Spray Foam Rotary Planer is Truly “Cutting Edge”

POTLACH, ID - January 12, 2012 - A new spray foam rotary planer by Schmidt & Dirks Designs was put to the test on a roofing job, and proven it can tackle more versatile work than the stud applications it was designed for. 

Schmidt & Dirks’ CI Cutter is a professional grade cutter for spray foam insulation designed to smoothly trim excess foam from a wall without damaging the studs.

When Joe Cain, owner of Mid Atlantic Spray Systems, Inc. was recently assigned a roofing project in Reston, Virginia, he brought his closed-cell CI Cutter along. The roof was adorned with over 200 antennas-- for everything from cellular carriers, private radio systems and building tenants to Fairfax County Fire Police. In short, a land mine of application issues. Turns out the CI Cutter was exactly what he needed.

“It was a very difficult job,” Cain said. “The CI Cutter has been great for tight areas, and for sculpting anything that needs to be sculpted. 

He noted that he can work easily around the antennas, and drains in particular.

“I’ve used several spray foam sculptors and planers over the years, and this one seems to be one of the best I’ve ever used.”

Amos Dirks, one of the designers and manufacturers of the CI Cutter, was pleased to hear that his product would also work on roofing applications. 

“The cutter is designed for running over studs on interior walls. The roof has no studs for the cutter to ride on, so we weren’t sure how effective it would be at trimming the foam.”

The Idaho-based Schmidt & Dirks team were inspired by a similar machine used for cellulose insulation. 

“There was a scrubber that could be used to do basically the same thing for cellulose on interior walls. So we were inspired by that idea, by using a rotating head, but changed everything else about it to adapt to foam,” Dirks said. 

The CI Cutter was originally designed for open-cell foam, and later a head for closed-cell was added. The planer has been on the market for almost two years now, and Dirks said they have seen sales from Texas to Canada. 

Cain originally bought the closed-cell CI Cutter to aid him in a large-scale job he is in the midst of completing for the Southern Maryland Electric Co-op. The project involves the foaming of 14 buildings, all of which are LEED Platinum buildings, which will make up a cooperation center. Cain’s team will spray all steel beam cavities on first the exterior, and then interior, walls of the center. 

“We’re spraying each building from the outside in,” Cain said. “It’s quite a large-scale job. Cain explained that the beams were sprayed to fill with 2lb HeatLok Soy by Demilec, and then shaved flush with the steel studs using the CI Cutter prior to the installation of the sheathing. 

“After buying one CI Cutter, I had a bunch of guys sitting around watching one guy using it, so I bought a second one,” he said. Cain said the closed-cell CI Cutter worked perfectly on steel studs in addition to traditional wood. He also added that the CI Cutter makes for an easy cleanup. 

“There are more pieces than dust, whereas other cutters can create a fine dust that makes a mess. It can become more work trying to clean it up that it is to use it.”

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You can find more information on Schmidt & Dirks Designs, Inc., as well as product and pricing information on the CI Cutter, by visiting the links listed below. 

Take a look at the photo gallery for more pictures of the CI Cutter in action, as used by Mid Atlantic Spray Systems on the Southern Maryland Electric Co-op project. To learn more about Mid Atlantic Spray Systems, Inc. visit the links below.