Working with foam

There is a type of dense foam material you can buy at your local DIY store that is typically used for insulation but is an absolute boon if you are an RC airplane or model enthusiast. The foam is typically called extruded polystyrene and comes either in pink or blue sheets. I am not a fan of milling styrofoam. This is not because it is not possible, it’s just that it is much messier because bits of foam cling to everything. However, all foams generate dust that is very bad for your health. So, it is doubly important to have a vacuum dust collector on your machine and to operate the machine wearing a respirator. Make sure you clean up thoroughly afterwards. You might even consider keeping your machine inside an enclosure while it is cutting foam to maintain control over all the dust. Here’s what dense foam sheet looks like:

Figure 5.11 – A sheet of dense blue foam used to form fiberglass parts for my airplane. Note the...