Make your own foam cutter

February 22, 2008 by Blackhat · Filed Under General, Scenery

Today I made my own hot wire cutter or foam cutter. Its not very nice to look at, but it was pretty easy to make. All I needed to buy was a guitar wire (nickel chrome), the rest was allready here. By searching google you will find lots of ways to make one, but Im gonna try and make this as easy as possible.

First I needed to find an adapter to use. I tried a few, the first one broke some were not strong enough and one was 16V and melted my wire. I finaly found one from an old phone with 9V and 1000mA. Worked perfectly for a 0.279mm wire. (click pictures for fullsize)

Then I found a pice of plywood and started cutting it with my electric saw so it looked like a U or a horseshoe or something. Look below.

then I attached the wires from the adapter to the guitar wire using some metal connectors I found. I also used the screws to keep the wire tight

Now its finished and almost ready for use, but you should not touch the connectors when its on. If you are not familiar with feeling lots of electricity going through you like me, then you should ask your parents to help you. Make this at your own risk, and dont leave it on when your not around

A better edition of the hot wire cutter will follow soon. Take care