First Cuts in Pink Foam

[Gary Campbell]

Well, its been over 3 years now, and I fanally made those practice cuts in pink foam. The trip into the big box store reminded me why I love to avoid those places.

Seriously, this is a prototype we are developing for/with a local surveyor that offers painted topos of "your property", lake, cottage, etc. We are hoping to add these to his line of products.

This was a hand trace by my son, but going forward we will import vectors from him directly. The actual product will be cut from HDU. This one will get an epoxy coat, a 9 color paint job and be hung on the wall in the shop.

[dlcw]

Very nice Gary!

You guys are really branching in to a lot of new areas. Way to go! Cabinetry seems to be kinda dying off.

[jimboy]

Gary, you always seem to be working a interesting and neat projects. I always read your posts so keep up the good work. :)

[michael_schwartz]

Much more elegant than making them out of layers of cardboard/foam board cut out with an e-xacto knife using photo copies as a template.

Something worth marketing to independent/local architects and small firms who still bother to make models by hand.

[bill.young]

9 color paint job? I figured that all you would need up there was white paint!

[curtiss]

What type of epoxy & paints do you use on this foam ??

I suppose you could fill it with water but that makes it harder to hang on the wall.

[cabindoors]

Gary,

I enjoyed seeing your picture of Lake Independence that was cut in pink foam. I have quite a bit of experience in cutting topographic landscapes and am lucky to live in the mountains where there is alot of interest in the relief carving of mountainous areas.

Keep up the good work. I find it facinating.

Tom

[tom]

Well Gary after cutting did you have a lot of pink snow in the shop to match the white stuff outside:D

[Gary Campbell]

Bill...
Paybacks are a **tch! I have been hiding in the shop like a little girl. 9 degess and over 30" on the ground. I forgot about all this.

Curtis...
just some generic laminating (read as cheap) epoxy and acrylic paints as they are easy to work with I may put a sheet of thin plexi over it.

Tom...
This is our first, and my son obviously had a harder job tracing the map than I did cutting the foam. Any info you would have concerning file types or sources that can convert to vectors would be appreciated.

Tom Baker...

Like Mr. Young.... Dont push it! :D
I remember reading posts of that, but it never happened. The stuff is so light that there was not a single spec of pink anywhere near the table. The guy that started that rumor never used my "Vortex" dust foot.

I was cutting some Walnut today and did note that the WD-40 used in the cutting of the Carousel parts coated the inside of the DC bag, which then allows the pink stuff to cake on and plug it solid.

[Kyle S. Cross]

Hello Gary. I will be constructing a contour model in the near future. I will be using 2" rigid insulation. I am curious if your method of finishing with the epoxy and acrylic paint was successful. If so, would you mind telling me what epoxy you used? Also, I would appreciate if you could inform me on any issues you encountered on your project from start to finish. It looks great btw!

Thanks,
Kyle

[ssflyer]

Gary,

It looks great - I did a couple as experiments awhile back. There is is some interesting information on setting models up from GIS and DEM data HERE. (http://www.vectric.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2305)

Though it kind of concentrates on gray-scale output for 3d elevations, which would make a good litho, MicroDEM also outputs contour maps which would allow quick 2d toolpaths.

I can't seem to find it now, but I think there was a relatively painless way to export from Google Earth or Maps to 3d data, also.