Proxxon Basics

In this video, I will show you some of the basics of using the Proxxon Thermocut tool, including how to make bevel cuts and the balance of temperature and speed of feeding foam into the hotwire.
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[@chipsoules]

Mark wasn’t alone in his wish...Thanks for doing this!

[@jktechwriter]

Happy to do it!

[@ArtJeremiah]

I so wish this video existed when I started using my Proxxon. Very informative information. I hope this video gets to everyone who needs it.

[@TheTabletopEngineer]

Same here. But even those new to Proxxon must learn by doing. Hopefully the video just gets them up to speed a bit faster.

[@ArtJeremiah]

@@TheTabletopEngineer totally agree with you. I'm glad you did this video.

[@MichielvanM]

Tip: you can use a piece of sacrificial foam to prevent the wire from hitting the fence (and melting your foam because it's stationary) when using the shorter edge of the proxxon.

[@walterlucca4523]

i guess im randomly asking but does any of you know a way to log back into an Instagram account?? I was stupid forgot my login password. I love any tricks you can give me.

[@walterlucca4523]

@Santiago Micah thanks for your reply. I got to the site on google and im waiting for the hacking stuff now. Takes quite some time so I will reply here later with my results.

[@walterlucca4523]

@Santiago Micah It did the trick and I finally got access to my account again. Im so happy:D Thank you so much, you saved my account!

[@santiagomicah8532]

@Walter Lucca you are welcome :D

[@Daleitnant76]

Hi, I also join the list of people saying thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I am new in this hobby and the idea with the angle cutting was great!!!!!!!!!

[@brianmaphar9685]

Thank you for this tutorial video. I just received my proxxon yesterday and was really wondering what and how to precisely do certain cuts. Your video opened a lot of opportunities.

[@Darkbirdy]

Thank you so much for this video. I just picked up a Proxxon, and I was having all sorts of issues. I have zero background in carpentry or woodworking (or metalworking, or plastic working), so I have no skills that I can transfer over to foamworking. This primer gives me a *lot* of the information I was missing.

[@janikaarela8540]

One thing that you didn't mention, that I've found helpful when trying to cut an uneven edge into a straight one: when holding the piece steady for that first "manual" cut, use the grid as a visual guide for getting the angle right.

[@Rogelio_007]

This is great. I am about to start making dioramas. Thanks for putting this video together :-)

[@davidfarcus586]

To get a straight edge, I place the foam on the fence and run the fence on the narrow end as a rip guide. That will get you a straight edge. I then move the fence back to the long end and use the straight edge as the cutting surface.

[@jktechwriter]

Yep... that'll do it.

[@spelling_ax]

I'm not quite following. Would you mind making a quick video?

[@svenhalle8887]

You are born to be a teacher, excellent tutorial in every respect.

[@johntimm7265]

Thank you. This really answered a lot of my questions on how to use this machine.

[@RonWylie-gk5lc]

Yes thanks for showing us this, really helpful and such a lot of great advice

[@TheTabletopEngineer]

Glad it was helpful!

[@mrtroy]

Thank you. That was great! You helped more than just Mark.

[@trappleton]

New Proxxon owner here, and this was super-helpful! I picked up some practical tips, but you also got my brain working in a way it hasn't since sophomore-year geometry classes. I've got loads more ideas for how to use this now. Thank you!

[@TheTabletopEngineer]

Glad it helped!

[@earlkriewall7251]

This was very informative. Thank you for producing this video.

[@TheTabletopEngineer]

Glad it was helpful!

[@perkinsdearborn4693]

My Proxxon arrived today. I got it to build war-game terrain. My goal is to have a few unique pieces that can be used for both Infinity skirmish games and larger 40K battles. I really appreciate you putting this video together. Found you via Black Magic Craft. Thx!

[@Shoggoth75]

Great video to get the proxxon thermocut basics!.... and thanks God Proxxon uses the metric system :-)

[@jktechwriter]

Thanks!

[@jean-philippegoo2134]

Very good, thanks for sharing

[@theexpandingmane1768]

Dude, very, very helpful video - Thank You !!!

[@neox77691]

Just got mine today. This is very helpful

[@dcaldwell1026]

Came here specifically to see how to cut very accurate angles with how squishy and unstable the stock fence is. Sounds like I was doing it right and it just kinda sucks overall. Wish I would have ordered the shifting sands fence before the Proxxon at this point. The video is well done and the information was excellent. I do appreciate it and it gave me an answer to the exact question I had.

[@birgirstefansson5398]

so helpfull and love your efficiency of explaining things :D

[@TheTabletopEngineer]

Birgir Stefánsson thank you.

[@isaura5915]

thanks for this vid, it really helped me, now i can start my model :)

[@NasTimeAdventures]

Mate if you like it, I like it. Just ordered one for the team. Thanks.

[@scifimodelshop]

I love my Proxxon cutter "shifting lands" has a really nice replacement guide and many other MDF jigs for this cutter

[@peterglen734]

thanks for your video and time very informative

[@mxpxdude]

Amazing! thank you very much for this video

[@TheTabletopEngineer]

My pleasure!

[@MrCarp69]

Thank you very helpful.

[@wookiejesusofnazarethkashy1940]

I finally bought a Proxxon cutter last week. Found one barely used on ebay for a good deal. Should have been here Monday, but the damn post office misdirected it and it's still not here yet. They must have thought it was a box of mail-in ballots. This video came out at just the right time.

[@TheTabletopEngineer]

Have fun with it... very useful tool!

[@wookiejesusofnazarethkashy1940]

@@TheTabletopEngineer It still hasn't shown up. Tracking had it 2 towns over on the 3rd. No indication of where it's at since then. I'll be contacting paypal and ebay for my money back if it doesn't show tomorrow.

[@shellylynn3063]

Great video. I’m going to buy one off Amazon

[@franciscodiaz652]

Hello, I congratulate you on the great video you have made, for those of us who have no idea how this is going. I just bought a Proxxon and I still haven't mastered the machine very well. One of my many doubts is how to make a piece square. Example: I have a rectangle with all sides with ripples. How would I have to make sure that all sides are square? I hope you will help me on this issue. Thank you. Best regards.

[@VoodooTabletopCrafts]

Love the video very helpful thank you! My proxxon keeps cutting out and blue sparks from the wire groove on the end of the arm near the reel of wire at the top, any ideas? I think it's because the spool of wire unravelled when I was setting it up so is it important to have the wire wrapped around tightly around the spool or?

[@jesserulo2111]

Just got my cutter, I went with the Hercules instead of the Proxxon. Still a good video for either thank you for making the video. for the 30 degree cut if you moved the silver bar to your right where it misses the wire you can just slide it normally for the cut.

[@TheTabletopEngineer]

jesse rulo I hope the Hercules works well for you.

[@mdweddingplanner]

I appreciate you making this instructional video. I just purchased and totally unsure how to use other than cutting white foam. Can you show how to cut circles. I'm a Christmas village person. Thank you

[@theColdFramer]

Great job covering lots of tips, one item that would be nice covering is milling long pieces of foam - I’ve noticed really long pieces it becomes tricky to feed the foam, keep things straight etc

[@TheTabletopEngineer]

I've not really found any way to handle this other than slow and with as many fingers pressing the piece against the fence. I'll ponder on it.

[@theColdFramer]

@@TheTabletopEngineer exactly me too - its a tricky one especially if you try milling through 4 ft long sections of xps - never turns out exactly as I want lol

[@miked6335]

Yeah, when my fingers get close to the wire as I'm pushing the foam (and trying to also keep the fence straight) and I reposition them to continue the cut, the wire melts an extra bit of foam where it "stalls".

[@Iskelderon]

There are a few weaknesses to that machine, but those are easily fixed. Like the bit with the center point when you make angled cuts. A cylindrical sleeve made of a plastic with a higher melting point can be slid over the wire to keep it from shifting too much inside that cylindrical hole.

[@mxferro]

The last part of angle cutting is good. Too bad the instructions hadn't included that for some techniques.

[@robertotworth2735]

I got the Hercules it got good reviews also I hope I don't have any issues

[@dpwolff360]

Great video to get the basics and slightly above basic concepts. Do you ever release your .stl files for the things your create like the rail jig. Thank you for you continuous contributions to the Crafting community.

[@jktechwriter]

Dale, I'll hunt those down and put them on The Tabletop Engineer Facebook page in the FILES section. Give me today to find them.

[@jktechwriter]

Okay, they're in the FILES section now.

[@peezebeuponyou3774]

Very useful video. Just purchased one and a quick question: How hot does the wire get? Once I get past '3' on the heat setting, it glows red. Should it be this hot?

[@Corundum_Rolls]

Nice video. I have had my Proxxon for about a year. I would add that you do not want to let any of the foam melt down into that brass ring or it will be difficult getting new wire through the hole. I have to use a micro needle from an insulin pen to clear the hole as a straight pen is too big.

[@jktechwriter]

Good advice.

[@kallisto9166]

A drop of acetone or nail varnish remove can unclog the hole if that does happen.

[@miked6335]

I used an old guitar string to clear the hole. Great video!!

[@serchdietrich]

I recently bought my Proxxon and these tips will help my a lot. So thank you! My only question is, what kind of foam are you using for this? I've tried with some foam that I had in my house but it always gets a sticked piece of it burning in the wire during every cut.

[@calmike2001]

Thank you so much for making this! My fence is so stiff and hard to move along it’s track. How can I loosen it? There’s no way I could slide it along the track to make bevel cuts like your last method

[@j.pedrorocha2573]

Hello i have a horizontal home made foam cutter. When i link the energy the wire cutter line makes a curve when stays hot. How can i avoide that curve??

[@marcmillour-unraid2772]

HI, just get thermocut and i have problem to cut right. have you the tool's stl you use so i can print it ? Thx to you

[@samanthalacroix2687]

I just set up my Proxxon last night and murdered a poor defenseless piece of foam trying it out and testing a circle jig I made. One question, when I cut slower on a lower heat you can see lines on the cut that are wavy from the wire bending but fell smooth, is that normal?

[@billhargreaves9522]

Can you cut paper faced foam board say with a ply master pattern...(Dollar Tree foam board)

[@daveyjones5702]

any idea what that screw is for?

[@kennethvargas5953]

Is it possible to do round cuts? If so, would you do a video on how to. Thanks

[@joachimvandenheuvel507]

Stick a thumbtack through a piece of tape and stick it on the baseplate. That's your centerpoint.

[@edwardmurray2284]

You said that you didnt know of a better way to make that 30 degree angle cut than with tape and turning the machine off when it hit the metal. Slide the fence so that it is just out of range of the wire before you make the cut.

[@pmatt007]

When cutting foam with a hot wire, do you need to do anything to protect from fumes?

[@joachimvandenheuvel507]

Ideally yes, fumes are toxic.

[@seankuhlmeyer]

The name of the material that is removed is called "kerf"...

[@CasualClinkz]

Don't know if you're still active but here it goes. I got trouble with some "arch" lines forming at the edge where I cut it. Do you know how to get rid of them?

[@TheTabletopEngineer]

Some folks will do a light sanding on the foam to get rid of them.

[@Ynwa50]

Hi from the uk I’m looking at cutting Eva foam ie yoga blocks into circles can you help

[@TheTabletopEngineer]

I'm not sure what yoga blocks are... are they thicker and heavier than XPS? If so, the Proxxon won't help you there... blade or machine cut most likely.

[@Ynwa50]

@@TheTabletopEngineer they are what you use when exercising

[@mxferro]

Cut gap of material...is called a kerf.

[@augustriche]

How can i make an octagon shape? It’s been driving me nuts!!

[@TheTabletopEngineer]

You’d have to do a little bit of geometry to get the square the right size to cut first before trimming the angled four edges

[@ViggoHinrichsen]

Stupid question - but what kind of foam is that?

[@TheTabletopEngineer]

It's called XPS foam... insulation foam from hardware stores.

[@mdweddingplanner]

Just notice but not mentioned in manufacturer directions. You cut off after each cut. Why?

[@vlissinger]

check out the proxxon guiders from shiftingland.com

[@blueline308]

Was this recorded with a Nokia flip phone? It's a slideshow.

[@arvetis]

My brother in Christ, those are not centimeters.

[@CatsPurrfect]

Does this have a USA plug????