I saw some posts about using the laser in Plastics to cut EVA foam, but I don’t think it’d apply to my situation due to the thicknesses I’m dealing with.
I need to cut some High-Density EVA foam Yoga Blocks in half - the long, wide way (see picture)
What tool / blade combo would work best for that?
The bandsaw in plastics is your best power tool option . The blade is currently broken and new ones are on order … honestly I would consider a good quality fine blade hand sharp saw with an alignment jig of some kind . Hot wires work on some thinner foams but not on something that thick .
What if you slid the foam through the hot wire on the thin side. CA has some foam cutting tools.
A japanese pull saw or a bread knife will give you best cut. Some eva extrusions dont do well with a hot wire. It gets Too melty in middle of the thick foam stock. No place for the heat to go.
I worry about the smell, chemicals, and as y’all have said, the heat retention for a hot-wire solution.
I’m okay with losing a little bit of thickness to the kerf of a blade, and also (if needed) to make multiple passes with deeper and deeper cuts if if tends to bind: I’m really looking for something that doesn’t involve tools I don’t already have access to.
Any chance a table saw would work with multiple passes? With maybe a diamond/cutoff blade?
Maybe a sawzall? Or jigsaw?
tl;dnr - table saw, standard blade should be fine with cut-flip-cut method
Longer version:
I’d think a table saw with 10" or larger blade would work fine. Their depth of cut is approximately 3.5" (or more for larger blades), typcially, and at 6" wide,
those blocks should be severed in twain by the standard cut-flip-cut method (keep the same side of the block against the fence for cut 1, along the length, then flip length-wise, keeping the same side against the fence for cut 2 along the length - et voila - 2 ~1/2 depth blocks).
Minimizing the kerf could be done with rip-type, finishing-type, and/or thin-kerf blade, but really a run-of-the-mill blade should work fine.
I would also think, as has been suggested by others, a bandsaw would work well offering a finer kerf than a standard issue circular blade. I expect it will be tougher to keep straight & true, even with a fence, but just 1 cut to line up for each brick.
Reciprocating saws are impossible to keep straight & true along any length. They’re meant for rougher work.
Too shallow, at less than 1" stroke length for most jigsaws, even if you could get a full-depth cut on all 4 sides, you’d be looking for a way to saw the other ~4+" out of the center. In a pickle, one might try this, and expect to finish up with e.g. handsaw, but those would be dire straights, in my opinion, and likely much poorer finish requiring much more cleanup work.
Foam isn’t very friendly towards the Felder’s filters. It would probably need to be done a few hours prior to our next filter change. This is expected to occur in four to eight weeks.
This is what AI thinks:
