My company is purchasing a hotwire cutting machine. It cuts 2D prototype parts out of 4’x4’x8’ blocks of EPS (expanded poly styrene) foam. Is there any recyclable material out there that comes in large blocks and can be cut by a heated wire? I hate to fill up our landfills with huge amounts of EPS. Mother earth thanks you in advance for your suggestions.
this is a hijack!
A benefit of working for Big Inc. was one day I expressed horror at the price of a hot wire cutter whereupon an electrical engineer disappeared then reappeared with a power supply, unnamed componentry, alligator clips and a glowing wire! Like this? he said. Lets see how long we can make the wire and keep it glowing hot. It became unsafe after 10 feet. Electrical engineering humour. Within the hour we had mocked up a hot wire cutting machine including adjustable bed. Anything else? says electrical engineer, and then we fabricated a plastic sheet hot wire bender. Who says electrical engineers aren’t useful, they just need direction.
Environmentally speaking, all components of both ‘machines’ were returned to their original use, creating no waste. Unfortunately, we did waste some Dow Ethafoam and various acrylic and ABS sheets.
I now return control, sorry for hijack.