I am looking for a good product to use to cut wire chases and box locations out of structural foam panels for a residence. I would like them to be electric heated cutters. Any recommendations?
I am looking for a good product to use to cut wire chases and box locations out of structural foam panels for a residence. I would like them to be electric heated cutters. Any recommendations?
it's been discussed here before.... i've not ran across it yet, but if i did,
i'd be tempted to cut an 8' long by 10" wide piece of 1/2" plywood, and make a
router template for a 4s box, at plug height, switch height, etc. and use a
small router. set the depth shy of the concrete, etc. and where you want
a box, run the router around.
the template would give you a nice clean cutout, and support the router
so you didn't gouge in, and hit concrete, and you could make a slot the
length of the board as a guide to cut the channels. put some drywall
screws thru the board, so they'd stick out an inch, and hold the thing
in place to the foam, and zip away.
it'd cut thru the plastic frame of he blocks as well, so you'd be good to
go. if you used a router with good dust extraction, and a shop vac, it'd
be a pretty painless operation.
I've tried routers before, they are about the worst thing I have used for this. Router is too high of speed, it heats up the foam enough it melts on the bit and the bit just keeps getting bigger the more you use it, plus once it has some layer on it, it isn't cutting as much as it is burning its way through the material. It is also a little difficult to find a bit that will remove full depth in a single pass.
Well he was planning to try to use a dust collection system, may help but I bet there is still plenty that gets missed, and it also becomes static charged and seems to stick to about everything you don't want it to.Not to mention you will look like a snow man and the entire work site will be covered in styrofoam :lol:. I would gladly take a hot knife!
Well he was planning to try to use a dust collection system, may help but I bet there is still plenty that gets missed, and it also becomes static charged and seems to stick to about everything you don't want it to.
i'm about to run a terminal experiment on
a router bit... i'll let ya know how it turns out.
(film at 11)
Cool. Reminds me of your Wago thread a few years ago.
The First SIP house I did was 3500 sq ft and it took me almost 180 hours to rough it in.
The last one I did was about 4750 sq ft and I was able to rough that one in less than 100 hours working as a one man gang.
If it is a house built with SIP's, yes. They are a pain. Almost as bad as a log home.180 hours for a rough on a 3,500 sq ft house?
ow.
Interesting comments. Sounds like you have a good grip on SIP. Woe the poor guy who takes one of these without understanding the unique difficulties.Over the past three years I have wired roughly 15 sip houses for a contractor who specialises in SIP high end construction and this installer told me that you could not cut the plywood out between the boxes as that would weaken the structure. What I do is arange as many of the devices on an interior wall. When I have to put devices on an exterior (SIP) wall I will put my outlets nor more than six feet apart. Overkill, yes, but it makes it easyier to instal the chase. What I do is take an old eight foot long by 5/8" drill bit and put a slight curve in it. Just so if the middle is on the floor both ends are roughly three inches up. Take a butane torch and heat the tip up cherry hot and carefully guide it to the next box. For longer runs I will cut the osb with a three inch hole saw just deep enough to reach the foam and again run my heated drill bit to the next opening about six feet away. When I am done pulling wires I will then take a one inch wide piece of osb about five inches long and stuff that in the hole so both ends are in about an inch and then with one inch drywall screws fasten this piece to the ceiling/wall and then fasten the three inch cutout onto that strip. Probable could skip this as the drywall will cover it in the end but by doing this you, 1-protect the wires and, 2-impress the owner with you dedication and worksmanship.
As a side note whenever I do these houses I always figure on using about 50% more 14/2, 14/3 and 12/2 then a a normal stick frame house.
If I can I will help you with the tricks I have learned over the years. The First SIP house I did was 3500 sq ft and it took me almost 180 hours to rough it in. The last one I did was about 4750 sq ft and I was able to rough that one in less than 100 hours working as a one man gang.
If it is a house built with SIP's, yes. They are a pain. Almost as bad as a log home.
Structural Insulated Panels; two pieces of OSB sandwiched over expanded foam. That's what makes the structure. No studs except where the panels lap.i've not ever seen them used on the left coast..... i'm ok with that....
are they assembled in 4' sections, or is a large wall segment made up in a factory and shipped whole?
if they were 4' wide, i'd be trying to figure out a way to drill across them right at plug height on
each panel..... before they were put into place.
i just can't help myself. i like puzzles. some people play suduko, but i'm not smart enough for that.