Thread: Styrofoam cutting and sculpting

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I just wanted to share some of my experience of working with styrofoam. I see that some/many people are only using electric knives and hacking out the shapes of thier desire. This gets quite messy. I have worked with Styrofoam for quite some time now on various models, props and studio sets in Vancouver. the basic rule is cutting styrofoam with a thin wire that is heated. To get this you need low voltage and high current, this is much cleaner and you'll be surprised as to how easy it is. with out going into great detail, I will share this web site that gives a simple explanation. http://wolfstone.halloweenhost.com/H...FoamTools.html
Gluing should be done with a low temperature hot glue gun, the bigger hotter guns will melt the styrofoam. Or good old elmers glue works good as well but you will have to wait until it is dried before working with it. When painting foam, you must use either one of two methods; use water based latex paint (spray bomb or brush on). If you use Spray bombs as I do, make absolutely sure that the can states it can be used on styrofoam or that it is waterbased (if your unsure, read the clean up instructions on the can. if it states that you can use water to clean up then your paint is water based) or else it will melt you project in seconds. the other method is you have to seal the styrofaom completely if you use an oil based product. A good sealer is Bins sealer or Kilz sealer found in most Home Depots or hardware stores. you must seal it so that no oilbased product can penatrate into the foam core (including all the little pores or pin holes). This is my prefered choice although a little more time consuming, you don't have to worry about the spray bomb you choose and you can paint metalics like silver, gold and chrome which are near impossible to get in water based latex. I hope that you all find this somewhat informative and for those of you that already know this, sorry to waste your time. So with that, Get your hot wire out and carve away and make some neat stuff.

MT

Great post, MT... My brother works with styrofoam and has a foam cutter that's exactly as you describe. However, I haven't started working with Styrofoam yet myself, so I didn't catch that some people were using standard cutting tools.

I'm sure you're going to save a lot of people some time.

-Stryker
"The body is but a coffin for the soul."

I've found that my cheap electric jig-saw works great and makes very clean cuts. I've found 2'x4"x2" sheets of foam at a local stucco suply store for $1.50. They have varying thicknesses available. One issue with the jigsaw is the "dust" created when cutting. I use a respirator and keep the shop-vac hose running and close to the saw when cutting to reduce the mess. Liquid nails works great as an adhesive.