cm of the mesh winds around the corner;
8. Sequential heating of the polymer fiberglass mesh in a thin layer of the starting plaster is performed over the entire area of ​​insulation.
9. A dried surface is necessarily treated with a primer. A primer, which makes it possible to improve the adhesion of the finishing layer of the plaster to the base.
10. A finishing layer of plaster is applied, it is leveled, if necessary, it is ground.
11. Penoplex is painted with facade coloring agents, the choice of which is carried out in accordance with the chemical characteristics of the insulation.

Such a simple scheme for creating a finishing coat, followed by painting of foam plastic, makes it possible to ensure a long service life of the insulation. But do not rush, as not all paint can be used for foamed extruded polystyrene.

How to cut polystyrene so that it does not crumble

Polyfoam or polystyrene foam refers to a universal material that is used for insulation and sound insulation in building structures. The basis of its structure is formed by foamed plastic. This explains why the foam often crumbles when cutting.

When processing the material, it is necessary to decide what it needs to be cut so that the cut line is smooth, and there are as few crumbs as possible.

Tool types

Mechanical cutting. Some of the most common tools at hand include a knife, a jigsaw, a saw, and an angle grinder.

The main attention when choosing a knife is given to its blade. If it is sharp, the cutting process is faster and less waste is generated.

The knife must be preheated before cutting.

The disadvantage of this method is that the use of a knife is possible with a foam thickness of 1-5 cm.

Disadvantages of use:

Stationery knife. The stationery version of the knife is best used for soft material. This knife has thin and flexible blades, so it is not practiced for processing thick plates.

Jigsaw. Pruning is used when cutting foam up to 10 cm in thickness. This method does not require much effort.

Hand saw on wood. If the foam thickness reaches 40 mm, then it is better to cut it with a hacksaw on a tree. The method is quite simple and fast, without the expense of special physical effort.

A saw having fine teeth is better suited. This tool is used only for straight sections.

“Angle Grinder”. The advantage of the angle grinder is that it cuts the polystyrene itself, if you use the thinnest circles.

However, thick material is not recommended for cutting an angle grinder. You will not get a high-quality result, but there will be an extremely large amount of garbage.

In addition, this option is not very good because of the squeal that occurs when the foam interacts with the circle of the machine. Plus, the noise of the tool engine is added to it. Therefore, in the case of cutting a large number of foam plates, you should wear headphones from the very beginning. Add to this list also the energy consumption that you will need to pay.

Nichrome wire cutter. The practice of working with polystyrene foam shows that a quality saw cut is formed when using a tool with heated wire. The edges are even, smooth, and there are practically no crumbs. The advantages of the method include the high cutting speed and productivity in volumes similar to industrial ones.

Easy way to cut

Cutting can be done with thin steel wire. It should be mounted on wooden handles. They are placed at different ends of the surface intended for cutting. The cut resembles the process of sawing firewood. You will need an assistant who will take one of the pens. From friction, the string is heated, 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 form (straight, sinuous or volumetric) in which the result should be obtained.

1 Foam cutting

So, polystyrene foam, like any other material, needs to be processed before use. Initially, it is delivered in ordinary plates with a certain thickness. However, far from always the shape of the plates is enough to use them wherever necessary.

Often the plate has to be cut into pieces, trimmed, cleaned. Sometimes it becomes necessary to cut off a decorative part on the edge of the plate or to make a certain angle.

There are really a lot of options. But the question remains one. How to cut polystyrene foam? It would seem, why else invent some additional units, buy a special cutter for polystyrene if it is not something to cut, you can even break it yourself. And that is literally.

Here we must turn to the features of the polystyrene foam itself and. The foam itself consists of small polystyrene balls.

The primary raw material in it is a polymer that is mixed with foam aggregates and air. The result is a fairly malleable and very lightweight design that is easy to cut or break with your hands.

But just breaking polystyrene is not the best solution. A kink line will never work out for you. Expanded polystyrene balls will bend it, making the final design unsuitable for accurate operation.

However, we note that breaking or cutting foam is very easy. That is, cutting foam at home is very real. Another question is how to do this accurately and with minimal damage to the material. Here, a foam cutter or any home-made device will come in handy for you.