Homemade foam cutters????

[Waldo Pepper]

Are there plans out there (or materials lists) for building your own foam cutter? Looking for a hand held as well as table model.

Thanks
WP

[Broncomech]

Hey WP,
There are some plans on the web, search for foam cutter or feather cutter.

I would bet that there are some folks on this forum with some awesome home built cutters we just have to convince them to share their ideas.

Dave

[omega blood]

Right on the lift zone. http://www.rcgroups.com/links/index.php?id=4096

[InTheLift]

Not exactly sure what you mean when you say "hand held", but I've seen a battery operated one at a craft supply store...called Michael's around here...that uses two "D" batteies for a power source and can cut foam up to about 2" thick. the "bow" is about 8-10" deep. Might be worthe looking into at a local craft store.

Something like this maybe?:

http://www2.shopping.com/xGS-Hot_Wir...kin_id-3058368

Also these for table top ideas:

http://www.gizmology.net/hotwire.htm

http://www.techlib.com/hobby/hotwire_foam_cutter.htm

And this comercially available one...a bit spendy though:

http://www.minicrafttools.com/37080.html

[GKP27]

Waldo, How about this, it’s made from a hand held foam cutter it will run on batteries or computer power supply. The cutter is only about $6
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163751

[Waldo Pepper]

Thanks for the ideas and directions to the threads. Gotta go find some "stuff" and give it a try

WP

[Peteohms]

Some pictures.

[BlackScorpion]

While surfing for a wire cutter i came across this:
HOT SCROLL TABLE - $49.95 (cat #003)

This is a 12"x14" table with a hot wire perpendicular to the surface. It works like a jigsaw, where you move the material across the table to cut accurate straight edges, strips, angles, curves, cylinders, cones. It also adjusts to make angle cuts.

Works with any Hot Wire Foam Factory Power Supply. Comes with 5 cutting blades.

Looks interesting to duplicate with maybe a wooden table, like Johns version? i like the middle section which pivots from side to side for angle cuts.

[corndog]

ive built two of these. the first was one of those, "if i had to do this again, i would...". so, i built the second one with a couple of changes. message me if you decide to try this one. do not built the one from the plans on ebay. the mdf material or any type of wood for that matter is a terrible material to use for the frame work. total cost was about 300 dollars turnkey. i think i have some of those stepper motors left over from the batch i bought on ebay. http://www.8linx.com/cnc/cnc.htm

[BlackScorpion]

Here's another intersting one:
http://www.vatsaas.org/rtv/construct...irecutter.aspx

[Skinner46]

Here is a picture of my home made bows, 48 inch and gravity drop table. I have plans for the bow, but they are in CAD format and coverting to graphics is not practical.
Bobk

[Skinner46]

Here is my hot wire jig saw. No plans but, they could be generated quite easily.
Bob K

[CrazyHerb]

You guys are way to scientific (gravity feed, precision temp control, half-shop setups)...here's my setup.
http://www.crazyherb.com/HotWireBow/hotwire.htm

Enjoy!
CrazyHerb

[gravitic anomaly]

For hollowing out foam fusalages, making servo cut outs, and the like I use a 150W Transformer type soldering "gun". Just bend some .025" music wire to the shape you need and insert the ends where the soldering tips go. It works very well as long as the connections are clean. It makes a quick job of routing wiring or pushrod channels. Have plenty of ventalation.

[flieslikeabeagle]

BlackScorpion asked me to post pics of my little home-brew foam cutter (I had previously posted pics on a different thread).

Its quite small, the table is about 9" x 17" and the wire is about 7" long. Its made from scraps of MDF I had left over from another project, a piece of stiff music wire to hold the top end of the cutting wire, a 15V, 2.4 A Walwart, and a small Variac to control the temperature with.

I'll let the pics tell the rest of it: