Has anyone tried cutting the woodland scenics foam Roadbed with a hot wire cutter?
Most people seem to use a knife, but it would be helpful if I could use a hotwire. I have not bought any of it yet, so I’m note sure what kind of foam it is.
I want to cut it to narrow gauge and the hot wire is a lot easier to maintain the bevel on a long stip.
Good morning
I would think a hotwire would have the tendency to dog wag unless you came up with some kind of jig with a fence for the hot wire to follow.
That could be done nailing some boards together in the shape of a thin (U) The foam roadbed could be slipped into the correctly spaced slot set to the width that you need to cut. That jig would act as a fence for your hotwire to follow.
I don’t know if that would be the best method to cut it though…Maybe
It would tend to do it this way.
Take a 4’ drywall square and draw a straight line on a piece of extruded foam.
T-pin the foam roadbed down against the straight line. (or better yet, against some kind of thin straight edge you glue down on the line that acts as a stop)
Tape or clamp the drywall square down beyond the ends of the roadbed the width you wish to cut so the square can’t move. (or better yet, a jig could be made to hold the square in place as well)
Slide a carpet knife down the drywall square at an angle for the bevel, pressing the square down firmly behind the blade as you go.
Foam only likes sharp blades and that carpet knife will cut it like warm butter. But a word of caution to have a lot of respect for that carpet knife.
Carpet knifes can be evil. One of them only had to tell me that once.
Have fun with your project
TF
On my current layout, I use cork as the roadbed. But, on all of my previous layouts, I used Woodland Scenics Foam Track-Bed. I would be concerned that the foam would not react well to a hot wire. For sure, you would want to use a test strip to find out.
Since you want to use trim the foam roadbed to accommodate narrow gauge, here is what I would do. The foam strips can easily be divided into two halves. You don’t even need a knife or pair of scissors. So, you can use your fingers to to separate the foam into two equal pieces, then trim the straight edge of each piece. When you rejoin the two trimmed pieces to fit narrow gauge, the sloped sides will remain.
Rich
I’m not real familiar with the Woodland scenic’s foam roadbed as I used cork. I didn’t know it came perforated down the center like cork, only at 90° as Rich pointed out.
I do remember squeezing the stuff at a hobby store once. The stuff is more a softer spongy foam like the cushions in your couch than the firmness of extruded foam.
I would think a hot wire would melt the edges into hard plasticy goo goo clusters from past experience seeing what high heat does to spongy foam. I also think you could get away with cutting just one of the halves with a good quality Razor Edge scissors like Fiskars makes, after you get it separated.
TF
Yep, that would be my concern as well.
One way to find out. [xx(]
Rich
[(-D][(-D][(-D]Yep!
Hold my beer and watch this! [(-D]
TF
I would not try this.
The foam ls not styrofoam.
Apart from considering using N scale road bed instead I recommend you try separating the roadbed down the center first. I used to cut that apart (it’s not perforated but partly cut through) but I discovered it actually tears quite neatly down the cutline. Then glue the inside curve first, cut that with a WS foam knife and then stick the outside curve part. The cutline doesn’t have to be down the centerline. The cutline facilitates curving the roadbed without buckling the inside edge.
Cutting the bevel edge would be impractical. I have tried cutting a bevel edge onto the edges of the foam sheets WS also supplies for making underlayment for yard areas or turnouts and crossovers. It’s much harder than you might think.
Another advantage of cutting out from the centreline is that any crooked cuts or gaps can be filled when you ballast. Errors made cutting along the bevel will be harder to hide
One tip: the foam stretches as you draw the knife across it which is why I recommend you glue it down first. The stretching tends to create a wavy or curve cut even when it looks straight as you make the cut.
DAP Alex acrylic latex caulk works very well for gluing this stuff down as it makes removal easy.
Another method would be to use sharp scissors. These cut straight and do not distort the foam as they cut. In that case glue down the wide half first, the side you don’t need to cut. Then mark the remaining side to width and cut the bevel side to the required dimension.
The reason to glue down the inside curve first is you need far fewer pins to hold down the outside curve piece.
This is part of the reason I asked the question. A number of years ago, I used a hot wire to cut some EPP for model plane wings. It does make a weird mess. The foam melted into these hard strings. However they were fairly easy to clean and the foam and I ended up with a nice cut in the end.
I knew there was a good chance of problems, and I was kind of hoping someone else has tried this. I don’t actually have the foam Roadbed yet.
I want to use the foam cutter so I can setup some sort of jig to get a more consistent cut then I can get with a pair of scissors. I see myself being more likely to cut myself if I use a razor blade in the jig.
Don’t overlook my earlier suggestion to separate the foam into two equal halves and trim what was the center to fit your narrow gauge roadbed need. That way, there is no need to use a hot wire for the sloped edges since they remain in place.
Rich
I hope you didn’t find my spur of the moment humor offensive hgodling. I just couldn’t resist as I found Rich’s comment only “one way to find out” quite amusing. That’s all it was is indirect spur-of-the-moment humor.
I don’t think you’ll find your objective to your project very difficult at all in whatever way you choose to cut it.
Have fun[;)]
TF
I wasn’t offended at all. I was quite amused.
I didn’t intend to overlook it. It is a very good suggestion. However I would still like to do something to make it more uniform then me cutting it by hand. I am probably overthinking it and should just use a knife and ruler.
I wonder if the approach requires two cuts, maintaining the separation down track centerline. He might only trim one side, as a straight uncomplicated cut that could tolerate a little wibble and could be easily shaved, with the seam offset proportionally.
A little more fun to maintain location of track centerline, but perhaps worth it.
I helped a longtime friend build his layout, but he had bought the Woodland Scenics foam roadbed, rather than cork, and I found it a lot more difficult with which to work, especially when it was time to install the track and turnouts.
The fact that the layout was on sheets of extruded foam compounded the difficulties, and it’s probably a good thing that he uses that layout mostly for photography purposes, rather than for running trains.
My preference is for glued-down cork on a solid wood surface and nailed-down track.
Wayne
Hello All,
As a user and firm believer in the Woodland Scenics foam roadbed I concur with splitting the sections lengthwise and removing the required width to match your track.
I have not used a hot wire to cut the foam but I suspect a sharp blade in your cutting tool of choice, and a good straight edge would suffice.
Since you will need to split the roadbed down the centerline for the curves, doing this for the straight sections shouldn’t pose a big imposition.
As has been posted, the hot wire cutter might produce a sealed or hard edge to the foam. The only way is to do a test- -outdoors to mitigate the effects of any fumes.
Hope this helps.
Taking a little break from carving foam with a wallpaper knife most of the day. I might be done, …Kinda sick of it. It’s taking too long anyway and I may have to impose Plan B [(-D]
I sense you’ve had a few whoops’s and a bit shy of a sharp blade. I bet everyone here has had a couple of accidents with a razor knife. I’ve had a couple of Doozies! Makes you gain more respect for that blade.
Some of the more frequent accidents I’ve had with a utility knife was installing suspended ceilings where you use your knife all day long.
Those cellulose ceiling tiles can be a little unforgiving at times because of the fibers and some harder particles they manufacture them with. They tend to catch the blade and all of a sudden it Flicks.
Everyone knows the rule is to hold what you’re cutting behind the direction the blade is traveling. Even knowing this, a guy gets going on a roll with his work and subconsciously breaks the rule, especially cutting oddball shapes.
I called them my Casey Jones gloves. I learned to start wearing these on ceiling tile jobs and they kept the ceiling tiles cleaner anyway from my grubby hands.
Yep, I still had some slips but they did their job protecting my fingers[Y]
The blade went through once but the thickness of the glove took the blunt of it and it was very minor.
Lengthwise, how much WS Foam do you need for your trackwork?
Rich
I finally got around to trying the hot wire on the woodland scenics road bed. For now, I don’t need a lot of road bed. I am building a smallish section that will eventually get integrated into something bigger. The point is to try things out and learn what works for me. So I figured it was worth giving it a try.
I mad a crude cutter to try it out. (My normal cutter is is very large and unwieldy)
I found it did take a higher temperature but it did do a pretty good job cutting the roadbed. I definitely need to make some sort of jig to cut it better, but at least now I am fairly confident that it will work. I wasn’t try to hard to make it straight, just to see how well it would cut.
Great update. I am a strong believer in trying things out and experimenting to see what works.
I really like the way you built the temporary cutter to try this out.
-Kevin
From Woodland Scenics “FAQ” page:
Can I use a Hot Wire Foam Cutter to cut my Track-Bed?
No, do not cut the Track-Bed with a Hot Wire Foam Cutter. This may emit toxic fumes.
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WS Track-Bed is available in O, HO, and N. If you’re doing HO narrow gauge, maybe the N-scale Track-Bed would work?
https://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/item/ST1475
https://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/item/ST1462
As far as gluing it, WS Foam Tack Glue is designed to attach Track-Bed to their subterrainian foam risers, so might be the best bet.