How to make a foam knife with your own hands. Homemade foam cutters

We present to your attention a unique set: a foam cutter, a battery-powered soldering iron and a wood burner. The new development of the Star Tec company, which will surely appeal to lovers of crafts, pyrography and those who just work on creating original things with their own hands.

In fact, this multitool combines three tools in one, while remaining compact, easy to use and powerful. And its main feature is the Plug and Start system, thanks to which you only need to change the tip of the main unit and you can work.

In the kit you will find:

And most importantly: the manufacturer does not limit the buyer only to this configuration. You can purchase other attachments of different shapes. All of them allow you to carry out truly jewelry work with high precision and very accurately.

Please note: the multitool is powered by 4 AA batteries, which are not included. These must be purchased separately. AA rechargeable batteries can also be used if you plan to use the instrument frequently and do not want to regularly buy new batteries.

Naturally, you can buy a foam cutter separately, buy a battery-powered soldering iron and a burner. But you will have to spend an order of magnitude more, ease of use is extremely questionable, and the quality is not always at a high level. Here you can also purchase first-class products at an affordable cost from a world-renowned manufacturer.

Application area

Of course, this is primarily a hobby tool, but the manufacturers have made sure that the tool is also found wider application. This is a great buy for ad producers at the moment.

The multitool can be used to craft:

Advertising materials made of polystyrene - volumetric letters and 3D objects; Bright and memorable signboards; Advertising stands.

It is also used for original decoration of interior interiors of premises and facades, creation of dummies and letters, shock-resistant packaging and the like. The area of \u200b\u200boperation is limited only by your imagination and occupation. A great purchase for your money for everyone who is used to creating something new with their own hands and cannot imagine their life without it.

Advantages of buying a do-it-yourself soldering iron or foam cutter from our company

At the moment our offer is unique on the market.

A new product that simply has no analogues and is unlikely to appear in the future. The original development of the Star Tec company, with which we cooperate directly and without intermediaries. Accordingly, we guarantee our clients the following benefits:

Prices from the manufacturer without unjustified markups and overpayments; 1 year warranty for each customer; Products are supplied exclusively from Germany.

Let's not deny that you can make a foam cutter with your own hands, and buy a soldering iron at a ridiculous price on some Chinese website. The question is, how high quality, functional and reliable such tools will be? And are you ready to sacrifice the result for the sake of dubious savings?

Order the Multifunctional burner, cutter and soldering iron 3 in 1 from us, work with pleasure and convenience, create something new and original every day!

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Polyfoam is used in many construction works. It has good thermal insulation.

However, it is quite fragile and crumbly material. Therefore, when cutting it, special equipment is used. Otherwise, the edges will be uneven, and the material itself will lose its thermal insulation qualities at the joints.

Special equipment is on sale.

However, you can also make your own foam cutter. This will significantly save your family budget. How to create different options for cutting foam plastic, it will be interesting to know every craftsman.

Tool type

When creating a handheld foam cutter, you should study the existing varieties of this tool. There are mechanical and electrical varieties. If the foam product has small dimensions, and the accuracy of cutting is not so important, you can give preference to the first option of the tool.

However, in order to ensure a tight fit of the foam plates to each other, it is necessary to ensure high cutting accuracy. The edges should be smooth. In this case, it is possible to create a high quality insulation layer.

Its heat loss will be minimal. Uneven cuts create large gaps between the joints. Through them, the heat from the room will go outside.

Professional designers and builders exclusively use electrical foam cutting equipment. It is quite possible to create such a tool at home.

Simple electric cutter

Considering how to make a foam cutter, you should study the design of the simplest equipment of this class, which runs on electricity. In this case, you will need to prepare a thin guitar string and several batteries (for example, from a flashlight).

The operating principle of this equipment is simple. The battery design forms a single unit.

A guitar string is connected to it. As an electric current flows through the circuit, it will heat up. It is in this state that the string can easily cut the foam sheet.

When using such a tool, the material will melt. The string heats up to 120 ºС and even more. In this case, it is quite possible to cut several large foam plates.

If a large amount of work is required, this option will not work. Batteries will drain quickly. We'll have to provide for the option of connecting the system to a household network.

Varieties of electric cutters

The electric foam cutter can be used for many different purposes. The type of construction and overall performance of the equipment will depend on this. There are three main varieties of homemade cutters.

They are used by designers. For home repairs, this type is used less often. There is also a tool with a metal build plate.

Such equipment necessarily has a step-down transformer in its circuit. It must be rated for a minimum power of 100 W.

The secondary winding of the transformer must have a cross section of at least 1.5 mm. It must withstand a voltage of 15 V. In this case, you can achieve a high result of work.

Features of work

Studying how to make a manual foam cutter yourself, you must also consider the features of the functioning of such equipment. As mentioned above, such an instrument has a string. It heats up and melts the foam surface.

Such a material reacts rather poorly to heating.

Therefore, it is important to maintain the technology of the entire process. Cutting with hot thread is fast. This allows for a high quality cut.

Checking the heating level of a string is easy. To do this, a test is carried out on a test piece of foam. If, when the thread is immersed, long pieces of material remain on it, it is not yet hot enough.

If there is no foam at all on the string, then the temperature is too high. In this case, you will have to cool the instrument a little. With the right heat, you get a fast, accurate cut.

Linear cutter

Do-it-yourself linear foam cutter will allow you to create blocks from material of the required dimensions. This greatly speeds up the work of the wizard. If necessary, this tool can be used to cut circles, triangles or squares in the foam.

Two stands are vertically installed on the table surface. Two insulators are attached to them.

A nichrome filament is stretched between them and this alloy heats up quickly, providing sufficient temperature for cutting. A free hanging load is passed through one of the racks. Contacts from a transformer are connected to the thread.

Passing along the nichrome thread, the current will heat it up. It will be taut all the time due to the weight hanging from one side.

This is necessary because the string can sag when heated. If desired, the structure can be modified by adding a spring instead of a load. However, the original version is easier to execute.

Linear cutting process

Considering how to make a foam cutter with your own hands, you also need to understand how to work it correctly. Cutting can be carried out vertically or horizontally. For this, the thread is pulled in the appropriate position.

If the string is stretched horizontally, you can use it to make the same cuts. The foam is pulled evenly across the table. The thread will cut it evenly into the required pieces.

When cutting the structure vertically, a frame made of metal or plywood is added.

The holder is installed on it. An insulator and a nichrome string are supplied to it. A load is suspended from the other side.

It will go through the hole drilled in the table. It must be large enough and covered with special insulating material. Next, you can perform vertical cutting.

Curly cutting

If you need to cut large enough sheets of foam or create decorative elements, sculptures from this material, a special type of equipment is used.

You can also do it yourself. This is a handheld styrofoam cutter made from a hand jigsaw or a hacksaw. In them, the cutting element is changed to a nichrome string.

If you need to create curly elements, you can make several tools of different shapes. A wire is fed to the jigsaw handle. It must be carefully insulated.

Otherwise, it will be unsafe to work with this equipment. A nichrome string is attached to the wire contacts. This can be done with nuts and screws with washers.

Also, for creating such equipment, a pulse soldering iron or wood burner may be suitable. This tool is considered handy. Their working element is removed from such equipment and replaced with a piece of nichrome wire. In this case, the threads can be given different shapes.

Metal plate cutter

There is a Styrofoam cutter that uses a copper plate and can be reworked to create this piece of equipment.

60W equipment will do. Remove the heating element from the device. Instead, a plate is installed here.

One side of the copper piece needs to be sharpened. This will create a more accurate cut.

The sharpening angle should not be made too large. Cutting will be done using heating. To find the required level, you will have to experiment on a test piece of foam.

This method is also used by masters of various skill levels and profiles.

If necessary, the copper plate can be replaced with a steel blank. This option will require more effort when sharpening. But with the help of such a tool, you can cut and denser polymeric materials.

When choosing which foam cutter is more suitable for the work of a master, you should take into account the recommendations of professional builders.

The greater the volume of work performed, the more complex the design will be. A simple battery powered cutter is fine for cutting multiple blocks. However, to perform a large amount of work, you should give preference to networked types of equipment.

When cutting, the foam heats up. At this moment, substances that are unsafe for human health are released from it into the environment. Therefore, the work is performed in a well-ventilated room or outdoors.

In order not to be mistaken with the cutting configuration, you should outline all the lines with a pencil before starting the action. This will avoid cutting errors. These simple guidelines will help you get the job done quickly, correctly and safely.

Having considered what options for foam cutters you can make with your own hands, each master will be able to choose the best option for himself.

Hello. You can make a lot of interesting things from polystyrene: volumetric letters and figures, models of ships and airplanes, art objects. It is for such purposes that I made a similar cutter from a polypropylene pipe.

We need:

Polypropylene pipe with a diameter of 20 mm; Two brackets for 20 mm; Fittings; Furniture corners; Nichrome wire; Power transformer; Wire; Nuts and bolts.

The holder itself was assembled from a polypropylene pipe and fittings with the ability to adjust the depth of the cut.

For this, the U-shaped part is attached to brackets and can move freely relative to the handle. A 1.5 mm copper wire is laid in the tube cavity, which emerges from the handle with one cable.

The whole structure is lightweight and fits comfortably in the hand. If necessary, it folds up and does not take up much space.

The nichrome thread was taken from the Soviet variable resistor SP5. It is attached to the corners soldered into the tube by heating.

As a power source, a 150 W Soviet transformer was taken, which has one of the outputs at 2.5 Volts. This voltage is safe for humans. True, of course, there is a danger of being burned by the hot nichrome thread.

The thread itself does not get red-hot, but it easily melts the foam. If you have a little experience, you can cut strips of polystyrene in a thin even layer, like on a vegetable cutter. You can burn a picture: in the middle of the workpiece, pre-burn a hole with a heated knitting needle, insert a nichrome thread and only then fix it in the holder. Here is such a cutter invented and assembled with his own hands to create crafts That's all, thank you for your attention! ILYA20-05-2018, 00: 242 803FacebookVKontakteTwitterGoogle + OKHello to all lovers of homemade products. In this article, I'll show you how to make a DIY Styrofoam Cutter.

It can be used to cut various shapes of polystyrene needed for different purposes, such as aircraft modeling. This homemade product is easy enough to make, so that everyone can find the materials necessary for assembly. Before reading the article, I suggest watching a video with a detailed process of assembling a foam cutter, as well as testing it. hands, you will need: * Building corner * Two wooden blocks * Self-tapping screws * Screwdriver * Nichrome thread * Unnecessary stool or plywood sheet * PC power supply * Metal corner * Copper tube * A piece of foam to check Step one. First you need to make a stand for the cutter, for you can use an unnecessary stool or, if desired, make boxes from a sheet of plywood. Since the unnecessary stool was idle, it was decided to make a base out of it, we make a hole in it for a copper tube using a screwdriver and a drill for wood.

You can get a copper tube from the condenser of an old and unnecessary refrigerator, usually a tube of a suitable diameter is used there, in this homemade product it is needed so that the nichrome thread does not burn through the tree. Step two. Next, we fasten the wooden block to the end of the stool using self-tapping screws and a screwdriver, while observing the perpendicularity of the building corner, so that in the end the cut on this cutter is as even as possible. Then, using a metal corner to the wooden block, we attach another block at an angle of 90 degrees, in the end it should turn out something like this. Step three. Cut off the required length of the copper tube using a hacksaw for metal, press it with a metal plate to the bar, screwing in two self-tapping screws, while also observing the perpendicularity. To fix the nichrome thread, screw a self-tapping screw into the upper bar with After that, we take a nichrome thread and thread it into copper tubes from above and below, then we wind it on the lower screw near the tube, then on the upper one, making a slight stretch. Now we connect the power supply from the computer; for it to work without a PC, you need to close the green and black wires together.

We wind the wires from the unit onto self-tapping screws and turn on the power. After the first turn on, the nichrome thread is slightly stretched, so we pull it again and you can check the cutter in action. Step four. We check the finished cutter on foam. We turn on the power supply and move the foam in the desired direction, the nichrome thread cuts through it and, as a result, a segment of the required shape is obtained.

When working with this cutter, you need to observe safety measures and in no case do not touch the nichrome thread with your hands. With this cutter you can make aircraft models, boats and much more, where foam is used. That's all for me, thank you all for your attention and creative success . Become the author of the site, publish your own articles, descriptions of homemade products with payment for the text. Read more here.5Idea5Description7Execution Final grade: 5.67 out of 10 (votes: 1) FacebookVKontakteTwitterGoogle + OK5To write a comment, you must enter the site via social. network (or register): Regular registrationInformationVisitors who are in the Guests group cannot leave comments on this publication.

Polyfoam is a versatile material. It is used in construction (insulation), in the production (repair) of household electrical appliances, interior design, advertising. One of the main characteristics of the material is density. The higher this indicator, the stronger the material. However, this has a great impact on the price.

When using the material as a filler for wall insulation, the most loose structure is usually chosen (due to its low cost). However, loose foam is difficult to handle - when cutting, it crumbles heavily, making it difficult to pick up garbage.

The styrofoam knife should be thin and sharp, but this does not prevent the edge from breaking. Even if you work outdoors, the flying small balls litter the environment.

Therefore, professional builders cut polystyrene with nichrome wire or hot plate. The material is fusible despite fire safety.

Important! When choosing a heater, pay attention to the characteristics. It should say “self-extinguishing”. Such foam is perfectly cut with the help of temperature, but in case of fire it will not become a source of combustion.

The industrial foam cutting machine can process sheets of any size, cut the material both across and along the solid.

However, cutting foam at home does not imply such volumes and sizes. When repairing your home (or garage), a compact thermal knife is sufficient. It can easily cope with both linear cutting and curly adjustment of slabs when laying in areas with complex shapes.


Any tool has a cost, and there is always an opportunity to save money on a purchase.

DIY Styrofoam Cutting Tools

The guillotine is perfect for linear cutting. Only the impact will not be mechanical, otherwise a lot of debris will be formed. We use a proven technology - cutting foam with a heated tension string.

Required materials

• Nichrome (tungsten) thread
• Power supply, preferably regulated
• Any construction materials: timber, metal profile, pipe, for the manufacture of a tension frame
• Furniture guides for drawers.

On a table, workbench, or other flat surface, we install vertical racks for attaching the guillotine. With the help of furniture guides, we fix the cutter frame so that it moves without distortions. Both sides must move in sync.


The most critical part of the cutter is the wire mechanism. The first question is where to get the material. Nichrome can be purchased at radio electronics stores. But since we are striving for a shareware design, we will look for an alternative.

1. Old soldering iron. Models made in the USSR, designed for 36-40 volts, can be found in any home workshop. Heater winding is an excellent donor for nichrome guillotine. True, the length of the wire is no more than a meter.
2. Iron with classic spiral heater. The wire is thicker, suitable for linear cutting. Shaped cutting is permissible, with low accuracy requirements.
3. Spiral heaters from a hair dryer, or fan heater. The principle is the same, they are not suitable for precise cutting.

note

Tip: When straightening the coil, do not pull the wire along the spring. Loops may appear and the thread will break. It is better to unwind the turns as from a spool of thread. You can put the spiral on a nail or pencil and pull the wire across the turns.

The principle of the frame is shown in the diagram

The wire cutter must be electrically isolated from the frame. Therefore, it can be made of metal. It is important to maintain constant wire tension. When heated, nichrome expands, adding up to 3% in length. This causes the string to sag.

Those who are planning to insulate an apartment or a newly built house with their own hands should definitely familiarize themselves with the ways in which foam is cut at home, because this is one of the most popular and affordable methods of insulation.

Styrofoam is a foam and is mostly air, so it is very lightweight and easy to work with. However, you should not think that no problems arise, because, besides everything, foam and rather fragile material. Therefore, if you use an electric grinder, then you should not rely on even edges, besides, the whole room and site will be strewn with crumbled foam.

No matter how sharp the knife is, the material will still crumble. Of course, this is a minor defect and the sheets will be usable, but cleaning will turn into a troublesome event... There is a way out of this situation, you can use a thermal knife. At the same time, the edges of the material are melted and it does not crumble. But bad luck, such a device costs a lot, but in principle, you can heat an ordinary knife. However, in this case, one must be very careful not to get burned, and the work will be significantly delayed.

For this purpose, you can use a different cutting tool, for example, a grinder, only then you should use the thinnest disc. Very often builders use a simple sharp knife. Sometimes it is advised to take a hacksaw with very fine teeth, but the latter method is very dubious. In addition, the stores sell special thermal knives designed for working with foam.

The thermo knife heats up to 600 ° C in just 10 seconds. However, this tool is quite expensive, so it does not always make sense to buy it.

The way out of the situation in many cases will be a device for cutting foam sheets, made by yourself. It is probably somewhat cumbersome, but with the necessary components, it is absolutely free and always available. And if you have to do large-scale work, for example, you have ahead of you, which you built for your large family, then the question of how conveniently to cut the foam plastic, and even a lot and quickly, will not emerge throughout the event, no matter how long it lasts.

In order to assemble a foam cutter, you will need a tabletop, each with a pair of springs, M4 screws and 28 mm racks, as well as a nichrome thread, which will act as a cutting tool. First, we make two holes at the base, press the racks into them, and at the base of the screw head we cut a small groove, thanks to which the thread will be securely fixed in a given position.

When everything is assembled, we attach the string to the screws, but since it can sag during heating, it should be connected through springs, then the thread will always be in a taut position. The power source is connected to such a device by means of ordinary twists. So you can make a homemade and very effective foam cutter, while spending a minimum of effort, time and money.

Trying to cut the foam yourself

Now let's talk a little about various technologies, methods and, of course, give detailed instructions on what and how to do.

How to cut polystyrene yourself - step by step scheme

Step 1: preparatory work

It doesn't matter what kind of tool you are going to use - a knife, nichrome thread or other cutting devices, you still need to start with the marking. So we take a ruler, square, tape measure, pencil and mark the surface of the sheet, then connect them in lines. In general, we draw the contours of the future cut.

There are more ways you can. For example, using nichrome thread. In this case, a small current is supplied to it, which is capable of heating the string to the desired temperature, and the cutting is accurately performed along a given contour. Of course, the quality of the cut in this case will be much better, but you will have to work a little to make the machine. Therefore, this method is not always justified if you need to process only a few sheets, there is simply no point in wasting time on designing the fixture. As you can see, it is impossible to give an unambiguous answer, what is the best way to cut polystyrene, it all depends on the volume and skills.

Polyfoam is a fairly practical and lightweight thermal insulation material. It is often used to create various crafts. However, in the process of working with it, you have to face one nuisance - the material is difficult to cut. The foam is produced in the form of large slabs, and in order to divide the panel into fragments, you will need to cut it.

Using a saw or knife for this purpose will not work. This is due to the fact that under any mechanical action, the structure of the material is destroyed. To avoid this, you need to design a foam cutter with your own hands.

The simplest foam cutter

The simplest foam cutter is easy to do with your own hands. For this purpose, you will need to use the thinnest guitar string. In addition, you should prepare 5 large batteries for a regular flashlight. They must be connected in series. A string is connected to the ends of the device, thereby closing the electric arc. The current will flow through the string, heating it up.

When using such a device, the foam sheet will split into two parts immediately after touching the string. In this case, the material will melt along the cut edges. The cut with this processing is as smooth as possible. The string for cutting foam must be heated to a temperature of at least 120 degrees. However, it should not exceed 150 degrees.

It is quite easy to check how hot the string is. When cutting, sticky pieces remain at the edges of the material. If they are too long, the string is not hot enough. In the absence of such pieces, it can be judged that the string is overheated.

With this elementary device, about 3 foam panels can be processed. However, for large volumes of work, it is not suitable. The batteries drain pretty quickly. To extend the life of the torch, you will need to build a mains-powered device. Here are some simple tips to help you figure out how to make a Styrofoam cutter.

Homemade electric foam cutters

If such devices are divided into groups, they should be classified as follows:

• device for linear cutting;
• thermal cutter, with which figured cutting is performed;
• device with a metal plate.

However, despite this classification, each device has one common element in its design. To create foam cutters, you will need to find a step-down transformer. This element needs to be able to handle 100 watts.

Linear cutter

To create such devices, you should prepare a workspace. Usually a table is chosen for such purposes. Two vertical risers are attached to it. Each of them must have an insulator. Pull a nichrome thread between the insulators. A free hanging load is suspended from it. The nichrome thread is connected to the contacts connected to the step-down transformer.

The principle of operation is quite simple. The nichrome thread heats up when connected, which makes it easy to cut the foam. Due to the suspended weight, the thread remains taut. The weight is necessary because the thread starts to sag when heated.

The moving foam is cut with the nichrome thread quickly and evenly. How thick the processed sheets will be depends on the height of the thread above the working surface of the table. The main thing is that the foam is fed at the same speed throughout the entire cutting period.

To cut the sheets vertically, you will need to use a different cutter design. It stretches the cutting wire in a vertical position. In this case, the work surface is made of chipboard. A frame must be attached to it. It is better if this element is made of a metal profile. However, wooden blocks will work well.

The frame is equipped with a holding paw on which a nichrome wire is suspended. A load is attached to its end. The wire is passed through a hole made in the working surface. So that it does not touch the tree, the hole is protected from the inside with a metal hollow tube.

When using thermal cutters, the foam is not only easily cut into certain blocks. Various geometric shapes can be cut from large slabs, such as a square, a semicircle, a triangle. Before work, it is enough to draw a marker along the surface of the slab, marking the cut line.

Shape cutter

When working with large foam sheets, using a stationary cutter will be difficult. Such panels are difficult to fit on the desktop. In these cases, a handheld foam cutter is used. Such a tool is often made from a jigsaw. The cutting blade in these tools should be replaced with nichrome wire.

Such an electric cutter is quite simple to build with your own hands. To make cutting curly elements more convenient, you can make several devices with different shapes. First, remove the cutting blade from the jigsaw, and bring the wire to the handle. The voltage will be low, but the handle and other metal parts should be insulated. A nichrome wire is connected to the cable. For this, nuts are used. The wire is bent in a certain way.

You can use a soldering iron as a cutter for curly cutting of foam. It needs some modification. The device already has an electrical wire in its construction. To create a foam cutter from a soldering iron, you will need to replace the element that is heating up with nichrome wire.

Such a device is characterized by high ease of use. Thanks to such a product, it turns out not only to cut slabs of material into smaller sheets, but also to make recesses in them.

Metal plate cutter

There is another way to convert your soldering iron into a foam cutter. To modify the tool, you just need to replace the tip with a copper plate. Steel is also suitable, but it heats up longer and is more difficult to sharpen. However, with the correct sharpening with a steel plate, any synthetics, including foam, can be cut.

One side of the plate must be sharpened carefully. Sharpening can be done on both sides. It is necessary that the sharpening angle is not too large. Cutting the material is carried out not only with the blade, but also with the blade of the plate. Such a cutter has one drawback - you will have to experimentally look for the optimal temperature for heating the knife.

conclusions

Making a DIY foam cutter is pretty simple. The methods listed above will help you understand the structure and operation of the foam cutter. Such devices are practical and easy to assemble. Each method has its own advantages, so DIYers can choose the most suitable one for themselves, depending on the materials available.

Polyfoam is a lightweight, durable, good thermal insulation material that is very easy to work with. But it has one unpleasant feature: it is usually made in the form of large enough slabs, which have to be cut into smaller pieces during operation. No matter how sharply the knife and saw are sharpened, they will not be able to accurately cut the slab with them, since the structure of the foam is destroyed by mechanical action, which is why it is not cut, but crumbles. Therefore, a special foam cutter must be used for cutting.

Polyfoam, like any material, requires cutting, this is what a cutter is needed for.

The simplest homemade foam cutter

Such a cutter is not difficult to make with your own hands. It is enough to take the thinnest guitar string and 4-5 large batteries for an electric flashlight. Having connected all the batteries in series into a single element, you need to connect and fix the guitar string with electrical tape to its ends, closing the electric arc. The electric current passing through the string will heat the string.

Image 1. Diagram of a cutter that allows you to cut flat sheets from a foam block.

At the point of contact with the string heated to the desired temperature, the foam sheet will instantly melt, dividing into two halves, the cut of which will be fused and even. But for normal cutting, the string must be heated to a temperature of at least 120-150º. When working, it will not be difficult to determine if the string has warmed up enough, since when cutting the foam, small sticky pieces will remain on the string. The longer such pieces remain, the lower the temperature of the string. But if they do not remain on the string at all, then this means that this kind of thermal knife is heated more than necessary.

Such a primitive foam cutter can easily cut 2-3 large sheets of material. But with large volumes of work, the batteries quickly run out, therefore, in such cases, a cutter powered by the mains is used.

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Options for homemade electric foam cutters

Conventionally, such devices can be divided into groups:

• cutter for linear cutting of foam;
• cutter for curly cutting of foam;
• cutter with a working metal plate.

But despite this division, all cutters have one thing in common.

For their manufacture, you cannot do without a step-down transformer.

Such a transformer must be rated for at least 100 W. Its secondary winding must be rated for a voltage of 15 V and have a winding wire cross-section of at least 1.5 mm.

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Foam Linear Cutter

Picture 2. Diagram of a vertical cutter: 1 - cutting nichrome wire, 2 - weight, 3 - frame, 4 - working surface.

Such devices are mounted from the working surface (you can use the table surface) with two vertical risers fixed to it, attached to the risers by two insulators, connected to two contacts connected to the step-down transformer and a nichrome thread stretched between the insulators, and also passed through one of the risers freely hanging cargo (image 1).

The operation of such a foam cutter is very simple. Passing through the nichrome thread, the electric current heats it up, and the suspended weight maintains the thread in a taut state, preventing it from sagging, since it stretches quite strongly when heated. Sometimes, instead of a suspended weight, a spring attached to one of the risers is used to pull the thread.

The heated thread easily cuts the body of the moving foam, turning it into flat sheets, the thickness of which depends only on the distance from the table surface to the stretched wire. All you have to do is maintain a uniform flow rate of the foam across the table surface.

For vertical cutting of the layers, another cutter design is used, in which the cutting wire is stretched vertically (image 2). A frame is attached to the working surface made of thick plywood or chipboard (indicated by the number 4 in the diagram), preferably welded from a metal profile, but made of wooden bars is also quite suitable (3).

The frame design provides for a holding paw, to which a nichrome wire (1) with a suspended weight at the other end (2) is suspended by means of an insulator and passed through a hole drilled in the working surface. Since the nichrome thread will heat up, it is better to make the hole larger and insulate the wooden parts by inserting a metal hollow tube of hollow diameter into it, through the cavity of which the end of the wire with the load can be brought out.

Such a foam cutter will not only easily cut large pieces of foam into blocks of the desired size, but will also allow you to cut squares, triangles, semicircles and other curly holes in the material if necessary. To do this, it is enough to first draw a cutting line along the surface of the foam plastic with a marker.

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Styrofoam shape cutter

If you need to cut sheets of large size or thickness, which due to their size cannot be placed on the desktop, then in such cases a manual electric cutter is used, converted from a hand jigsaw or a hacksaw, in which the cutting blade is replaced with nichrome wire.

Picture 3. Diagram of a manual thermal cutter: 1 - cutting nichrome wire, 2 - screw with nut and washer, 3 - textolite handle 4-5 mm thick, 4 - electric cord.

Such an electric cutter is not difficult to make with your own hands. At the same time, for the convenience of figured cutting, several working tools of different shapes can be made (image 3). With a jigsaw or a hacksaw, the cutting blade is removed, and an electric wire (4) is fed to the handle (3). Despite the fact that the voltage will not be too high, it is better to insulate the handle, like other metal elements, at least with ordinary electrical tape. Instead of a cutting blade, a nichrome wire, bent in the required way, is attached to the supplied electrical cable using screws and nuts with washers (4).

Alternatively, for the device of such a cutter, you can also use a wood burning device or a pulse soldering iron. Such a cutter will be even more convenient, since the electrical wire was originally provided in the design of these devices. To turn these devices into an electric foam cutter, it is enough to replace the heating tools in them with a piece of thick nichrome wire, giving it the desired shape.

Such hand-held cutters are convenient in that they can be used not only to cut foam sheets, but also to cut out all kinds of depressions, cavities in them, to remove chamfers, in a word, not just cut the foam into pieces, but to sculpt real works of art from it.