Cleaning up after pink/blue styrofoam

George, I made all the mountains and inclines on my 30' x 40' layout using Dow styrofoam 2" x 2' x 8' sheets, glued up and then shaped.  Pretty much had to do it all in place.  On the inclines I used a 4" power planer, to get the slope smooth and even.  For the mountains I used a special toothed wheel in a 4" grinder, and just went at it freehand.

You want to talk about mess!  I made sure I had it all done before I started cleaning up, because I only wanted to clean up once.  

The static charge makes you crazy. I noticed that a little dampness, like a mist from a spray bottle, will kill the static charge. But mostly it's just vacuum, vacuum, and more vacuum.  

I was picking pieces out of my eyelids for days.

Hojack,

Thanks.  I'm thinking about buying a mega-horsepower shop vac just for this job.  But increasing the humidity might be the trick.

Anybody else?

George

George

I am going to use the Extruded Polystyrene (XPS) insulation. It's still some what of a PITA. It's still a lot less messy than the pop corn type styrofoam. I am getting ready this winter to do about 40' of hills and mountains with it. I am not going to worry about the mess, just hope the end results will be acceptable. Other than a big shop vac we are both up the creek.

Run a humidifier.The electric charge will transfer from the styrofoam debris to the moisture in the air.Then you can vac it up.

Shape it in someone else's garage.

Dave

     Try this.

And use a knife like this for clean cuts.

Wise guy.  Next thing you know, you're going to run off and join a rock-n-roll band.

George

Seriously?  Spray it on the filings on the floor?

George

Larry,

I think that's what the pink/blue styrofoam is.  You NEVER want to use the beaded white stuff.  Not only will you make a mess, but it's a serious fire hazard too.

I am going to keep the static guard stuff in mind as well as the humidifier.  I just tried a vacuum cleaner (we're getting our regular one repaired and shop lent us one).  It worked great.

George

Use a hot wire foam cutter when working in layout room.  I make major cuts with saw outside in garage.

I also did my mountain building and shaping mostly in place so my shavings were left on the table top. What I had was a white kitchen garbage bag always nearby and every so often by habit, just picked up the scraps and jammed them in.

See the mountain here!

http://www.jcstudiosinc.com/BlogShowThread?id=958

I make my scenery in layers, 2" thick.  I first cut perimeter of each layer with a jig saw, using a coarse blade.  I glue the layers together with Gorilla Glue.  I then use a coarse, very long sawzall blade to do the contours and slope.  You can buy a handle to hold the sawzall blade at Home Depot.

Both these cutting methods results in chunks, rather than dust. The chunks are easy to vacuum up, since they are relatively heavy 

As bill says, nothing beats hot wire. Well worth the investment. You can sculpt rather than shave.

I also use the Hot Wire Foam Factory. All rough shaping and sawing is done in the garage, also gluing. Then once I get it finished on the layout, it goes back in the garage for painting and texture. All my scenery is separate from track work. 

I do have a Hot Wire Foam Factory and plan to use it extensively.  I will also try the humidifier approach and the Static Guard thing too (if that's not a joke).

But the even better news is that the house vacuum cleaner does a great job of getting the styrofoam up off the carpet.  The Dirt Devil I was using is, apparently, junk.  And the very small 1X shop vac was just blowing the captured debris out the exhaust.

I very much appreciate all the suggestions!  Thanks!

George