Check out a local insulation distributor. In Idaho you should have better access to foams then we have here in warm part of California. Check on the DOW foams that are for under concrete slabs as that will be a higher density version of the pink foams.
We have a few scraps of some amazing foam that MK Composites uses in their models. They use the scraps as packing material. We save it like magic fairy dust. I have not seen anything like it around here. Very CLEAN and high density. Would love to source that for slope glider wing cores.
I picked up some of the Home Depot white foam just for learning techniques with it. Wow does it cut poorly. Does some weird stuff. If we drag the wire through the foam manually it can cut decently, but using radiant heat alone makes some ugly cuts.
Foam cutting - such hissy smelly delight...
Even virgin white foam often has inclusions (Human hair, debris, cotton threads, mouse poo, dinosaur fossils etc) and any foreign body will cause havoc when cutting. Added to that, often the stuff used for packing is not virgin stuff, its reheated/formed and the density is all over the place, and of course that has even more detritis in it.
In days of yore, I used to use the highest density virgin blue foam I could find, and that was mostly DOW in the UK, but now there are a huge number of foam makers of various types.
I wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea to make a friend of a local board maker and combine with thier orders - if possible - a couple of times per year. (Not in Idaho, or Alaska maybe) If Aloft, who are looking at serious kit production, and some of you really prolific designers - like Nate for example - clubbed together, it might be a really good money saver.
Foam manufacturers by necessity are all about quantity - more quantity = more buying power.
Board guy+Aloft+Nate & Co+A.N.Other(s) = Buying power. It would need coordination but it might work.
Just my 2P - because I aint cut no foam in donkey's years.
Doc.
