Hot Wire Foam cutter

[tom mann]

Can anyone recommend a hot wire cutter?  I'm looking to carve ditches into 2" thick foam on each side of tracks and to shape mountains.  So I need one that can take different attachments.  There are a number of them on the market, at varying prices.

[DKS]

FWIW, I made my own. The handle is a pair of PC board strips assembled into a T-shape, and screws with wingnuts hold the ends of nichrome wire to the power leads at each end of the T cross part. For the power supply, I built an SCR variable supply; this allows me to use wires of widely varying lengths, and also control the temperature of the wire for different carving styles or desired results.

[wazzou]

Tom -

The only experience I have is with a Woodland Scenics cutter which isn't too bad for large land form shaping.  I've wanted to see if anyone has used that Tippi system that is in the Scenic Express catalog.

[Chris333]

I built my own as well using a old transformer I found at work and a light dimer switch. I bent wire to form roadbed contours with ditches on both sides.

I'd say any will work, just try to find one where you can form your own wire.

[wm3798]

How does that work on the finer work?  It sounds like he's looking for something smaller for detail carving...  Personally, I use a rasp and a vacuum...  It's a little noiser, but a lot less smelly...  Melting polystyrene is pretty rank.
Of course, back in my college days we used to cook hot dogs by sticking a fork in each end of it then wrapping the cut end of an extension cord around each fork... plug it in, and voila!  Faster than a microwave!

Lee

[DKS]

How does that work on the finer work?

Using finer nichrome wire and lower voltage, some pretty fine detail can be carved using a hot wire tool. One trick I've found is that you can simulate layered rock rather well by bending the wire into an irregular shape and jiggling the tool back and forth while making a vertical pass down the foam. Not as realistic as, say, rubber molds or hand-carved plaster, but still effective.

[Skip]

Tom,
If you want to test my Tippi, PM me your address and I'll let you borrow it for as long as you need it.

Skip

[railbuilderdave]

I got one of those cheap ones for $20 at the hobby store and returned it the next day.  It wasn't made to cut through the thicker foam we are using but only the cheap foam used to arrange flowers.

I would like to know more about making my own can anyone share more details on what I need to do.

Thanks,
Dave

[SOUPAC]

I purchased what probably was the original commercial foam cutter. It really worked pretty good, but I had access to some 8" thick foam and had big mountains in mind. Wanted something that would make quick work of this. A buddy & myself whipped one out. It kept melting the cutting wire. Working our way up, we decided when it made a heavy duty clothes hanger glow bright red, maybe we just had too much power! ;D ;D ;D

[Dupesy]

I have the Tippi foam cutter, and it works pretty well.  Certainly more versatile than the Woodland Scenics one.