home made hot wire cutter

[zukkoism]

thank u!!

[yzguyfl63]

no. That is why you can use poster board templates.

[summit123812]

will it cut paper?

[zukkoism]

Hi! that is great!! do you need to put anithing between the battery and the cable? like a fuse or something, for not to ruin the battery..

Thanks=)

[yzguyfl63]

@zukkoism ,

you could if you wanted to, but I did not. I did however check the amp draw with a watt meeter, and I see it is about 2 amps. This lipo can safely handle 2 amps.

[phashaungatstacks]

can it cut wood

[yzguyfl63]

@phashaungatstacks , no not even balsa

[PeterJurasek]

very nice easy cutter. i want it :P

[yzguyfl63]

Not sure what eva foam is but it cuts every foam I have tried.

[MissSlins93]

This is incredibly useful! (not that I'm building planes or anything) Do you think that this would work on EVA foam?

[yzguyfl63]

Not sure what pelican foam is

[carr869]

Now that is pretty cool. Hot

[iscozky]

I'm just wondering if this set up is hot enough to cut a pelican foam? Thanks for a very informative video.

[deejco1]

I built one of these based on this video, used it and am now done with it. So I'm selling it on ebay here's the item number 250928143444. It will be listed tomorrow (Wednesday Nov 9, 2011) at 9 pm pst. Thanks.

[kenmorto]

Seen your list too late to bid, but wanted to know what material you casted your case out of and what other stuff I could use for casting that will get along with the foam mold... Thanks for your help!

[deejco1]

@kenmorto It's made entirely of poplar wood. The brackets on the sides of the arm are called "mending Plates", all found at Homedepot. The rest of the materials are listed in the link in the description above. I also used a ac/dc power adapter that is 12v dc 3amps, which I believe was a little too powerful for the smaller guitar strings I used, as they broken a little too easily. Hope this helps.

[kenmorto]

@deejco1 Wasn't that you on E-bay who said they needed to build a hard sided camera case, so you built the cutter for the foam? The foam served as a mold for what material, if that was you?

[deejco1]

@kenmorto Yup, I sold it. The foam wasn't a mold. I just took a thick sheet of foam insulation and cut out the holes in it to snugly fit my camera gear into it.

[kenmorto]

@deejco1 LOL!, OK, I got ya now,sorry! I thought you used the foam as a mold to cast something around!

[cafediablo30]

man that's exactly what I wanted to do,..u did great with th lipo,..I;m new to foam planes in general but my handy man side of me wanted to try to do something like this,..fantastic vid bro,...this should be able to cut through full lengh wise for wings im thinkin ,. how hot to touch is this,..should I wear leather gloves to handle th wire??

[yzguyfl63]

@cafediablo30,

for something like a wing, you would want to make a Bow for longer cuts (length of the wing). This design was more for thinner parts. You could scale it up, but would have to play with the wire diameter/length, voltage to get the heat/amps correct.

[obaid16195]

u should make a website and sell these

[multicolor0]

is it possible to make one that cuts balsa?

[yzguyfl63]

@multicolor0, I tried to cut some balsa with it, and it just burned it a bit. It might be able to be done, but mine does not do it.

[poppopscarvinshop]

Dude! This Is Fantastic!

Thank You!

[OTTOFLYS]

A+ Awesome set-up! I've been looking for a simple wire cutter for the same reason as you...rc planes, and I like how simple it is. I'm building one SOON. great video and an even better machine thankyou thankyou thankyou for posting this video. I have all this stuff laying around and will be cutting my own foam by the end of the day. Thanks OTTO

[Clonetrooper1019]

Now to make a Minecraft Pickaxe :)

[RCcrAzY1234]

what about a 3s? will that work?

[yzguyfl63]

@RCcrAzY1234 ,

it is really best to use something to measure the amp draw from your battery. Drawing to many amps from a lipo will ruin it, and may even start a fire. I measured the current to be sure I was not exceeding the battery's capabilities. But yes you can just connect the battery to the wire with alligator clips. You can also adjust the heat and amps by sliding the clip along the wire. Use these to adjust: thicker wire=more amps & hotter wire; longer wire = less amps & cooler wire

[Hollrobb]

Very nice setUp.Thanks for sharing the design and info.

[skinnythia]

I cut the pink foam from siding the house, sometimes 2 inch thick. will this work, or do I need a stronger power source. I cut for an hour at a time or more.  I thought about a train controller.

[cameraguy37]

Sir this is a very impressive wire cutter. I swear the one we had in shop at school wasn't as decent as this one!

[1kuhny]

could you use a nine volt

[yzguyfl63]

it is really best to use something to measure the amp draw from your battery. Drawing to many amps from a lipo will ruin it, and may even start a fire. I measured the current to be sure I was not exceeding the battery's capabilities. But yes you can just connect the battery to the wire with alligator clips. You can also adjust the heat and amps by sliding the clip along the wire. Use these to adjust: thicker wire=more amps & hotter wire; longer wire = less amps & cooler wire

[humbertodelagarza]

im trying to make a foam cutter based on your idea, but i got a question. What about using a 3cell 2600mah lipo battery with 30C?? do you think it might work?... im trying to make some profile cutting for combat wings and soaring sailplanes, not just foam board airplanes. Also, you just connect each wire side with the neg(-) pos(+) caiman clamps?

[tallguysd]

This is why youtube is so good a simple and easy way to make a foam cutter.

[jumpthehoops]

Nice. Really nice! Don't you worry about your lipo exploding when you are connecting pos & neg like that? (I don't know much about lipos but was under the impression you NEVER wanted the pos & neg to touch eachother) Cool device - I'm headed to the basement to make one of my own!! Thanks!

[GuitarIcko]

home made arm cutter

[tom98277]

Very nice job making this! Didn't even think of the LiPo batt..

[arcflashvictim]

That is absolutely brilliant, previously I have used razor blades and box cutters to cut foam parts. This is so much neater and tidier, I will definitely be building one of these.

Thank you.

[martyisnuts]

nice little rig i like it

[SL4VE0WNER1904619]

y would u need to cut foam?

[yzguyfl63]

@SL4VE0WNER1904619 ,

My reason is to cut out parts that I use to make RC planes. I make a pattern out of poster board, lightly glue it to the foam, cut it out, then pop off the poster board.

[SL4VE0WNER1904619]

@yzguyfl63 o ok cuz i see a lot of videos like this and everytime people cut foam it looks like theres jus cutting it to cut it

[adrianTNT]

Will it work if I connect a 10-12V adapter (from network router for example) and use a wire from a 220V heater? Just a smaller part of the whole wire used at 220V.

I don't know how to call that heater wire in English, it is that coil around a ceramic tube.

Don't I need to connect anything like fuse or something? Because directly connecting it is similar to a short circuit (?!)

[yzguyfl63]

@adrianTNT ,

I am using stainless steel wire. This has a higher resistance than normal copper or steel wire, which is why it converts the electrical power into heat. The thicker the wire, the less resistance, and the higher the amp draw, and the hotter the wire. Also the longer the wire, the more resistance, less amps, cooler wire. If you use another material, it will not work the same way. Yes it sort of is a short, but no more than a light bulb is. You could connect a fuse if you want.

[yzguyfl63]

@adrianTNT

the power supply for most common devices will not provide enough current. Something like a network router is typically around .5 amps, and this takes 2-3. Now laptop power supplies typically are more, commonly around 5 amps, and would also work. BUT first check the output amps of your power supply to make sure what it will provide, and also I would recommend measuring the current for yourself with some type of meter, or you risk overheating the power supply by drawing to many amps

[adrianTNT]

@yzguyfl63 I was able to cut some foam nicely with a 1Amp power supply (from router I think), wire looked normal but it was very hot. I had an issue because the wire expanded on heat :) I linked the wire to a rubber strap and placed the power on wire away from the rubber, it worked OK.

I will check power supply temp too next time I use it, but I only keep it on for seconds. Worked nicely so far, I made very thin 2.5mm polyester sheets with it (for a light rc plane).

[yzguyfl63]

@adrianTNT ,

to make the wire not as hot, make the wire longer. If you made one like mine, you can add some screws to the bottom of the board, and snake the wire around the extra screws to add length. Then if you use an alligator clip for the wire, you can move it along the wire to vary the heat. Another way is to use thinner wire. Both of these will take experimentation to find what works for you.

[guzz360]

the wire you are using is that a fishing wire ??? Why I wonder this is because I search on it and what google finds is fishing wires. please answer as quick you can

[adrianTNT]

@guzz360 That IS* a fishing wire :) you could see the fish on the bag when he shown the wire pack ( 1:20 )

[yzguyfl63]

@adrianTNT ,

yep stainless steel leader wire from Walmart. Complete parts list and more pics here:

w w w. 1bad69.com/rc/hotwire.htm

[yzguyfl63]

@adrianTNT ,

yep stainless steel leader wire from Walmart. Complete parts list and more pics here:

w w w. 1bad69 . c o m/rc/hotwire.htm

[yzguyfl63]

@guzz360

yes, this is stainless steal fishing leader wire, of a specific size. A different size will yield different current and heat at the same length.

[guzz360]

Hi ! yzguyfl63

I just wonder if I can use a 9v battery and higher to this foamcutter please answer as soonest you can PS: I am from sweden

[yzguyfl63]

@guzz360,

I don't know if one would supply enough current, but I'd think that 2 wired in parallel may just be enough, and if not, 3 would be. The catch is that I don't know how long that would last, but if only cutting out a few things, that may not matter.

[guzz360]

@yzguyfl63 ok ! thanks but what do you mean with how long it would last. And do you think that I could use two 9v battery's.

[yzguyfl63]

@guzz360 ,

what I mean, is how long the batteries would last before they are drained. I don't know off hand how much power they hold in comparison. You could hook up 2 in parallel to make it last longer

[edwarda333]

how long does the battery last

[yzguyfl63]

I'm actually not sure. If you use a lipo, you do have to make sure you don't drain it to far as that will damage it. It will take some testing for your exact setup. But at around 2-3 amps, a 1300 mah should last more than 20 min (which is way more than I ever use it for at one time).

[CHIPPERJ67]

That was cool!!!!!!!!

[damafia29]

never thought about using lipo's i didnt think they wud like it cos its like a short which they dont like at all but nice setup packs away nice and neatly i was gonna use a 12v wall wart or my old cb power supply 13v @3 amps with a dimmer

[yzguyfl63]

Yeah I started with the dimmer and 12 dc converter (old car charger) but my power supply was way to old and bad. Then I actually tested the amps and thought about it, 2-3 amps is not much at all. A 1300 2s can do this without an issue.

[damafia29]

thanks i think i will build one soon using this setup looks very neat and tidy as soon as i can find foam at a good price in the uk got loads of plans and spoilt for choice

[gwsslowstick]

That is awsome. I like that set-up. It's portable and you could make it a plugin by adding a removeable dimmer switch and an AC plug.