DIY Hot Wire Cutter

Been watching a lot of old Burt Rutan videos? Also Doug please make sure people you can't cut just any kind of foam with a hot wire. The green foam florist use is very dangerous to cut on a hot wire.

I make my own coils for my ecig mods and tanks, and I use Kanthal A-1, SS 316L (Stainless), Ni200 (Nichrome), Ti TA1 (Titanium), etc. and they're all fairly cheap, but the Kanthal is the cheapest, and it can create some serious heat. If you ever do any more foam sculpting in the future, I'd try out the kanthal A-1 in sizes anywhere from 22-28ga. If you guys decide to put an Ouroboros dragon on the stem of the bow, try that out!

Nice video mate. Question though: I'm looking into hooking up a similar rig and thinking about just using a mains-12V transformer. Considering that (at full power) you are pretty much just sorting the transformer, I am wondering what wattage one should go for. I was looking at 600W butt now I think this is way too much (plus the ones I can get my hands on are a bit pricey)

Your recommendation?

Dimmer switch <> Rheostat

Waar.  Waar.  Waar.  I'm a Yank, I say wire, LOL.  Seriously, a great tutorial.

Cool you have all the gear, lots of different cutters .But can I ask you what do you make or create  with the foam pieces etc ?  How about showing us ?

that is freakin amazing.

OMG you are Awesomesauce!

Question. .. could u use the say method but make a hot knife ??? Also would the blade be stainless steel to??

After watching a number of Youtube videos on building foam cutters and  reading several blog articles, I built a table with Jacobs Nichrome 60, 26 gage wire.  I used an old transformer that I had that is rated 12 volts (as recommended), but it does not heat the wire.  I suspect the problem is that the transformer is putting out only 1250mA LPS.  How many amps are required for an 8 inch wire?  Or, what do I need to heat it to cutting temperature?

fyi McMaster Carries Nickel Chromium wire for about the same price as the stainless but the Ni Chrome will take 1800 deg f.

can you try cutting bee wax ? 10cm thick?

would a fluorescent light ballast work? thanks in advance

thanks this was very helpful and just what I needed to know for cutting foam

Well nice and impressive ,considering the amount of changes you've added. 

Great info thanks

Thx much

helpful :D

Thanks!  Great Information and Video.

Can I ask what the specs of the dimmer are?  Ive tried this using a DC 12V 2.5A transformer and a light dimmer and don't even get a warm wire.  Wire is 0.015 guitar string.  Any thoughts as to what I'm doing wrong? Thanks.