General No 'Magic Smoke' but plenty of flames....?

Keith

Keith

Member
Was out shopping yesterday and found a place with stacks of foam...Been looking for a while... Quite big, about 2' x 4'... Got a couple of sheets and thought I would give the scratch build a go...

Looking on Youtube and came across foam cutters... I thought I can make one of them and cut some nice wings.. Found a voltages regulator off an old ceiling fan and went through all my transformers I had lying around... The best I could find was a 12v @ 1Amp... Might be enough..

So joined it all up and connected the multi-tester... Got 3 settings on the controller... Low = .02v... Med = 2v... High = 10.4v... Think I might need a bit more power... Then I remembered my car battery charger... Connected it up, got nothing on first two settings but high gave 10.4 again but it would be at 4.5 Amps... That should heat the wire... Then I remembered it had a booster/fast charge setting... Flicked the switch and got 12.5v...You beauty...

Have ordered some nichrome wire so when that arrives I can set it up... Couldn't wait to see if it works so found the thinest wire I had, bared the ends and attached the crock clips... Flicked the switch on the wall and before I could look down the wire burst into flames... The coating was well alight... I was blowing and hitting it until I put it out.. That was after I killed the power.... So it wasn't too bad except for one thing... I like to work on a white towel so when I drop small screws etc they dnn't roll everywhere...

Just got to hide the towel from the trouble and strife and I should be OK... Think I'll wait for the correct wire before I try again.....
 
Whirlybird

Whirlybird

Member
Should have got the wieners and marshmallows out :)
Aren't you supposed to use bare wire Keith?

How long a cutter are you making?

Oh and as Tony would say . . . :ttiwwp:
 
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Keith

Keith

Member
Aren't you supposed to use bare wire Keith?

Yeah but I could'nt be bothered to strip it off just to test it....

Probably around 3'... I fancy the gravity type..... Feeds better, with a better finish....

I'll photo and vid it when I get round to doing it....

Nexct time Frank you bring the marshmallows and I'll get the snags(?)....
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
The best way I have found to do this, is to take an old hair dryer apart. Works great lmao.
 
Keith

Keith

Member
Had a look for a hair dryer Tony... could'nt find one... Found an old toaster, the wire seems a bit thick in them....
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
Yup, a toaster will work as well. But, they have flat wire (atleast mine does lol) so you would not be able to do a circle cut very easy. I'm sure you will get it though.
 
wolfman76

wolfman76

Well-Known Member
I had someone tell me to use the controller from a train set before... just to update this thread and bring it back to life. And hey tony did you cut anything with the wire I sent you yet? Lol
 
Dirk

Dirk

Member
I noticed the other day that my Revolectrix Powerlab Lipo charger has a setting for hot wire foam cutting. Never knew that.
 
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