In today's world, "expanded polystyrene" is a widely used product of DIY projects. In earlier times, polystyrene was treated with a fixed knife, which created a lot of dust around. An electric foam cutter is the solution to this problem. They very neatly and efficiently cut polystyrene without any dust. But the price of the issue of mills available for sale is quite expensive and not everyone needs such professional tools for a hobby.
Let's make a simple Electric foam cutter, budget and affordable. An electric foam cutter is very useful when working with foam projects. A piece of nichrome wire is used, which heats up when connected to a large battery current.
A house cutter is made in just a few minutes.
Details
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5. Ice cream sticks
6. Hot glue gun
7. Soldering iron
Let's start
Take holder for 18650 lithium-ion battery and push button switch.
Using hot glue, insert the switch on the back of the holder, as seen in the image.
Solder the battery terminals wire to the switch.
Solder the wire to another terminal.
Plant on hot glue.
Ice Cream Sticks
1. Take 4 ice cream sticks.
2. Using super glue, insert 2 sticks one above the other for reinforcement.
3. Make two pairs of thick sticks.
4. Mark a point at one end of the stick.
5. Using a mini-drill, make holes in the marked areas in the ice cream sticks.
6. Using hot glue, connect both battery terminals.
7. Ensure that the wires in the battery holder are free to move.
Heating Element Connection
1. We take 2 bolts and 2 nuts.
2. Insert the bolts into the holes made in the ice cream sticks.
3. Fasten the bolts to the stick.
4. Connect the wires firmly to the battery holder with the nuts on their respective sides.
5. We take a piece of nichrome wire and fix the wire tightly between the sticks using nuts.
6. Make sure that the nichrome wire does not touch the wooden stick.
Testing
Our homemade electric foam cutter is ready.We insert the 18650 lithium-ion battery into the holder and press the switch to heat the wire. Use this tool to effectively treat polystyrene foam.
Note: Nichrome wire has special properties, due to which it provides a very high resistance and acts as an active load when connected to batteries. Make sure that you do not use another wire, otherwise it will short-circuit the battery and can be very dangerous.