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How to cut foam: The dumb way, the expensive way, and the brilliant/inexpensive DIY way
One of the things I neglected to mention in my banquette-building post was how to cut the foam. Having no money, I cut through five-inch-thick foam sections by making repeated swipes with a cheapie utility knife like the one above. It was time-consuming, messy, far from accurate, and doing the curves was a real pain. It's the dumb way to cut foam.
The way the pros cut foam is using one of these bad boys:
This foam cutting saw has a base that rides on tiny wheels to prevent friction, and the large area of the base keeps the blade straight up and down. Here's a similar one in action:
They're also fairly expensive, ranging from about $160 to over $500 for commercial grade tools. Hercules makes a nice-looking one for about $389.
If you don't have that kinda cash but have some building skills, check out this awesome DIY foam saw by YouTube user Designsbyg. You'll kick yourself when you see, midway through the video, what he actually used for the cutting device.
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Comments
The easiest way to cut foam is using a hot wire and you can also make hand held ones
I think hot wire is better methods. www.partfoam.com
My secret cheap method is a bread knife. Slices through all density of foam and foam rubber like butter. It does straight lines and curves with ease.
I should add that I use a hand-held bread knife, not electric.
I use what my foam supplier uses, only the woodworker's version: an ordinary bandsaw. Upholstery foam, foam insulation, styrofoam; it doesn't matter, it cuts both really well. I suppose I could take out the 4 tpi resaw blade and use a 12 tpi blade like the pros use, but frankly that doesn't seem to matter either.