Best practices for working with Kaizen Foam?

[jbasen]

I really like Kaizen foam. I think it is a great product for creating custom Systainer inserts. That being said I find myself Kaizen foam challenged when it comes to making nice clean cut outs in the foam designed to hold various tools. 

When I cut the foam with a knife I don't feel I get a very clean cut. Instead my cuts have a pretty jagged edge in spite of using a sharp blade.  I compare my own work to pictures I see posted on the FOG from other members where their cut outs in Kaizen foam look perfect.

In addition when I peel away sections I find it near impossible to get a clean, flat bottom.

What are people's secret techniques to working with Kaizen foam?

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[RC]

Someone suggested using a router and template guide to do the cut-outs to get a clean edge and bottom, but haven't tried it myself. (Mainly due to laziness of developing one-off templates for the routing)

 

[es07Eric]

Someone suggested using a router and template guide to do the cut-outs to get a clean edge and bottom, but haven't tried it myself. (Mainly due to laziness of developing one-off templates for the routing)

Reiska, what kind of bit?  Up/Down spiral bit?  I'd like to give a go at this and have a small bit of foam, maybe enough to do a SYS mini.

 

[RC]

Sorry, can't search for the original thread on my phone (on the road today).

I would assume an up-cut one would be a safe bet and turn down your speed as low as possible to not melt the plastic.

 

[UncleJoe]

I will be watching this thread for ideas. I have only done a few items with kaizen and I am certain there is a better way to get the clean cuts. I did have a lot of luck using heat. I wanted to make some channels for drills to rest in and I found that if I heated up the appropriate size piece of metal it would cut  neat clean channel. The same thing for any hles or round objects and finger pulls.

I am sure some folks have figured out all the tricks.

 

[semenza]

  For the depth... an adjustable snap knife works great since you can set the blade length to the aprox. depth desired.  It cuts very easily the knife just slides right through even when holding the blade nearly perpendicular to the surface and pulling. Takes  almost no pressure which makes it easy to control and follow a line exactly.

Seperating the layers is a bit harder. Once you find the "edge" and get it started just keep sliding your fingers underneath and pulling /rolling it upwards. Using your fingers to sort of wedge the layers apart.  The hard part is getting it to start seperating where the layers actually meet.  It is much easier to seperate narrow sections than wide flat areas.

Sometimes I just cut all the way through. Then it is easier to separate the layers on the removed piece, and put the correct thickness  piece back in the hole.

A search for kaizen will bring up quite a few threads.

Seth

 

[jbasen]

Thanks guys for your ideas

I have been using a snap knife as Seth suggested.  It does work well to give you a consistent depth of cut but I just can't seem to get a clean edge with it.  After reading Reiska's post I did do a search for Kaizen.  Recently I had only seen posts about the availability of Kaizen foam in Europe but the search yielded many more posts on technique.  I did see a suggestion for using a Festool jigsaw blade to cut the foam because it yielded a nice clean cut.  I will be giving that a try.

I'm wondering if, when I've been trying to remove the foam after completing a cutout, I'm not actually separating it on a boundary between 2 layers but instead pulling a layer apart.  That would account for how rough a bottom surface I get.  I'm wondering how to tell the difference when your finger is stuck down at the bottom of a cut [scratch chin].  I guess this will be a case of practice makes perfect.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Jay

 

[RC]

Oh, if you want to do through cuts I had pretty good luck with the Festool foam blade in my CMS-PS + Carvex 420 @ minimum speed when I made my router bit storage insert a few weeks ago.

 

[grbmds]

Thanks guys for your ideas

I have been using a snap knife as Seth suggested.  It does work well to give you a consistent depth of cut but I just can't seem to get a clean edge with it.  After reading Reiska's post I did do a search for Kaizen.  Recently I had only seen posts about the availability of Kaizen foam in Europe but the search yielded many more posts on technique.  I did see a suggestion for using a Festool jigsaw blade to cut the foam because it yielded a nice clean cut.  I will be giving that a try.

I'm wondering if, when I've been trying to remove the foam after completing a cutout, I'm not actually separating it on a boundary between 2 layers but instead pulling a layer apart.  That would account for how rough a bottom surface I get.  I'm wondering how to tell the difference when your finger is stuck down at the bottom of a cut [scratch chin].  I guess this will be a case of practice makes perfect.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Jay

I've purchased Kaizen Foam from FastCap. There was originally great videos on Fastcap's site which showed various techniques for cutting and shaping Kaizen Foam, from hole saws to merely slicing it to using heated tools to clean up the edges. It is difficult to get a real clean surface when removing layers. I gave up worrying about it. Again you could probably clean it up with a heated tool. The foam melts and can be shaped easily with heat. I would think, though, you'd have to be careful not to heat it too much and just lightly touch the edges and surface. FastCap was the first place I saw Kaizen Foam anywhere. I know it is sold other places now.

 

[jbasen]

Oh, if you want to do through cuts I had pretty good luck with the Festool foam blade in my CMS-PS + Carvex 420 @ minimum speed when I made my router bit storage insert a few weeks ago.

I believe the CMS-PS is NAINA.  [sad]

 

[jbasen]

Thanks guys for your ideas

I have been using a snap knife as Seth suggested.  It does work well to give you a consistent depth of cut but I just can't seem to get a clean edge with it.  After reading Reiska's post I did do a search for Kaizen.  Recently I had only seen posts about the availability of Kaizen foam in Europe but the search yielded many more posts on technique.  I did see a suggestion for using a Festool jigsaw blade to cut the foam because it yielded a nice clean cut.  I will be giving that a try.

I'm wondering if, when I've been trying to remove the foam after completing a cutout, I'm not actually separating it on a boundary between 2 layers but instead pulling a layer apart.  That would account for how rough a bottom surface I get.  I'm wondering how to tell the difference when your finger is stuck down at the bottom of a cut [scratch chin].  I guess this will be a case of practice makes perfect.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Jay

I've purchased Kaizen Foam from FastCap. There was originally great videos on Fastcap's site which showed various techniques for cutting and shaping Kaizen Foam, from hole saws to merely slicing it to using heated tools to clean up the edges. It is difficult to get a real clean surface when removing layers. I gave up worrying about it. Again you could probably clean it up with a heated tool. The foam melts and can be shaped easily with heat. I would think, though, you'd have to be careful not to heat it too much and just lightly touch the edges and surface. FastCap was the first place I saw Kaizen Foam anywhere. I know it is sold other places now.

Thanks.  I've purchased my foam from woodcraft so I hadn't looked at the Fastcap site for video instructions.  I like the idea of doing an initial cut with a knife and then going back with a heated tool to clean up the hanging chad.  [smile]