Welcome to Hot Wire Cutting with David and Josh!
David made his hot wire cutter out of PVC piping and extra RC components, including a Turnigy 30A BRUSHED ESC and a servo driver.
You can use building pins to hold down your template.
Hot glue also works on very thin parts of the template. The hot wire will cut through the hot glue easliy.
When cutting you want to allow the heat of the wire to cut the foam. Try not to pull or bow your wire.
This specific project was cut in sections using templates found here.
Check out the review of this plane here, and see David's build log of the plane here!
Join in the discussion on this topic in the forum post, CLICK HERE!
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(X) AWG size nichrome wire is recommended for (Y) size foam cutter.
Recommendations for X and Y values! :D
As far as I am aware it is better to use as thin wire as possible for smoother, faster and therefore more efficient cutting, but trade-of for that is rigidity. Rule of thumb: the smaller the bow the thinner wire can be used and vice versa. Because wire is tensioned it can (or could) be easily snapped.
But where is threshold limits? Most probably it is not recommended to use 32 AWG wire for 3 feet (1 meter) bow as it will most probably snap quite fast (?) and 20 AWG for 5 inch (12 cm) bow would be too bulky.
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Thanks!
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I printed off the template provided using a titled pdf and then cut them out with the saw.
Just cutting out the templates will probably take longer than it took David to build the entire thing but it works well and it is fairly easy.
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There was a C-130 Hercules built years ago that used that technique, but I had forgotten about it...
Thanks for the inspiration!!!
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It would give a clue on how much power to count with if alternative powering solutions are used.
Thanks.
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Heres a link for my hotwire if anyone is wondering.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1450332
Ill post to FTs foarum when I start to build my new set up.
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What do you guys use to glue the parts together after cutting them? I use normal wood glue to glue mine ogether.
I see someone asked about the templates. I use normal cardboard( about 0.4 mm thick.) to make mine.I use a normal scissors to cut them out(wife enjys doing that for me).I can get up to three cuts out of each template.I find that a person tends to push the wire against the template instead of guiding it along the template.
I struggle to get the ideal plans(with the cross cuts in them) to do this kind of cutting.How or were do you guys get your plans.
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Great article by the way David, I like your design method. The extruded foam you used in the video is extruded open cell polystyrene that can sometimes be found at concrete supplies in the warmer climates like FL and TX. Open cell is great for fuses and wings as long as it won't get contact with water, in that case use closed cell - the stuff that breaks into little beads (Expanded bead Poly Styrene) EPS. I made a boat of open cell once - bad idea, turned into a loofa.
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