The Ultimate Hot Wire foam cutter! Part 1

[@cliftonsnider1520]

Yes that is the ultimate hot wire foam cutter. Simple and gets the job done. You’ve earned my subscription.

[@jntb3000]

Biggest cutter i ever seen. Thanks for showing

[@SebaOPL]

Very compact solution and I like it a lot. Thanks for sharing!

[@historyrepeatscubed726]

Good video, clever design. Best line at 06:15. Hilarious! Thanks for posting!

[@scorpionbradford]

I appreciate detailed, technical workmanship. Thx for sharing

[@selfsameday7448]

Ingenious , 007 ! Mr. Moore

[@HarmonyTurbines]

Thank you SameDay :)

[@allstarprintlab2675]

your a true engineer brother, salute to you!

[@tamistone2632]

I’ve made similar foam cutting tables years ago and used a voltage variable 12 volt power supply in the 2-3 amp range. This lets me use any thickness or reasonable length of nichrome wire as I can dial up and down the voltage for the correct cutting temperature that suits the material at hand. Also, a large funnel and shop vac with a damp cloth on the vac’s exhaust makes a great fume extractor. Good job on your video!

[@andrewsherwood2338]

been using this tool for over 40 years … my first was actually a double hot wire running parallel to each other and very close together. With a metal airfoil shape pinned to each end of a foam plank one could make a wing easy peasy. Nothing new for those in the know but yes it is the easiest way to cut foam

[@roystheboy]

Well done great invention just what i need

[@joefalcon870]

Ultimate Hot Wire foam cutter? well its pretty close, needs a few mods 4 me to cut rc wings. yes well done, thanks 4 the video and NO music

[@Technical_Audio]

Good idea! Suggest adding a suction device to remove fumes.

[@gary24752]

Need more information as to what wire you used, what is the power source (amp and voltage rating) etc. How do you deal with the fumes?

[@MySpace662]

The best system is to use a soldering iron, remove the heating bit by loosening the screw that holds it, and inserting a stiff wire to the length required and tightening the screw. All you have to do is to attach the soldering iron to the side of the table with a clamp, with the heating wire pointing upwards. Now you are ready to start cutting by sliding the foam board on the table through the wire, using a wooden strip as a guide for the width required.

[@HarmonyTurbines]

doing what you suggest creates a huge V shaped kerf cut. The cut is larger at the top because heat is concentrated in the iron near the heating element. Plus heat rises so the iron should be BELOW the table. Sorry but I disagree with your statement that it's the best method. I think what I've done here is pretty simple, reliable and efficient.

[@MySpace662]

I am using it to cut templates, and I have no problem, you don't need that much of heat to cut Styrofoam.

[@HarmonyTurbines]

right but your margin for error grows more with this large amount of heat so close to the foam. Look at the end of my video around 7 minutes and you will see just how beautiful your edges are when you use my method. This level of control is necessary for the work I was doing to give a nice finished product. If you are not making precise cuts then it doesn't matter.

[@robertcornelius3514]

Chris: I, too, have used the soldering gun method, and had great results. Besides, aren't you going to tape over the seams anyway?

[@tangsaycocie3737]

My Space 0

[@MartinRAVEL]

Using a little fan help to improve the precision of cut and avoid the toxic fumes !

[@mikoyanfulcrum1]

What is the name or brand of the foam you are using?? Thank You!

[@scottsimmons9726]

Good idea, im doing same thing in my basement and your way is way cleaner than mine lol. One observation about yer basement, if you take the insulation off the trunk of duct work, it will introduce heat into basement, and the floor of house. Worked for me.?

[@HarmonyTurbines]

One day I'll get around to removing that insulation. I took it all out of the ceiling so when I fire up the wood stove(s) in the basement I literally heat the entire house! I love that aspect and designed my house that way on purpose.

[@scottsimmons9726]

Thats funny, i also designed and built my house with the intention of wood stove in basement for that very reason, but didnt, and kick myself for not. Now ive spent the wood stove money on other house stuff.... Someday!

[@drampadreg1386]

It works great! If you use 120 VAC and a transformer you can use a simple light dimmer and adjust the temperature for different cuts, but by the time you get this I bet you are already done. But you can build model plane wings or plugs for mold making for carbon fibre car panels and snowmobile hoods to lighten your load and save gas etc as well, maybe even make a little money from your creation. You seem to like doing things youself like that wheel in the background...what is that by the way? I know it's not for a very long garden hose.

[@HarmonyTurbines]

I Missed this comment a while back. Sorry! It's for my gravity engine experimentation I used to do. I had a LOT (300+) of designs that I was playing with for a working gravity engine. Some of my designs got close to spinning continually. This was the test frame for various designs. OUPower.com has some of my stuff on this.

[@JANMICHAEL22]

Oh... my...... God..... that is definitely the ultimate foam cutter! Hahaha Salute to you sir! 👍

[@lorindawilliams2242]

Great idea. I will make mine like this.

[@joaquingonzalez1525]

GREAT video

[@veganath]

One of the best I have seen on hotwire cutting. I love the way you estimated the necessary length of the nichrome wire based on the batteries voltage. So if one wanted to cut wider foam one would need higher voltage? I'm wondering if it would be possible to cut at say 45 degree angle, perhaps an angled fence or perhaps an angled nichrome wire.... thinking about how this could be implemented for greater flexibility then the ultimate hot wire cutter would graduate to the most awesome ultimate hotwire cutter ....lol

[@HarmonyTurbines]

+veganath Thank you. It turned out to be a great and very simple idea. I should have started that way first. LOL Oh well, that's how we learn. Yes you can certainly do 45 degree angles. Just attach the longer wire to your ceiling anywhere you like. It's infinitely adjustable in that regard. You could even get tricky and move the attachment for the top forward say 3 feet. Then cutting straight on would still produce a 90 degree angle, but if you moved your fence and came in feeding foam from the side, now you'd get your angle cut. So depending on the angle of attack into the hot wire you could get a LOT of different cut angles.

[@veganath]

Christopher Moore yes great idea to move the anchor point for the wire to a different position on the ceiling to get the desired angle. Thanks Christopher

[@HarmonyTurbines]

+veganath right but moving it forward did you grasp what I was saying ... you could get your 45 degree angle if you feed foam pieces from the side, then still achieve 90 degree angle cuts if you feed from the front.

[@biranit50]

if you put the top holding point on a rail that its length is equal to hight you get 45 deg! easy !

[@mt53gftl]

You do not mention anywhere what gauge wire you used. I have a similar foam project I will be doing and plan to construct a unit to cut long lengths of 2" Styro. I am going to use a DC train transformer for power supply so it can be easily regulated to get the wire glow set as you show. (Something I already own as I do not have any batteries like you used). What was the support wire you used to hold the cutting wire?

[@veggitarianredneck]

Awsome

[@tjdreier3504]

For some reason the red and black work cuts, slow. The yellow and black does not turn on the fan? What do you suggest? I hooked everything up like you did in video. Thanks!

[@HarmonyTurbines]

I can only assume you're referring to a computer power supply that you were trying to use for this project. In that case you seem to have failed to show a load on the 5v leg (Red/Black) so you can solve that by putting a 5v load on red/black and then your yellow will give you 12v+. Good luck!

[@mr.c6924]

what gauge of Nichrome wire did you use for this?

[@brad-yo7jb]

Chris, how did you decide what battery to go with and where did you find info on that? Where did you find the batteries?

[@theodoresignal]

Nice Idea. I'll be trying a rig like this soon. How long do the batteries last. What about charging cycles. Can it be configured to run from a home outlet

[@biranit50]

why worry about charging? use an old pc power unit you get 5V and 12v

[@shanek6582]

Can you buy that nichrome wire at a hardware store or do you have to order it? Thanks

[@HarmonyTurbines]

You can buy some at K-Mart if you get a cheap hair-dryer. Open it up and salvage the wire (nichrome springs). Then you can use the housing and blower to make yourself a foundry and start doing lost foam casting! It's exactly how I started with Lost Foam casting. :) But yes online seems to be the only place to find raw wire. Never saw it in hardware stores.

[@shanek6582]

Thanks Chris.

[@ispeedonthe405]

Thanks to the vaping/e-cig market, you can get nichrome wire in spools of 50-100' on Amazon for about 7 bucks, in various gauges.

[@HarmonyTurbines]

I use Kanthal wire also. You can find both on Amazon.com

[@drampadreg1386]

Mig wire is nichrome, and it's probably the cheapest and easiest to get, got a friend with a mig welder and then it's free!

[@clintonday67]

what kind of wire do you have the nichrome wire connected to

[@fanspy1]

Has anyone replied to this? I'm curious too.

[@Helveteshit]

Any type of wire works. Looks like ALuminium to me.

[@caretomin1]

Super--felicitaciones

[@sauer55555]

Great video! What kind of wire did you use? What thickness and resistance? Thank you.

[@indigo5180]

Kate Malykh he used nichrome wire and you can have 18 20 22 gauge not sure about the resistance

[@chuckg2709]

Awesome , hope you dont mind but im taking your idea 💡 thank you

[@HarmonyTurbines]

Not at all I just ask that you please take some footage and show the results of your efforts. I'd enjoy seeing your replication and where you go with it!

[@JOEGGGJOE]

Becareful with those fumes.

[@johnagrima4666]

JOEGGGJOE

[@johnagrima4666]

i usually have tungston wires

[@JOEGGGJOE]

tungston wire? does that eliminate the fumes?

[@lynardburt5992]

@@JOEGGGJOE no

[@mitsioschappoua1695]

how thick is the nichrome wire you are using? nice video tho

[@HarmonyTurbines]

I have 18, 20 and 22 gauge wire. I think most of what I have done was using 20 gauge so far. Also it is Kanthal not nichrome that I'm currently using.

[@lynardburt5992]

Concept great, your health from fumes, not so great.

[@seansoblixe9711]

take care not to breathe the fumes ....very toxic!

[@jeffbeck6501]

dont cut foam in a basement. go outdoors.

[@robertcornelius3514]

Dead right... or be dead.

[@dundas9222]

Wow... Do not use Styrofoam for interior insulation. .. It's FLAMMABLE and produces TOXIC SMOKE! it's rated for exterior only.. Throw some of that on a fire you'll see! USE Roxul, comfort board or any rock wool or fiberglass products.. Interior rated!!! That blue board is expensive AF anyway This is why we have building inspectors and permits for basement finishing. The hot knife is cool though ....

[@commentatron]

I'm using this blue board for ribs in my ultralight biplane project. Should be okay as long as the enemy doesn't use incendiary rounds ;-)