# Question on hot wire cutting on foam



## Scary Godmother (Oct 13, 2007)

We are making some new tombstones. I picked up some of the blue foam at Lowe's. I've been reading a lot of how-to's on this, and many people mentioned using hot wire cutters and how easy it is to cut the foam with these. I picked up a hot wire cutter at the craft store, but now I have been reading a number of things about the toxic fumes that are made when you heat the foam. What kind of safety mask is the proper one to use for this? What does anyone else use when they cut this foam? Thanks!:jol:


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## Uruk-Hai (Nov 4, 2006)

You're right the fumes can be pretty bad. I use both a hot wire cutter and a wood burning tool to carve my tombstone. With the first couple I did, since I didn't know any better, I nearly gassed myself several times. What I do now is to have a small fan nearby blowing fresh air at my face and helped to dissipate the fumes. It really helps.


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## Hallowennie315 (Sep 5, 2007)

I usually cut my foam outside my garage so i don't really worry about the fumes.


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## Liam (Mar 23, 2007)

I actually bought a respirator for just that reason. I figure that I cut enough foam and shoot enough spray paint that it would probably be prudent to protect the lungs and brain cells.


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## Xpendable (Sep 19, 2006)

The fumes from melting foam are VERY dangerous. At least that's what I heard from somewhere. Can't remember where, and don't have anything to back it up. But please use extreme caution!

(EDIT): See this link: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/theatre/stagecraft/faq/section-37.html 
It at least indicates that the fumes that are given off are carcinogenic (cancer-causing).


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## Scary Godmother (Oct 13, 2007)

Liam said:


> I actually bought a respirator for just that reason. I figure that I cut enough foam and shoot enough spray paint that it would probably be prudent to protect the lungs and brain cells.


When you say respirator, do you mean one of those big masks that straps on your head, or a white mask with a respirator? Thanks!:jol:


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## Scary Godmother (Oct 13, 2007)

Xpendable said:


> The fumes from melting foam are VERY dangerous. At least that's what I heard from somewhere. Can't remember where, and don't have anything to back it up. But please use extreme caution!
> 
> (EDIT): See this link: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/theatre/stagecraft/faq/section-37.html
> It at least indicates that the fumes that are given off are carcinogenic (cancer-causing).


Thanks for the info. and the link, I'm a little nervous about using the hot wire now. I think I'll look for a good mask to invest in.


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## Scary Godmother (Oct 13, 2007)

Hallowennie315 said:


> I usually cut my foam outside my garage so i don't really worry about the fumes.


I'm going to cut mine outside also, but I think I will still wear a mask.


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## Scary Godmother (Oct 13, 2007)

Uruk-Hai said:


> You're right the fumes can be pretty bad. I use both a hot wire cutter and a wood burning tool to carve my tombstone. With the first couple I did, since I didn't know any better, I nearly gassed myself several times. What I do now is to have a small fan nearby blowing fresh air at my face and helped to dissipate the fumes. It really helps.


Wow, gassed yourself? Yikes! I will try the fan and the mask. :jol:


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## Uruk-Hai (Nov 4, 2006)

Scary Godmother said:


> Wow, gassed yourself? Yikes! I will try the fan and the mask. :jol:


Don't worry, it wasn't as bad as all that!  Just a bit of a head ache that went away. I find using the fan with a window open works fine and I don't feel any ill effects. Am I killing brain cells? Well, no more than someone building models using airplane glue or painting with oil based paint I would imagine.


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## Scary Godmother (Oct 13, 2007)

Uruk-Hai said:


> Don't worry, it wasn't as bad as all that!  Just a bit of a head ache that went away. I find using the fan with a window open works fine and I don't feel any ill effects. Am I killing brain cells? Well, no more than someone building models using airplane glue or painting with oil based paint I would imagine.


LOL, I'm sure that I have done some brain cell killing things, especially in my teens!:jol:


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## Liam (Mar 23, 2007)

The respirator I use is one of those $30 jobs with the filter cans on the side. I really like it - it's nice to be in the middle of a spray paint cloud and not smell anything at all. 

L


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## Scary Godmother (Oct 13, 2007)

Thanks Liam, I was looking at some different ones online today, I think I will go out and look for that exact kind. That is the price range that I saw as well. Expensive, but worth it!:devil:


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

I cut miles of foam with a hot wire...I started with a respirator, which was too hot and the fumes still burned my eyes....so the set up that works best for me is 2 fans....1 fan blowing air on the back of my head past my face, and the other fan a few feet in front of my head pulling the air from the first fan away from my face....as the fumes came up they were pushed and pulled at the same time...worked great no fumes and no uncomfortable respirator.


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## Scary Godmother (Oct 13, 2007)

beelce said:


> I cut miles of foam with a hot wire...I started with a respirator, which was too hot and the fumes still burned my eyes....so the set up that works best for me is 2 fans....1 fan blowing air on the back of my head past my face, and the other fan a few feet in front of my head pulling the air from the first fan away from my face....as the fumes came up they were pushed and pulled at the same time...worked great no fumes and no uncomfortable respirator.


Thanks Beelce. Were you cutting indoors or outdoors? I am assuming with fans on, you must be indoors. I think I will cut outdoors, but may still put a fan behind me to blow the fumes away from me.


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

Scary you are correct... NEVER BURN FOAM INDOORS.... the off gassing is much too toxic....I cut foam in the garage with all windows and doors open, and fans on full speed. We really need to be smart about the materials and tools we build with.


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## Scary Godmother (Oct 13, 2007)

Wow, I'm so glad I happened to see this warning on one of the tombstone how-to's. Who knows what would have happened otherwise! I guess we do have to be very careful.:devil:


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

I guess I'm the daredevil. LOL I just cut and burn the styro or poly outside. The natural wind take everything away from me. heh


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## Scary Godmother (Oct 13, 2007)

Was that right before you took your Avitar picture? LOL


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

yep...learned not to hold the torch in my mouth to burn the foam that day.


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## turtle2778 (Jul 9, 2006)

Its not THAT bad,but its best to do it outside in a well ventilated area.


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

SG, what kinda cutter did you get? The one I bought from AC Moore was craptastic (was the electrical one with a 5-6" thin wire coming out the end). It snapped on my first cut about 6" in when I was cutting foam for my columns. And even then, it took a couple minutes to get that far.

-TM


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## Doc Doom (Aug 28, 2008)

I cut mine in my basement. I don't use a respirator but do use a a small table top fan behind me to blow the fumes away from from me. 

BTW, you can make your own hot wire cutter very easily from a soldering gun. I replaced the wire tip provided with a piece of #10 copper wire. The good thing is you can bend the wire into any shape as long as it doesn't touch itself.


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Gonna just pick up a cheap Craftsman Jigsaw tonight at Sears, they're having a three day sale (thu-sat) and it's going for $44 buck.


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

Work in a well ventilated area (outdoors would be best)


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## mroct31 (Nov 10, 2007)

I don't use any ting wen me bern foma an I be jus fien! No brane damag f0 me


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## thud (Sep 22, 2008)

oddly enough I was in the hardware store looking at a two-can respirator mask for $40, and am holding off atm. I will probably use hand tools for all the major work this year, and the burner just for detailed text or something. And will probably do that in the driveway, with neighbors staring at me from across the way.


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

Any recommendations for foam cutters? It sounds much better the the knife I use now.


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

I use one from Hobby Lobby cost about $20. It works fine, but when I cut 2" foam, I wish it would get hotter and cut faster.


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## Doc Doom (Aug 28, 2008)

Finally found a pic of the one I made.


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## Scary Godmother (Oct 13, 2007)

Terrormaster said:


> SG, what kinda cutter did you get? The one I bought from AC Moore was craptastic (was the electrical one with a 5-6" thin wire coming out the end). It snapped on my first cut about 6" in when I was cutting foam for my columns. And even then, it took a couple minutes to get that far.
> 
> -TM


Sorry, just saw this now TM. I bought a $20 one from Michaels, sounds the same as yours. We only used it to cut the detailed shape across the top. We just had to go slow, but it did a beautiful job, didn't even need to be sanded.


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## Scary Godmother (Oct 13, 2007)

mroct31 said:


> I don't use any ting wen me bern foma an I be jus fien! No brane damag f0 me


LOL:googly:

I let my teenage son do the cutting, he is a much better artist than I am, so I made him wear a respirator, I went for the $40.00 one. I don't want to take any chances with his health!:jol:


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## Scary Godmother (Oct 13, 2007)

thud said:


> And will probably do that in the driveway, with neighbors staring at me from across the way.


Too funny, when we were doing our cutting, we were in the side yard, the next thing we knew there was all this company showing up at our next door neighbor's house. Their grandson was getting married in the back yard while we were making gravestones! We decided not to spoil the wedding by sending toxic fumes over there, and held off the rest of the cutting until they were all done.:devil:


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

The jigsaw rocks is all I gotta say - slices through foam cleanly (with a 28 tooth metal blade) faster than a hot knife through butter. But man is it messy, I need to hook a vacuum to the adapter - thankfully I did all my cutting outside.

-TM


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## Scary Godmother (Oct 13, 2007)

I'll have to keep that saw in mind for next year, don't know if we are going to have time to cut any more stones this year. I re-painted all my old ones that my ex made years ago, and I have a couple of store bought ones, they will have to do for this year. I hear ya about the mess! My old ones were made of that bead foam and they were coming apart as I was painting them, all those little balls of foam in the paint tray and on the roller etc.:jol:


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

The saw is even worse because it's a fine foam dust - there's still some in grain of my driveway that the broom just wouldn't get. But for $44 bucks it was well worth it. If a few weeks gonna start on my foam tomb.

-TM


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## Scary Godmother (Oct 13, 2007)

Since we're talking about cutting foam, I bought two foam skulls that I want to cut in half and glue to the front of my pillars, I want to get a nice clean cut, but I'm not sure if I should use the hot wire on those since they are finished, not the same as raw foam. Do you think it would work? Anyone else out there that has cut foam skulls? What did you use for a clean cut?


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## Fester (Sep 17, 2006)

Here is my DIY version of a hotwire scroll saw. It has a 24" throat and 10"blade. 









And my ghetto-tastic hot knife. It's ugly but works just great for <$1 worth of parts


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## Papa Boo (Apr 16, 2008)

My son carves everything, then uses a torch to smooth it...WOrks for us


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## HalloweenZombie (Jul 22, 2007)

The guy doing the Hot Wire demo at EHC said the fumes were safe (lol). He said the dust was more dangerous than the fumes. I know first hand that the the fumes can make you light headed. I use my Hot Wire tools outside only. But I prefer my band saw and Dremel over hot wire. They cut faster and are easier to use. I use a dust mask for that, but I'm able to work in my basement without making myself sick.


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