I’ve been working with foam in the past year and I like the sound dampening results, but I’m concerned about how messy cutting the foam can be when making tunnels, I don’t want any residual foam dust to fall on the track that can’t be accessed. And I’m a little worried about pink foam dust falling on my brass Q2 (whether this is a rational fear or just paranoia I have yet to discover).
For those of you who build their tunnels out of foam do you line the inside of the tunnel with anything, or do you just leave the foam exposed as it is, and is there any legit concern about left over foam dust falling on the track or the engines?
And is that foam cutting tool worth buying or should I just stick to the old razor blade?
Haven’t built a tunnel from foam, but have worked with it.
First, most posts I have seen on tunnels say just have a tunnel liner in as far as you need to be out of site. This allows easier access to inner areas of the mountain for rescuing locos and cars, which will derail if you can’t reach them easily. Of course you have to have some sort of access hole somewhere.
Second, to do much of my rough cutting, I use a utility knife, the kind with a retractable blade. It cuts deep enough so that you can cut and snap 2" foam. Doesn’t leave much dust.
Third, I have a foam wire cutter. It is very handy to cut nice straight, smooth lines. Leaves no dust, but needs to be used with good ventilation. Just got a hot knife from Harbor Freight for about $15 on sale. Haven’t used mine yet, but my friend said his that I gave him worked well.
Two things I can think of that would help reduce the foam dust. If you use a spray static guard when working the dust does not stick and can be cleaned up much easier. Another thing would be to give the foam a thin coat of latex paint to seal all the rough edges.
I will be using foam to make my tunnels with when I get that far. I am going to use heavy duty aluminum foil for a tunnel liner though. Just crumple it up to get that rock look. Smooth it back out and then line the foam with it after you have painted it in some grotty dirty grayish/black colours. It looks like blasted rock. I have seen this method used by different people with great success. It’s easy to do and looks great. Maybe someone will post some photos of theirs.[:)]
Get a hot knife, no mess, very easy to work with. Cuts the foam in a fraction of time. I don’t have the nice 30 dollar tool woodland scenics sells. I went to Harbor freight tools and bought one on sale for 10 dollars, normally 15. You can find it on their website. I love it and recommend anybody get one. Fine detail work with it would take a careful hand as the blade is fairly wide. Its not a wire. Its designed to cut foam on construction sites.
I’m concerned about the health risks of the Woodland scenics tool, if there even are any. The problem is, my room has no accessible windows, so there won’t be proper ventilation. The smell of the foam itself has a very chemical odor when observed up close, and burning it would only give off even more strong fumes. Could the vapors be carcinogenic?
I use a utility knife most of the time and a fine saw if absolutely necessary. Even with 2" foam, all you have to do is cut about half way through and then just snap the pieces apart. Either way, I vaccum up immediately after I’ve finished the cutting for the day. All of my mountains, or should I say the faces or profile of the mountains, are foam, as are the tunnels. I have access behind all mountains. I use liners out of cardboard after about 4-6" inside the tunnel. So far I’ve had no problems with foam dust. I like the tin foil idea and am going to give it a try. Good luck and have fun. [:)]
I strongly recommend that you not build any " track that can’t be accessed".
Someday you will have to access that track. It might be a derailment, or cleaning, or the discovery of a mouse nest, or maybe the spouse’s cat will decide it’s a great place to hide it’s favorite toy.
That said; I use hot wire or a box cutter depending on what I am cutting.
If you use a vacuum cleaner or shop vac after you’ve cut the foam, and run your fingers over the cuts to remove any pieces that are just hanging on by a thread, you should have no problems with residual foam pieces. You won’t get “dust” from foam, just very light, small chunks that are easy to see.
I’ve got a WS hot wire cutter. It’s fine for some work, but it is very limited and I wouldn’t recommend buying one. I think the idea of a knife-type cutter is far better. I try to use it in a ventilated area, if possible, but I’ve done small cuts right on the layout and the smell dissipates quickly.
That tool is unsafe (as far as toxic gas) beyond level two setting which is only 275degree, level 3 goes beyond 500degrees (478 being the highest safe level).
As far as the fumes go, I have not noticed any worth mentioning. This politically correct age thinks everything is bad for you. Open a window or wear a mask if it bothers you. You will smell worse and be affected more on the freeway by engine exhaust. That being said, I was done cutting mine in 2 minutes. The first time I did it with razor it took half and hour and it looked bad. Thats why I redid it. Reckon I could bring home a gas meter from work to measure it, but I seriously doubt it would reach toxic levels. Your just not doing the amount it takes to get the levels that high. It is your layout do it your way, Just offering a faster and cheap solution.
" That tool is unsafe (as far as toxic gas) beyond level two setting which is only 275degree, level 3 goes beyond 500degrees (478 being the highest safe level)."
That tool is only as safe or unsafe as the person using it. A W/S hot wire foam cutter gets almost as hot if not hotter but it’s concentrated to that fine wire. PPE should always be worn when working with any tool such as safety glasses, gloves when appropriate, protective clothing,a respirator, ear protection etc.You have to be a complete idiot to stand over anything that burning and breath the fumes in that just plain common sense. If you don’t know your way around tools and the proper way to use them then maybe you should be collecting stamps. A table saw can be a real killer a jig saw can lop off one of your fingers in a heartbeat. I was MiG welding in my shop this afternoon and the temp of the arc can reach 36032 F the fumes can be extremely harmful if inhaled but in over 33 years of working with tools I have never had a single accident more then a scrape or minor cut.
My point its not fair to make a blanket statement like that. all tool if improperly used are dangerous. I own that same tool the one poster is referring to and have not had a problem with it at all other then it takes way too long to heat up.
To the poster who is concerned with breathing fumes and not having good ventilation simply take the work out side and make all your major cuts and then bring the parts in and do your final cutting with a razor knife. Or simply make the tunnel out of hard-shell, messy but completely safe.
PPE should always be worn when working with any tool such as safety glasses, gloves when appropriate, protective clothing,a respirator, ear protection etc.You have to be a complete idiot to stand over anything that burning and breath the fumes in that just plain common sense.
The key word your neglecting to mention here is a respirator and your statement is not totally accurate The SDI or Smoke Developed Index is less then 450F which is a reference to a building code and not part of any MSDS whihc states Polystyrene, Expanded (Styrofoam Bead board) Fire: Will burn.
Toxic: Yes – not harmful.
So it’s not the tool that is harmful or dangerous but rather the material it is used on. proper use of tools and the safety involved in some parts of model railroading are too often over looked. Spray painting and the use of various types of glues for example.
If used properly that tool is not more dangerous then anything else in a modeler’s tool box.
Not referring to that but the fact that companies do not want to pass critical thresholds and 450 is the number, actual toxic (notice the word toxic) fumes do not start till the 478degree temp. WS wanted to be well below the 450 mark, let alone 478 mark. You still get fumes below 478 but toxic gases are not released!
Jake, my tunnels are not lined and there is nothing falling on the engines or rolling stock.
My self, I cut the foam to fit the outside of the portal and then stick the portal in. Later if it ever matters to me and will add liners. Inside K-10 Minings mountain.
I don’t think falling foam will dent your Q 2.[:-^]
