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Mike Savad

5 Years Ago

Cutting Foam Rubber

i'd like to cut down the thickness of foam, and its a pain. i have an electric turkey knife which works great for general cutting. but i need even slices of foam (memory foam in this case). i'm trying to make a pillow lift, and i just can't get an even cut with the knife. partly because the knife isn't long enough, and partly because its not that accurate and the foam moves.

is there something i can use or make to cut it? i'm thinking a hot knife, but i'm not sure if that's a good idea on foam rubber.

thanks in advance.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

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Hans Zimmer

5 Years Ago

Did you try a bread knife? Usually they´re serrated and long

 

Joy McKenzie

5 Years Ago

Do you access to a table jig saw? Probably the most accurate.

 

Mike Savad

5 Years Ago

a jig saw would bind.

i'm trying to make a 2" thick piece into a 1" thick piece. a knife might work.

i still have to sleep on this variation (i think this is my 35th attempt on making it comfortable), and i may need to taper it from 2" to 3/4" on the final version. right now i have scrap in there.

---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

 

David Bridburg

5 Years Ago

Mike,

When my folks immigrated to the states they did buy one of the com'ons. Two bread knives. These things are extremely slim blades. Serrated. They are incredible knives.

If you search Ebay, I bet you can get one for less than $2. The price they were back in 1962.

Dave

 
 

Uther Pendraggin

5 Years Ago

I think the trick is going to be compression. If you put the foam on edge between 3 pieces of wood. Align the two pieces on the top at the place where you want the slice. Clamp or strap the pieces down to the third board beneath. Then you can use the knife, or perhaps a hot wire to do the slicing.

 

Joy McKenzie

5 Years Ago

Did you try the electric knife yet? I thought you were trying to cut out pieces, not trying to slice it thinner...sorry!

I saw a commercial for an ortho pillow...and they said pieces were more flexible than a 'slab'.

I have seven pillows of different compositions and sizes that I create the perfect head rest with, according to the pain level I have in my neck and back. I have never found any one pillow that, by itself, solved all my pillow problems.

 

Cynthia Decker

5 Years Ago

electric knife. Works like a dream

 

Floyd Snyder

5 Years Ago

Foam is cut with a hot wire in most cases, assuming you are looking for straight cuts.

I large, very sharp scissors also works.

We used to do a lot of mounting with foam in the frame shop. And, yes, even the think foam. That is why you need large scissors.

 

Mike Savad

5 Years Ago

i bought an onPurple pillow, and its too low and very squishy. and my neck is killing me. they used to have supports but don't know due to massive complaining. so i'm stuck with making my own. using every foam in the house, including wood, thinking it needed to be isolated from the bed. and every day my neck is killing me, the pillow was supposed to fix that.

i finally found a foam that matched the density of the pillow and that's memory foam, but the height needs to be right...

i have large scissors, and since the new bench grinder i've been sharpening everything, so i could give it a shot. i sharpened the turkey knife and i just get really bad jagged cuts.

i've seen plans for hot wire knives, but they always showed it cutting styrofoam, not sure how well it works on couch foam. or what toxins will come out of memory foam.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

 

David Bridburg

5 Years Ago

I am going to go to TJ Max and get a box pillow. I good very hard box pillow. Tired of puffing up my foam in cotton pillow.

Dave

 

Uther Pendraggin

5 Years Ago

Mike, why are you blaming your pillow?

Sounds like the problem is what direction your head is pointing all day.

Are you looking down? Raise what you are looking at to eye level.

Balance your head over your neck. Take the stress off your spine.

Posture, not posturpedic.

 

Mike Savad

5 Years Ago

not blaming the pillow but its only 3" tall, which is bad for a side sleeper. it used to come with lift.

i can't control my position as i sleep, i move around. the bed is new and supposed to take care of my back, which it does, but the pillow isn't right yet. i've gone through a lot of them so far.

---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

 

David Bridburg

5 Years Ago

Mike,

How much is one of those purple pillows? I saw the ad just for the pillow. I clicked on the ad and it went to the site, but I could not find a price.

Dave

 

Drew

5 Years Ago

Rig a thin aluminum wire between an open plastic coat hanger like a slingshot. Hook a 9 volt battery to both ends of the stretched aluminum wire with higher gauge insulated copper wire. Complet the cuircut with said. Battery. The aluminum will get hot enough to slice the foam. It is a straight square cut.

 

David Bridburg

5 Years Ago

Mike,

BTW I went to a physiotherapist for my neck late last year. I also was getting a nerve problem in my mouse hand.

The exercises were simple to follow. The Ph.D who saw me a few times last year did a larger job on my neck. He was really good at working it out.

Most of his clients seemed to be high school kids that had a sports injury or people who have had major illnesses who were rail thin and needed building up again. There must be a business in it for overweight people, but I did not see any.

As I have been getting older, my aches and pains have increased. Being overweight, this may be happening sooner for me than for others. I figure keeping my range of motion is worthwhile to my quality of life. The visits were $96 each and partially covered by my insurance.

I also had him work on my legs. He instead worked primarily on my core. That is a smarter approach. He gave me all sorts of different exercises with rubber bands. The exercises may save my knees for instance. I am constantly strengthening them now.

My neck was not that bad, but I had some pain. I have none now.

I am dog sitting this week and next. The dog needs a very long walk each morning. My lower back, muscle only, is aching. It is good for me. If it gets worse I might schedule another appointment with the physiotherapist.

I do not know if your neck pain is only the pillow level. I mean other people like that level. I can be the range of motion. But I do not know.

Dave

 

Mike Savad

5 Years Ago

the pillow is $100 takes at least 30 days to get and when you first get it, the smell is so bad, its like having a long dinner in the holland tunnel. its really bad. took quite a few days to air out, and to get that dust out.

it has the consistency of a bag of wet macaroni, with the texture of rubbery calamari.

under pillows, click buy me and it goes to the price. if i can get the height right, i should like it.



a 9 volt is enough? should be easy enough as long as the battery doesn't explode on me. (i almost had that happen in my pocket when i carried a pack of life savers with the foil attached to it). my leg felt warm, i thought it was the sunlight, and then it was very warm. by the time i took it out, it looked like a metal marshmallow.

neck pain is a pain to diagnose, i should see a chiropractor, but i don't want to. i'm hoping that if i can sleep properly, it will eventually work itself out. so far, not working. i'm hoping tonight's version will do the trick and i can stop fussing with it. all i know is the buckwheat pillow i got last year, would shift into a ramp by the time i woke up and my neck would be strained after that.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

 

Drew

5 Years Ago

Yeah a small 9v battery. The copper wire should be kept as short as possible. Disconnect the battery or put an inline switch if you are afraid it will get too hot. A 12v car battery has too high amperage and will melt the aluminum. The idea is to build it like a tight bow. This works well on hard foam. Foam rubber maybe not. Use a well ventilated area. Check YouTube.

https://youtu.be/W3TYhDJNcyY

 

Mike Savad

5 Years Ago

that's going to be the hard part, since i want to reduce the thickness i'll need a wire at least 8-12" long. i've seen some models that uses transformers, but that just seems like bad judgement to me. my brother wanted something for styrofoam, which it works well on. if i just had a really good bandsaw, i probably use that.


it occurred to me, i have to try this, if i put the memory foam in the freezer, it should be rock hard, then i could probably use a normal saw on it and cut it that way. i've been wanting to use my HackZall on it, but i'm afraid of cutting my wrist off accidentally.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

 

Val Arie

5 Years Ago

You are probably going to have to moisten the foam for it to get hard. The wetter it is the harder it will get. But sounds like a great plan...like slicing a cake.

 

Betsy Cullen

5 Years Ago

Physiotherapy is a good thing. Has a hint of chiropractic. Swimming is my answer to all aches and pains because you use every muscle in your body and it strengthens your core. Had to lift my 250 Lb. husband off the couch a few years ago to give him CPR for cardiac arrest......led to very painful sciatica. Also bought Better Back as seen on Shark Tank.....helps a lot with your core. Best of luck with your neck. In water aerobics they have you do neck rolls.

 

Bruce Bodden

5 Years Ago

Years ago, I worked in a furniture restoration shop which did upholstery. To cut thick foam down into thinner foam, they used a long handsaw where both ends slid on a table. You would set the foam to be cut on the table, set the height of the saw on both sides to ride on the table and just move the saw by hand. It was kind of like a big hacksaw...maybe a bit coarser tooth, but with a 3 foot long blade. If you can find a length of an old bandsaw blade, you might be able to make one.

 

Jon Glaser

5 Years Ago

hot butter knife,,

 

David Bridburg

5 Years Ago

Mike,

The first reason I went to the physiotherapist is my insurance picked up a good part of the bill. The doctor tipped me off that they would. Chiropractors are often not covered at all.

Physiotherapists can PROBABLY work your neck well. Assuming you get a good one. I think mine is as good as they come. He is one heck of a good guy.

Dave

 

Floyd Snyder

5 Years Ago

"Rig a thin aluminum wire between an open plastic coat hanger like a slingshot. Hook a 9 volt battery to both ends of the stretched aluminum wire with higher gauge insulated copper wire. Complet the cuircut with said. Battery. The aluminum will get hot enough to slice the foam. It is a straight square cut."

Holey Moley! Please make a video of this if you try it!

Not saying it won't work, sounds like it will to me.... but it could be really funny and worth a million hits on Youtube if it doesn't! LOL

 

David Bridburg

5 Years Ago

Mike,

That stank off of the purple pillow.....is as close to toxic waste as you can legally buy.

After hearing that, I would not even sell my worst enemy one. LOL

Cancer causing? Why not?

Airing it out is meaningless. Your nose knew what it meant.

Dave

 

Mike Savad

5 Years Ago

my father went to a therapist like that. he mostly bruised the heck out of him, called it therapy and it didn't help at all. he stopped going and it went away. i do know my insurance does cover like a dozen visits to a chiropractor with a $25 co-pay. but i don't know what style he uses. i've seen some really weird methods online. i also don't want a forced neck snap - too risky for strokes, hard to ask if he uses an activator or what. others just give random therapy with no adjustment and i don't want to pay for that.

i'm pretty sure the bones in my neck are out of alignment - when i turn my head its like rusted.


for a hot cutter:
i've seen people use PVC, isolators and framing wire


like this one. but its meant for styrofoam.


here's the 9volt drew was talking about, but its small.


here's a large pvc version.

so far i like one where they said to use a long bread knife, which seems simple enough. i have to try sawing my frozen block tomorrow it should be pretty dense when it comes out. though its taking longer to chill then i thought. when frozen, memory foam can be used as a hammer.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

 

David Bridburg

5 Years Ago

Not saying it won't work, sounds like it will to me.... but it could be really funny and worth a million hits on Youtube if it doesn't! LOL

Floyd,

Who has the liability if it sets fires? Mike, Drew or YouTube?

A whole new area of the law. Law schools will rush to create classes in YouTube liabilities.

Dave

 

Mike Savad

5 Years Ago

the purple pillow, they claim, you can eat it. you can eat asbestos also, just don't breathe it in. its very heavy on chemicals. but it fades if you give it time in the sun. but wow.... bleah did it smell. i think i had it pegged at vinyl, a burning campsite, and diesel exhaust.

right now it smells like nothing, but only because i could air it out - they sell entire mattresses out of it. i can't even begin to imagine how bad that would smell. hard to air out a bed. also hard to remove the powder in it, which they also claim is totally safe, but seems to make me itch. that took a while to remove also. i had to submerge it in water, and a lot of floated out, then clumped up. i still see some now and then.

i like it because its totally even. i don't like it because its low, and makes a squishy noise while blowing in your ear (its hollow and covered in a funnel shape). it does conform to my head, and if i was a back sleeper it would be ok. they designed it to go with their mattress, but no one else's.

i wouldn't go as far as saying cancer, but it really did stink. my mattress when new - didn't smell like anything. its a soy based foam.

hopefully tonight will be the magic number of tries. i have it on a slant, maybe it will work? i ran out of foam types to try, so i hope it works.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

 

David Bridburg

5 Years Ago

Mike,

My parents as I have said a few times used DDT daily in Ireland. Dad put it on to go into flee and bug infested poverty stricken areas of Dublin to deliver babies. He delivered 100 babies back during his training, very often wearing DDT. Mom could not sleep during her nurse's training without DDT between her sheets to get the bugs off of her.

So my parents think DDT is safe.

You want to role those dice? Not me.

You know I think luck matters more than skill, but does not mean you flush you luck down the drain. Purple this!!

Dave

 

Mike Savad

5 Years Ago

so far lots like it, i'm just sleeping on it. i'm running out of choices and i'm tired of spending a bunch every year to find the right thing. memory foam probably has problems too, but i've been using it for a long time. plastic is in everything, that's probably bad. lots of bad stuff.

---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

 

David Bridburg

5 Years Ago

I was in Walmart five years ago looking for a pitcher for ice tea or something. I wanted a large pitcher. I found only one on the shelf. I opened it, oh my god. There is plastic and there is plastic. It was leaching which is what you described.

Dave

 

Mike Savad

5 Years Ago

it took years to get rid of the new car smell, even today, i can still smell a hint of it, and it just turns my stomach.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

 

Drew

5 Years Ago

Yep Mike, that's a similar base design. A sculpture friend of mine showed me his and it worked fine. The longer the aluminum wire the hotter it will get cuz the resistance increases. If the battery looses power to quickly, run 2, 9v batteries in parallel. The example in the video works well but it is too short but it is a good how-to concept. Surely work in a well ventilated area. If you cut foam and not use a heat slicing technique, use a mask for you don't want to breathe in foam dust.

A basic parallel circuit can be googled to know what I'm speaking of if you don't already know. Those 9v batteries are good to work with cuz they are low amps.

 

Laurie's Intuitive

5 Years Ago

Trauma Scissors should cut through it


I didn't read through entire thread, but ? calling a medical supplier for something like a wedge pillow or a special orthopedic pillow


 

Mike Savad

5 Years Ago

i would probably look for my filament wire, i tough wire that may be used for that very thing. though i think i'll try the bread knife first if i can find it.

wedge wise, the problem i'm also having is matching the density of the pillow, as the pillow seems very sensitive to that. so far memory foam is the closest match, but even that is not quite. especially since it varies with temperature. i'm going to add a taper to my current system. so far my neck isn't as bad as its been, so here's hoping...


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

 

David Bridburg

5 Years Ago

Mike,

There are not that many chemicals where it can be proven in the lab that a particular chemical caused cancer, and then the results can be proven a second and third time.....etc.....the results are not reliable.

But we definitely know that the more chemicals you are involved with the worse off your odds are. This pillow is not a bonus when it smells that way.

Dave

 

Ed Meredith

5 Years Ago

Mike, Hot wire is for cutting dense foam... open cellular foam for cushions is best cut with an electric knife.

Here is a good example of cutting open foam:

https://youtu.be/wqodjNexy7w

 

Mike Savad

5 Years Ago

i tried freezing the memory foam and it did work on the small sample, but it thawed so fast. i may try that for the final version, which i'm hoping is tomorrow.

i have that knife and do use it, but if i wanted to take that 4" thick thing he was using and cut so its now 2" thick, that's what i'm trying to go for. i start straying at the length of the knife and the cut just looks really bad.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

 

This discussion is closed.