Awesome idea, fell short, maybe some electrical guys can get this to work.

[Triton]

So here was my idea:

Weekend Project: 5-Minute Foam Factory - YouTube

There have been a lot of people here recently unhappy with their foam cutting ability, myself included. I stumbled upon this, and thought, I have an awesome idea. So I built this, essentially the same, with the ability to easily rotate the wire to every degree from 90, to about 15 degrees. It was an awesome build.

I bought 32 gauge nichrome wire, finished it up tonight using a ac/dc transformer from an old digital camera, ( 12v 2a ) fired it up...and it wouldn't cut my 6mm foam. :cry

It did however cut regular white packing foam. And it cut it SO well. The best part is, the ability to stick a cardstock template to the foam, and it cut around the template like a router, leaving me absolutely perfect edges, and making the cutting process SO much faster. The tilting mech even worked perfectly as well. 45 degree cuts were so simple, and looked like they were punched at a factory. No doubt this is EXACTLY what foam builders need in their arsenal to cut build time, and make absolutely perfect seams.

So I suppose where I'm stuck at is...will this even work? If so...what do I need to get this work? I was prepared to drop a huge tutorial on everyone with this, as it literally costs less than $20 in parts to build.

 

[Triton]

Anyone have any ideas on getting this thing to cut eva foam?

 

[rotccole]

Use a blade attachment to a soldering gun. Cuts like a hot knife (which it is) through butter.

 

[Triton]

Yeah...but I like this idea better. The wire is ultra thin, and really makes amazing cuts on the white foam. Just need to figure a way to get this thing to cut through eva. LOL

If this isn't possible, than I guess I will have to go that route though. =(

 

[rotccole]

Oh, well, all you have to do is send and electric current through the wire that will heat it up. You could make it and have it run through a 9v (maybe more, I don't know) like this. (artist rendering) -----+ (-)--------. See what I'm saying?

 

[Triton]

Oh yeah, that's pretty much how I have it running now.

Except I'm using a 12v ac-dc power supply that can push out 2 amps.

And it still isn't cutting the eva foam. I'm guessing the wire needs to get hotter to cut through the eva foam. But I'm not sure if I need to increase the amps, or the volts. I know nothing really about electricity and all that. LOL

 

[aeryn]

What sort of wire are you using?

 

[Triton]

What sort of wire are you using?

Using 32 gauge nichrome C wire.

 

[aeryn]

Using 32 gauge nichrome C wire.

Kay, your wire should be fine. Sounds like it just needs to be hotter, perhaps, to cut thru eva vs styrofoam. I've seen some rigs where they loop the end of the wire around a soldering or wood burning tip to heat it up, vs his train transformer.

I've not cut eva with wire, but i've done etching on it using a wood burner and it works very well, so the wood burner def gets the foam hot enough to melt.

 

[Canobi]

Hi there

Awesome build buddy, I would definately make one myself, it's brilliant :thumbsup


I'm pretty sure increasing the amps will increase the heat dissipated by the wire, or reducing the wire gauge will have the same effect, though you might need to replace it a few times if left on whilest it's not cutting anything. Thinner gauge wire will become brittle and snap once it has "glowed" from too much ampage.

I only know this as I use electric bag sealers at work, and of you don't press down on them hard enough so the heat is tapped in the proper place, they start to burn out.

How about upping the ampage to cut the EVA, and getting something like this to control the output, thus controlling the wire temperature :thumbsup

http://bit.ly/ODH5UO

 

[flamingBurrito]

It sounds like you need to increase the amperage. I'd use a potentiometer to allow you to adjust the amperage, but you need to be very careful about upping the amperage any higher than 2A. Electrical fires are no fun. Make sure you have a fuse in the circuit, and use common sense.

 

[Triton]

Yeah a buddy of mine told me that the way these people are making them sans fuses, is asking for a house fire. Which I don't want.

So this idea may not be feasible.

However, I may try to do a hot knife, with an adjustable angle to it...so it'll act more like a table saw, with the blade rising up from the bottom, and the tilt underneath. What do you guys think about that idea?

 

[Genises]

eva foam clogs the wire when you cut it like that, Triton, your friend is totally right, don't build this... sure you could do that with a hot knife, but why would you need to when doing it by hand is easier?

 

[Triton]

eva foam clogs the wire when you cut it like that, Triton, your friend is totally right, don't build this... sure you could do that with a hot knife, but why would you need to when doing it by hand is easier?

Because doing it by hand isn't easier. LOL
It's not accurate enough for me. My 90 edges are fine, but all my angle cutting is AWFUL. Even with tools designed to do it properly. I've tried it all.

 

[Genises]

how thick is your foam?
put one of these just far enough away from the edge your trying to cut as the thickness of your foam then follow its angle with a box cutter, perfect angle cut every time