cutting foam

[Charity Newland]

Hi all,
Have a customer who wants me to cut a lot Poron foam, I think its like EVA foam. Hoping someone might have some insight if its ok to laser cut.
thanks,
Charity

[Dan Hintz]

Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (a.k.a. Fun Foam)... not a problem, cuts like butter, keep your frequency low to prevent edge melt.

Poron is a brand name for a tight-cell urethane, also fine to cut and will cut similar to a neoprene.

[Charity Newland]

yippee. see i know that all this praying would lead me to the right client.pay works out to about $6min. i'm all for that...it does smell, but i can get over it.

[Mike Mackenzie]

Be very cautious foams can be very flammable. Just don't leave the laser UN attended.

[Chris Mahoney]

Yes foam is VERY flammable! I lit a piece on fire the other day and it took me about an hour and a half to clean my machine. I think its a good idea to keep the power low and speed relatively slow.

[Richard Rumancik]

Yes, Poron is urethane, not EVA. I have cut 1/8" Poron foam successfully. The black foam is better than the grey or yellow in that it does not show the discoloration as much. Best to cut "in air" if possible, not on a grid. You should use air assist. Rogers has some info on laser cutting here:
http://www.rogerscorp.com/hpf/poron/industrial/literature/8/Technical-Information/index.aspx

One thing I noticed is that they use REALLY low power and multiple passes as they are concerned about edge damage. I don't recall needing that kind of special treatment. They are using 4 watts or less power and up to 25 passes which is not practicable if you want to make any money doing it. You might not want to make gaskets for NASA, but you can probably up the power beyond what they suggest and still get adequate edge quality.

[Michael Hunter]

I do a lot of PU foam - inserts for carry cases for scientific instruments.

The foam is medium density closed-cell, made (I think) by Plasterzote and graded LD29.

With my 60W Epilog I blast through at 100% power and 5000 frequency, speed 70% for 10mm and 35% for 30mm thicknesses.
I set the focus well into the thickness of the material.
The results are very good (reasonably narrow kerf, clean edges etc.).
Air-assist is ESSENTIAL to keep the top edges of the cuts from softening and slumping.

PU foam can only be done when the wind is in the right direction to take the smell away from the neighbours!