5 Star have been involved in foam fabrication for over a quarter of a century and in this time have gained much experience in this field. At the Broadend Road site, the company has a vast array of foam fabrication facilities at its disposal. Not only this, but many of the staff employed in the department have been with 5 Star for many years. We keep a vast stock of raw materials which ensures prompt deliveries. These materials include...  

Our stocks of foam sheet, block and facing materials are usually sufficient to meet most requirements.

But our suppliers also keep many other foam types including coloured polyethylene, neoprene, natural rubber and expanded EPDM. These can be ordered specially to individual requirements. Please contact our sales team for further details.

We have at our disposal, a wide range of foam fabrication equipment. Continued investment means that this department is able to cope with most foam fabrication requirements. Click here to see details of the equipment used in the Foam Fabrication department.

The materials mentioned above can be used in combination with others. For instance, polyurethane (HLB) is often bonded to polyethylene to give additional protection. While different grades of polyethylene are bonded to each other, again where varying protection is required. Technical Data sheets are available for all our foam and associated media which are available upon request.

Foam inserts can be fabricated in many ways. One of which is CNC routed, using one of the Thermwood C-40 machining centres. These types of inserts are best suited to single and low production runs. 

Customers can supply the overall layout of the insert as a dxf file, ready for us to toolpath to the desired depths or send us the actual items and we'll do the rest. We can also scan an image of the item as long as it's accurately drawn. 

Shown on the right is a CNC routed foam block using contrasting coloured polyethylene. The lower layer being a different colour, easily identifies the cutouts. A handy feature for ensuring equipment is where it should be !

They are manufactured by laser cutting and bending machines. Once made, these press tools are numbered and stored at our premises. They are more cost effective on multiple and repeat orders. 

Traditional die cut foam inserts are still popular however. A press tool is a series of custom shaped blades held in a plywood board. 

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