RE: Hot knife for HA conduit ...

["Neil Ball" <neilball@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Speed is relative, I built using blockwork for all of my walls,
internal &
external. Lightweight block was not too bad for cutting back boxes and
capping cables, dense block was a b*****d! I could only spend weekends and
evenings and it took me nearly a month in all.



Hot wire approach has its own issues - Helen Pearson used to post on the UK
Selfbuild forums and built a hot wire cutter to cut the roof insulation for
her build. Her husband was an electronics engineer and spent some time
perfecting the rig. Even then they suffered a number of wire breaks so it
was not all plain sailing. Might still be some posts in the archive if you
want to try a search.



Neil B.





_____

From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Chris Hunter
Sent: 18 September 2007 18:36
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ukha_d] Hot knife for HA conduit ...



Thanks, I had ... US 'sites say some use a 'knife, others a
router ... but, 'have to say, I was surprised by this ... one of the
plusses of ICF is speed, and 'would have thought a knife would have
been quicker, even without talikng into account clean-up time ...

'looks like we'll have to be a controllable power-supply, some
formable wire (maybe from Scientific Wire), some screw connectors,
and some wheels, to make our own device ! Maybe the power supply
would have other uses ... any thoughts (they don't get mentioned much
on this forum) ? ! Maybe mains' & a dimmer would be OK, if we were
careful (ouch) ? !

Chris

On 18 Sep 2007, at 09:17, Neil Ball wrote:

> Have you considered other approaches? Polarwall (A ICF supplier)
> suggest
> using a router to cut the channels, messy but does not require any
> specialist kit. Polystyrene also reacts with the plasticisers in
> the cable
> insulation making brittle with over time so all cabling need to be
> within
> suitable conduit.
>
>
>
> Neil B.
>
>
>
> _____
>
> From: ukha_d@yahoogroups. <mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>
com
[mailto:ukha_d@yahoogroups. <mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>
com] On
> Behalf Of
> Chris Hunter
> Sent: 17 September 2007 19:12
> To: ukha_d@yahoogroups. <mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>
com
> Subject: [ukha_d] Hot knife for HA conduit ...
>
>
>
> 'wondered if someone could recommend a good hot knife for cleanly
> cutting channels for conduit in polystyrene foam ... for the HA, we
> need to run lots of Cat-5 & power cables, and need a quick way of
> doing it before we plaster (most of our walls currently being
> polystyrene on the surface) ... 'thought it would be easy, but
> finding a suitable hot-wire / hot knife is proving impossible !
>
> Chris





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