Help please: cutting styrofoam sheets

[Mike]

In that case, I have had good results using my wife's electric carving knife to cut Styrofoam, but don't tell her.

[hrhofmann]

Yeah, I have done that but didn't want to post it and seem to be nefarious.

[DerbyDad03]

Better yet, buy one of these...

And ask them to throw in one of these...

[Nightcrawler®]

Fe stool? That must be hard on the 'roids.

[TimR]

What about one of those cans of spray expanding foam instead?

[krw]

If you've ever bought their tools, you'd say the same thing. ;-)

[gregz]

Most doors I see are not hollow, of the uninsulated variety, made from wood.

I've stapled double sided reflective polyethylene 1/4 inch flexible stuff to garage doors, leaving air gaps on the slots.

Styrofoam has less R value than other foam sheeting. Also harder to cut.

Greg

[gregz]

A little air gap is needed for reflection. The inside foil also helps with reradiating inside.

Greg

[notbob]

Make one.

I did, when I worked at a govt resarch lab. Hadda make several shipping containers lined with various sizes of polyethyline foam insulation. I made a 3-1/2 ft deep hot wire cutter scroll saw type cutter using chromium wire and a variac. Strung the wire across two pieces of shelving rails bolted together to make the scroll saw frame, hooked wire to a AC variac, and turned it up till the wire got hot enough. Worked perfectly and we cut all sheets of foam in 1 day, which woulda taken several days by any other method. Granted, we had access to the worlds greatest govt hardware store, yet this crude idea worked perfectly. Basically only need an AC variac and some chromium wire and a few insulators. You can knock out the scroll saw frame from most anything.

nb

[bobcargillpdx]

+1 for the serrated knife approach. Thanks! Bob