Polyethylene Foam

[rtfosmoe (Rich Fosmoe)]

I’m wanting to cut some Polyethylene for some tool inserts in my woodshop. Does anyone have a suggestion where to purchase large sheets of this stuff at a reasonable price? I have a panel saw and cut it down. I think I need a thickness of 1 1/8" and 2 inches.

Thank you,

Rich

[LaserCuttingPro (Neil)]

might be handy to know what country you are in.

google probably knows best

[rtfosmoe (Rich Fosmoe)]

Good Point. Thank you. I live the USA (Michigan) .

[jkwilborn (Jack Wilborn)]

There are a number of threads here on ‘foam’…

Check out this one and just ask’em… they are using thicker foam, but the concept is the same.

Cutting gun case foam

Hello, I ran a search for cutting gun case foam, but nothing related to my question came up. I am starting to experiment with engraving and cutting the foam inserts for gun cases. I’m getting good results with my 180w 50 X 36 laser with the engraving. When I want to cut through the 1-1/2" foam, the cuts look like the kerf is 1/4" wide at the bottom of the foam. The blocks coming out of the foam look the beam is changing direction. Some of the kerf bends to the left or right. I switched to a …

[dean448 (Dean)]

The fabric stores usually have soft foam so folks can make cushions. Hard foam would be home centers.

[MH1644 (Mike)]

McMaster-Carr sells PE foam in large sheets but the shipping to MI from Chicago would probably kill you. If you are SW MI and need a lot, the drive might be worth the cost and time.

[Fred (Frederick Heim)]

I would suggest two layers, A thinner layer on the bottom, maybe 1/8" or 3mm, then a thicker layer on top with the tool cutouts. Stacked makes a nice cushioned pocket for the tools. For very thin tools. cut an additional profile from the thinner material and place in the bottom of the cutout to raise the base.

[Dannym (Danny Miller)]

Camping sleep pads.
Foam “puzzle mats” for the floor

[MH1644 (Mike)]

There are also adhesive-backed PE foam sheet stock available and I’ve used those in the past to make composite tool liners - a solid bottom sheet and an upper sheet with cavities cut for the tooling.