Cutting dollar tree foam with high pressure water

Good afternoon from (I hope) thawing Michigan! I wanted to put together and a quick article on how I have been cutting out the FT planes for myself and club members and anyone else who wants to give or hobby a try. I wanted a good way to cut foam planes out consistently and quickly so people that wanted to get into the hobby could have fun and see what this is all about, the good and the bad.. With several years (just about 30) of building and flying planes of all shapes and sizes, I’ve had my share of the “bad”. After the loss of a few giant scales; one being a Hosteller 33% Edge scratch build; I wanted a hassle free plane to place in front of a potential flier and try it out. I found the Versa Wing to be that plane for the guy that wants to try RC flying out.

I’m a robot programmer; one part of my job is to program robots to cut out prototype parts for the auto industry in and wide range of materials. One day I was curious to see what would happen if I cut dollar tree foam with the water jet.. I knew at a water pressure of 50,000PSI it was going to cut just fine, but I wanted to see how wet the paper would get. It all worked out very well; the water passes right through the paper and does not get wet. The other thing that I liked was the cut was strait and clean. So I sat down with Sketchup and designed a simple fixture to place the foam sheets on and started programming with the consent of my boss which wanted me to build a plane for him lol

I’ve cut a few for club members and others folks that want to fly. I’m also interested in cutting out some simple planes for my local schools to show parents, kids, and staff about the hobby, similar to what flitetest did in one of their episodes. Maybe something that can be powered by rubber band at first then made RC later so the student has a good understanding and pride about something they built.. Like Josh say’s “making memories”

Todd

 AKA “pumpster”