Hot Wire Foam Cutter

[Jay Christopherson]

Due to some upcoming travel, I needed some new foam and I was tired of hacking out holes with a filet knife. It works ok, but not great. Since I have to trust an airline to take care of my stuff (yeah, right), I figured I might as well do as nice a job as I can.

So, I took the time to build a hot wire foam cutter. I didn't want another jig/part/doohickey hanging around my garage taking up space, so I decided to use a table that I already had and used for tinkering with and cleaning rifles.

The nice part is that it can easily handle a full 4 ft. x 2 ft. piece of piece of foam. Anyhow, it took about 20 minutes to put together and I thought it was kinda cool. Probably lots of people here have done something similar, but if not, here's another idea for someone to tinker with in their spare time. Sorry for the pic quality, my garage is not that well lit. Another project.

I might lower the arm a bit, just to give the wire a little less give, but it cuts like...well... a hot wire through foam.

If you're interested, it takes about $30 in parts with the transformer being about $22 of that. I got the idea off of AR15, so I can't claim original inspiration. If you are interested in the wiring, there's a great shot here:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y44/mfingar/cutter/P3072248.jpg

 

[thefitter]

Looks great, how about some more details?

 

[Jay Christopherson]

It's just a 25V transformer, a dimmer switch, and a NiChrome wire I bought from Amazon for $4. And a 2 ft. zinc rod as the bow.

Once you wire things up like the diagram in the link, it's easy peasy. Turn the dimmer on until it starts cutting foam and you're good to go. Turn it on too hot and your wire will start glowing and snap, just like a filament in a light bulb.

 

[1066]

It's just a 25V transformer, a dimmer switch, and a NiChrome wire I bought from Amazon for $4. And a 2 ft. zinc rod as the bow.

Once you wire things up like the diagram in the link, it's easy peasy. Turn the dimmer on until it starts cutting foam and you're good to go. Turn it on too hot and your wire will start glowing and snap, just like a filament in a light bulb.

Excellent job. If you find yourself stuck with a broken wire, a thin guitar string works well too.

 

[timeout]

I made one at work for a project a few years ago. I used a bulk roll of leader wire for fishing. Just another idea for the wire. Like Jay said, easy and inexpensive to build.

 

[Shooter13]

I've been searching Amazon for something to cut foam, can you send me a parts list it not to much trouble? TIA either way

 

[dsculley]

My son made one for a school project years ago. The wire was salvaged from an old electric heater. The transformer was from an old train set. Worked well back then.

 

[AJ172SBCT]

I've been searching Amazon for something to cut foam, can you send me a parts list it not to much trouble? TIA either way

See if this help
https://www.ar15.com/forums/ar-15/-/4-292695/?

Jacques

 

[Shooter13]

See if this help
https://www.ar15.com/forums/ar-15/-/4-292695/?

Jacques

Thanks that looks simple and looks like it works great!!

 

[Dusty Stevens]

For a long time the guys on the ar15 forum really perfected this so id do a search over there and see what all options are available. It was a badge of honor to see how many accessories you could cut into a case- they got real good at foam sculpting even making some handheld ones