Shaping Mimicell Foam

I am close to shaping the mimicell foan for the knee braces in my Shearwater 17.  Tried a little trimming the other night with rather poor success.  Instructions say to shape it with sand paper.  What grit gives smooth results so it does not look like a rat chewed on it?

 Advice and consultation will be appreciated.

Paul G


4 replies:

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RE: Shaping Mimicell Foam

Paul,

Use a smaller rat....

Sorry,  haven't tried that... yet!  But I'll be doing the same thing within a month or so, so I'll be watching your post with interest.

Thanks,
Larry

RE: Shaping Mimicell Foam

60-grit is about the finest you can use that will cut it. It leaves it pretty smooth. For cutting roughly to shape, a sharp bread knife works better than a straight blade. -Wes

RE: Shaping Mimicell Foam

The Shinto saw rasp works really well for shaping the minicell foam. the side with the finer blades finish the surface pretty smooth all things considered. I just cut a trough in two pieces to glue to my rear pipe rack I made for my pickup and it took no time to do so. The saw rasp works very nice.

RE: Shaping Mimicell Foam

I shaped the minicell foam using the following technique:

Place a belt sander with a #100 grit sanding belt "upside down" on/in an open taping compund bucket. The front of the sander faces down and away from you and the handle/back end of the sander faces up towards you. Most 3x21 and 3x24 sanders will fit into a bucket this way with a great deal of stability. Make sure the sander fits snugly in/onto the bucket and then turn the sander on. Position yourself facing the sander and use both the flat surface as well as the rounded rear wheel to shape the foam. Might take a little time to get used to this setup but I've been using it for years to shape all types of wood, plastic and finally, minicell foam. Beats having to buy a drum sander.

Peace 

 

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