# Having an issue with my foam cutter



## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

So I finally broke down and built my hot wire foam cutter. Followed directions exactly. I plugged it up and the plug got really hot, but the wire stayed cold. I was using an old shiatsu massager power supply that I had on hand. Input for that is 120VAC. Output is 12VAC 800mA. Apparently that's not enough amperage. Anyone with knowledge of these things that might be able to help me out with this, by telling me what I've done wrong? I'd greatly appreciate it.


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

What kind of wire are you using for the cutting wire? It sounds like the wire doesn't have enough resistance to heat up, so essentially there's no load on the circuit. That's why it stayed cold and the plug heated up. I'm surprised that you didn't pop a breaker. Do you have a link to the instructions?


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## halstaff (Nov 18, 2009)

I don't know which tutorial you used, but here's the one I followed for my hot wire cutter - http://www.garageofevilnetwork.com/profiles/blogs/goe-labs-howtohotwire-foam
It works great and we built several more of them at a make and take.


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

Good to know. I'm planning to go to the music store and get an "E" string tomorrow. I did have an old piece of wire on it, but not sure if it was nichrome. I did notice that the power supply is actually 12VAC, and every tutorial I have seen says to use a DC voltage. Wonder if that could have something to do with it? 

Let me look around, and see if I can find the tutorial. Sadly, I didn't bookmark it, because I was all hyped up to go do something haunt related in the shop.


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

@halstaff: That's one of the ones I looked at when I was planning this project. In all honesty, it looked too much like a complicated project, so I discarded the idea of trying to build that kind of cutter, until I know more about electrical circuit building.


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## GhoulishCop (Sep 25, 2009)

BHC,

I used this tutorial by hpropman when I built mine:

http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=16712&highlight=foam+cutting+table

I had originally used an old train transformer I had laying around, but it couldn't generate enough power or something so I had to go to the version in the tutorial. Only problem is I was impatient and wanted to do it _now_ so I went to Radio Shack and bought a transformer from there.

The problem with that one is it's much bigger than the Pony in the tutorials so I had to go with a extra deep double gang plastic electrical box (the blue kind) to fit it, and even then it was tight. But the table worked fine afterwards.

However, I ended up giving away my table to a friend. I found I wasn't using it and it was taking up space. I guess if I was cutting thicker foam I would have found more use for it, but at 2" or less I found a jigsaw to be infinitely faster. And I just heard the other day that if you use a toothless blade in it you get a very smooth cut.

With space at a premium I decided to forego having a dedicated table that would be used only rarely.

Rich


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## niblique71 (Dec 2, 2009)

I'm in the exact same position as GC. I used his at a MnT and was floored at its ability to cut very fine details in foam. But I also used a JigSaw to cut my Pink and Blue Foam and it was faster and the tool took soo much less room. Is a Foam cutting table superior to a Jig Saw??? Heck yes. but Not by much in the real world of haunting. 

If you have a need for fine scroll saw cutting, or have the need to cut 6" thick foam. than make one. I STILL want to make one but I just can justify the storage...


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

@GC and nib: I'm building this to cut through white beaded foam blocks (approximately 24W x 24H x 36L), and occasionally a full sheet of 3" foam. I've built a large "Y" type cutter, basically. It's not table mounted, so I can find a place to hang it on a shop wall. but, first I have to get it working.


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## niblique71 (Dec 2, 2009)

OK, I'm admittedly not an expert at foam cutting. But from my experiance, you're gonna need some more horsepower to play with larger blocks of foam. You'll need to heat a wire up along a longer distance and with greater heat due to the heat loss along the cutting wires distance... it's one of those exponential things that most of us mortals fret apon..


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

That might be the problem. The distance between the arms is 30", if I remember my measurements correctly. I may have to just wait and research it a little more, then build a power control box for it a little later on.

**EDIT**
If I'm going to have to build a transformer box anyway, I'm going to do what I wanted to begin with and have a power indicator light.


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