DIY High Density Foam Cutting Contraption for making foam case inserts

[mhemling33]

I am sure many of you guys have tried cutting foam to make spots in a case for your laser, batteries, or anything else. If you have tried it you will know high density foam and be a pain in the ass to cut and it is hard to get clean cut lines. Well I made this contraption up to make my foam cutouts. Yes it is rigged but it works :beer: I use nichrome wire to do the cutting, I happen to have alot of the wire because i have been trying to wrap it around green modules so they will work in the cold. Enough talk now let me show you what I did.

First I started out with two free paint stirrers from home depot and drill 1 hole on one side and two on the other

This is my nichrome wire 36 gauge

This is my power source I had made from a broken 18650 charger.

I took the two pain stirrers and screwed them on opposite sides of a 2x4

Then I took two alligator clamps and fastened them to the stirrers through the hole at the other end.

This is what it looks like so far...

Next I solder wires to both alligator clamps with lengths a couple inches past the stirrers. I run the wires down the length of the stirrers and use rubber bands to hold them.

Next i put to small screws in the 2x4 and wrap the bare wire around them.

Then I attached the apparatus to a coffee table with a clamp.

I then cut s piece of nichrome wire long enough to go from one alligator clamp to the other. To keep the wire from sliding out of the clamps it helps to tie knots in the section the is inserted inside the alligator clamp. The piece of cardboard is to help see the thin wire.

Now i attach my battery power source to the screws that the wires are wrapped around. And your project is complete.

To cut inserts make an outline of what you want to cut and poke a hole through the middle of it. Then slide the nichrome wire through the hole and connect the ends to the alligator clamps.

I hope this helps someone out and if anyone has their own way of doing it i would love to see :beer:

 

[Bionic-Badger]

B-b-but I wanna cut foam with lazzors!!!1


But really, that's a nice quick and dirty setup for cutting foam efficiently.

 

[mhemling33]

B-b-but I wanna cut foam with lazzors!!!1


But really, that's a nice quick and dirty setup for cutting foam efficiently.

Thanks and I tried the laser method right off the bat but it was alot of smoke and smelled horrible! my next build a co2 foam cutter lol

 

[lasersbee]

Nice job on the Foam Cutter...
R/C modelers have used the Nichrome wire foam cutter
for years to cut foam cores for wings...


Jerry

 

[mhemling33]

Nice job on the Foam Cutter...
R/C modelers have used the Nichrome wire foam cutter
for years to cut foam cores for wings...


Jerry

Thanks
I have seen people use it sculpting but they were cutting styrofoam but not this memory foam type stuff. Nichrome wire has alot more uses then I first thought, it can do everything from cutting foam to lighting fuses.

 

[hakzaw1]

I have gotten pretty good with a long blade xacto knife but this looks like a better option for sure-- +3

 

[mhemling33]

I have gotten pretty good with a long blade xacto knife but this looks like a better option for sure-- +3

I tried xacto knives, serated knives, razor blades, and anything sharp you could think of but I could not get smooth edges they would always be jagged.

This is battery slots I did with an xacto and you can see the jaggedness.

This is the one I did in the video. Its not the best because I was more worried about filming it but you can see a big difference.

Thank you!