Accurate cutting of PIR insulation.

[Lons]

Bob? Did you REALLY cut all those sheets by hand? You must have looked like a teddy bear at each day's end...respect. Sam

There were 3 of us cutting / fitting Sam and we rotated to ease the task. It was only 60mm thick and 3m x 2m not 8 x 4 as I said but from memory the quantity was probably over 150 sheets, I'd have to look at the old invoices to be sure, and the work was spread over weeks because it was a large conversion so no real problem. I kept the bread knives really sharp and use a slicing rather than sawing cut so very little dust except when knocking it into place and if it was a bit tight easy to just trim a fraction off using the frame timber as guide

The worst problem with that job was having to use a lime mortar mix and do the mixing on a windy exposed site, there was a huge amount of stonework plus pointing to all the original and all the garden and boundary walls.

When we started, it was a stable still housing a couple of horses but just a crumbling shell with no innards or upper floor, grade 2 listed but the planners wanted to allow it to fall down rather than be converted so it was a fight all the way. Worked though and my mate sold it at Christmas for £730k, he's a bit pi**ed at me 'cos I refused to work on his new gaff, too busy playing golf. :lol:

How are your 2 little friends doing at the minute btw?

 

[SammyQ]

They are as much a nuisance as you would imagine, so I have decided - after excellent professional advice - to sever all links with them! Contractual deadline Thursday next. :-"

Sam

 

[Lons]

Hope separation isn't too painful, you could always turn to the demon drink to numb the senses for a while. :wink:

 

[SammyQ]

Ah!! "De watter of Loife", Uisce beatha, as some call it...got some "third run" tucked away somewhere... \/

Sam

 

[Phil Pascoe]

A bottle of Black Bush goes down wonderfully.

 

[SammyQ]

The visit to the distillery is something else...they encourage you to sniff the mash tuns... :shock: all that CO2 is like an electric shock!
Sober Sam

 

[TFrench]

I'm a lagger and all I have is a trusty aldi kitchen knife :lol: To be fair we do very little thick kingspan work, when we do though its a worn out hardpoint saw. The insulation knives with the serrated blade are ok, not amazing in kingspan. Excellent in mineral fibre though, as are the saws with the wavy blade. It's my line of work and I can't imagine why anyone would buy the festool insulation saw. I've not seen one on a site yet...

 

[Bm101]

Just a thought.. probably a daft one. When I was a nipper, my cousins (same age) who didn't really do the whole jumpers for goalposts type childhood were however a dab hand at making stuff. Like these paper hawks you had to cut out and delicately fold. It would take them days.
They looked good, brilliant really, hung up on the ceiling.

but then they'd start explaining the whole intricate process and 8 year old me suddenly was all

Bear with me here.
One of the things they did was cut out polystyrene. F*** knows why. I can't remember I was too busy falling out of trees and believing you could straighten Bmx mags by just putting them in the freezer. :| But for some reason I have never forgotten they modeled it using a hot wire filament and it would cut it super clean and super quick.
Gotta be worth a go hasn't it if you have a lot to do?
Car battery. Ply base with a hole drilled for the element (small OD steel round bar etc) and some method of fixing it in place. Wee think and you'd make the rod as a part you could add and remove to any sheet going just by drilling a small hole in the mdf etc. Weld it to a bit of plate with space to add a jump lead underneath the bed etc and screw it on.... You could add a slot at either end for a straight edge as a guide with clamps if you could make it fast enough to be practical. More likely score the foil and just do it by eye. Whack the top jump lead on and you're off.
Bosh!
Hse will love this stuff.

 

[TFrench]

If you really want to know the secret to it? Score it with a sharp knife, flip it it over and karate chop it. Works a treat up to about 75mm thick. You can do it with 100mm but you have to be a bit more... brutal with it :lol: