Hey Guys and Gals,
I ran across this fun video about designing a hot wire foam plane. I think the Aero RC guys will enjoy this.
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I would love to build a hot wire cutter at some point, for doing wings just like this.
Lets build a hot wire to cut foam wings. I built a small one for a girl scout project a month ago. took about 15 min to build
awesome,
could I request it be able to have a 18 inch reach and 3 to 4 inch cut depth? I’m trying to cut foam for a gun case and that would work for me. 
How hard are they to build?
I built one a while back and they are very simple to build. I used a transformer I had laying around and some nichrome wire.
The wire gets very hot and cuts through foam like butter. The bigger part of the build is making a table that can cut a proper wing. The ideal cutter also has a automated cut speed so that the cutter doesn’t burn the foam when it cuts too slowly.
I built mine to cut various irregularly shaped objects and not to cut a wing. It cut a very smooth cut of the scrap foam I had from a shipping container.
The Ni-Chrome wire is super cheap at Tanners, they sell it by the foot.
Hardest part was sourcing nichrome. Didn’t know about Tanners at the time. All the other similar stores did not stock, as far as I could tell. I finally found a short length at a hobby shop in Lewisville which was a replacement for the model train foam cutter tool they sell.
Second hardest part was finding the proper sized transformer. I had many laying around, but none quite right. The one I’m using now is too small, but does what I need. I need to make it bigger and include a variable knob to bring it down to appropriate so I can work with more types of foam.
It was quick. It was dirty. It works very nicely for my immediate needs.(nothing exciting, trust me, certainly nothing like airplane wings!)
I think I bought about 10’ and was $4. Really inexpensive. Ask at the desk, they keep it in the back.
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What sized transformer do you need for it?
I’m not sure if that question is aimed at me or not. I don’t recall exactly which one I settled on for now. If I recall correctly, it was a 12VDC. No idea on amperage, but small. I had a 24v hooked up for a bit, and it worked better on some denser foams, but would burn out the wire too quickly.
I’ll see if I can dig it out of whatever rat-hole I’ve stashed it in and post back with my specifics.
I really should learn to document things…
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I found this site that has some helpfull info
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Can we build one like this? This looks incredibly useful.
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Ok, lets get serious now. If we hodge podge one of these together what are the odds of it being thrown out of DMS as junk in 1 or 2 months after sitting around? Aero / RC has no tools that they can teach classes on currently. May I suggest that we pool a little capital together and purchase a full machine like this?
http://www.amazon.com/Desktop-dual-use-cutting-machine-Electric/dp/B013HLF4PO/ref=pd_sim_sbs_328_9?ie=UTF8&dpID=51yzxIHixsL&dpSrc=sims&preST=AC_UL160_SR160%2C160&refRID=1VXMGMAA1JZRRS8F4Z3D
This looks like a tool that belongs at DMS and Aero / RC could teach classes on it to help fund the committee and later purchases. This seems like a tool that could really attract members as it is like a scroll saw but without moving parts.
So options,
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We raise the full amount in this thread and buy the machine
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We raise half and ask the board for the other half
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Aero / RC buys the machine or covers half and then goes to the board for the other half
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We approach Creative Arts and get them to fund this and we teach three honorarium classes and donate back the teacher cut to cover the cost
I think there are ways to make this tool really work for DMS and having a finished nice tool only helps that cause. I am a little concerned if this is 110v or 220v I can’t see it listed on the product page.
@uglyknees and @Photomancer What do you think about this? To pie in the sky? The tool seems pretty affordable and not a huge foot print.
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I think RC builds and creative arts would get great use of a wire cutter. We could build them pretty cheap. for cutting wings we would need a bow style cutter. For cutting other stuff a desktop style.
The one I posted I believe offers a fixed bow as well as the scroll.
Electronics can offer transformers for a homebuilt solution. Also could probably source a 12V 15A PWM controller if you want more precise temp control.
I think we can make a few of these.
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@Nick There is actually a small hand held foam wire cutter in CA, Just needs some batteries but way too small for your purposes. I’d like to have a foam cutter … but it must be able to fold up and store easily. Space is at a super premium. If we get something like the foam slicer in the video above, we could also make the hand tools that allow carving - they would use the same power source
This tool would be great for sculpting and especially prop making. I would vote yes - given above restrictions … but boss has final say!
@uglyknees .
Size matters…no really. I’ve used hand-held models before several times but I actually stopped using all foam in my classroom because I don’t want to do more destruction on the environment.
I do believe we have a hand held and we have a small fold-up version of one. I think it would be a great addition to the space but I would want to make sure of the footprint.