foamex... to cnc or not??

[wilfy]

now that i feel i'm acctually going to get a cnc machine built and running, i've started explaining what i am doing to friends and family.

whilst explaining it to my brother he has asked me if the cnc will cut foamex (if thats the right spelling).

now i'm sure it will, but i'm not sure if it will do it well..

so this thread to to see what if any people find is the best way of cutting the foamex?

in my head i'm thinking a router will rip it to pieces and am thinking more like a drag knife to do the dirty work

[alex wight]

Hi Wilfy, if we are talking about the same materiel, ie white sign making board, then the router will easily accommodate this. It wont get ripped as long as you keep to a sensible speed. Its brilliant to work with in my opinion.

[GEOFFREY]

Hi Wilfy, I have cut some foamex board(the solid board with less dense centre-bit lie a malteser). it does cut with a router, but has a tendency to melt if speed is too high.

I seem to get better results if I cut it in the opposite direction, ie "climb milling.

Regards, G.

[wilfy]

yeah thats the stuff i am on about, apparently my brother gets it from work off old displays and does a lot of things with it that he said would be made easier with a cnc.

have you guys got any pics of foamex things you have cut?

[GEOFFREY]

Hi Wilfy

I made some 1/24th scale dolls houses and the bow window is cut (on my cnc router) from 2.5mm foamex board.

Sorry the picture quality is not the best.

Regards
Geoff

[WandrinAndy]

I made some 1/24th scale dolls houses and the bow window is cut (on my cnc router) from 2.5mm foamex board.

That's really beautiful.... Is that all your work Geoff?

Btw, unless you prefer to keep it secret, where abouts in Britain are you based?

[GEOFFREY]

Yes, the dolls house carcase is cut from 6mm mdf. The roof tiles are a cast resin panel made in a silicon mould from a master cut from thin ply. The doors were cut and engraved (1.6mm ply) and the bow window foamex.


The other windows were proprietary plastic ones. I no longer use these windows as I cut all my flat windows in 1.6mm ply. My wife does the decoration. Glad you like it.


No secrets with regards to my location which is Morton, a village near Bourne, Lincolnshire.

[wilfy]

Yes, the dolls house carcase is cut from 6mm mdf. The roof tiles are a cast resin panel made in a silicon mould from a master cut from thin ply. The doors were cut and engraved (1.6mm ply) and the bow window foamex.


The other windows were proprietary plastic ones. I no longer use these windows as I cut all my flat windows in 1.6mm ply. My wife does the decoration. Glad you like it.


No secrets with regards to my location which is Morton, a village near Bourne, Lincolnshire.

you know hes gonna stalk you now dont you

that house is awesome, i first read it that the whole thing was made out of foamex.. but only as thats what i wanted to hear/see. when you say the bay window is foamex are you talking the whole panel with the wall?? or just literally that thin frame of a window?

[Psychosonicsid]

Hi Wilfy

I made some 1/24th scale dolls houses and the bow window is cut (on my cnc router) from 2.5mm foamex board.

Sorry the picture quality is not the best.

Regards
Geoff

Sorry to barge in on this post only 9 years late... I am very impressed with your dolls house and am looking at doing something similar for model rail 1/19th scale. Having never used a CNC router before this is going to be a sharp learning curve and before I splash the cash wondered about the type of CNC router / bits and speeds used. If you still pick up this thread could you please give a little starting advice on what equipment would be needed to start something like this? I have computer graphics and programming experience and understand the basic concept of G-code, but beyond that I am a total newbie. Am I biting off more than I can chew? Many thanks

[wilfy]

oh my word that is amazing... the thought that i'll have a machine soon that could achieve something like this just blows my mind .. thank you so much for the picture