We present to your attention a unique set: a foam cutter, a battery-powered soldering iron and a wood burner. A new development from Star Tec, which will definitely appeal to lovers of crafts, pyrography and those who simply work on creating original things with my own hands.
In fact, this multitool combines three tools, while remaining compact, easy to use and productive. 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 different shapes. All of them allow you to carry out truly jewelry work with high precision and very carefully.
Please note: the multitool runs on 4 AA batteries, which are not included. They must be purchased separately. You can also use AA batteries if you plan to use the tool frequently and do not want to regularly buy new batteries.
Naturally, you can separately buy a cutter for foam plastic, buy a battery-powered soldering iron and a burner. But you will have to spend an order of magnitude more, the ease of use is extremely questionable, and the quality is not always up to par. high level. Here you can purchase first-class products at an affordable price from a world-famous manufacturer.
Application area
Of course, first of all, this is a tool for a hobby, but the manufacturers have made sure that the tool can also be used more widely. This is a great buy for advertising producers at the moment.
The multitool can be used to make:
- Promotional materials made of foam plastic - volumetric letters and 3D objects; Bright and memorable signs; Advertising stands.
Also used for original decoration interior interiors premises and facades, creating models and letters, impact-resistant packaging and the like. The scope of operation is limited only by your imagination and type of activity. An excellent 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 soldering iron or a do-it-yourself 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. An original development by Star Tec, 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 buyer; 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 will such tools be? And are you ready to sacrifice results for the sake of dubious savings?
Order a 3-in-1 Multifunctional burner, cutter and soldering iron from us, work with pleasure and convenience, create something new and original every day!
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Polystyrene foam is used in many construction work. It has good thermal insulation.
However, this is a rather fragile and crumbling 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 make a foam cutter yourself. This will save a lot of money family budget. How to create different variants tool for cutting foam plastic, it will be interesting for every master to know.
Tool type
When creating a handheld foam cutter, you should learn existing varieties this tool. There are mechanical and electrical varieties. If the foam product is small in size and cutting accuracy 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 accuracy cutting The edges should be smooth. In this case, it is possible to create an insulating layer High Quality.
Its heat loss will be minimal. When cutting unevenly, large gaps form between the joints. Through them, heat from the room will escape to the outside.
Professional designers and builders use exclusively electrical equipment for cutting foam. It is quite possible to create such a tool at home.
Simple electric cutter
When 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 structure forms a single unit.
A guitar string is connected to it. When electric current passes through the circuit, it will heat up. It is in this state that the string can easily cut a sheet of foam.
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 slabs of foam.
If you need to do a large amount of work, this option will not work. The batteries will run out quickly. We will have to provide an option for connecting the system to a household network.
Types of electric cutters
The electric foam cutter can be used for a variety of purposes. This will determine the type of design and overall performance characteristics of the equipment. There are three main types of homemade cutters.
Designers use them. This type is used less frequently for home repairs. There is also a tool with a metal working plate.
Such equipment must have a step-down transformer in its circuit. It must be designed for minimum power 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 high performance results.
Features of work
While learning how to make a manual foam cutter yourself, it is also necessary to consider the operating features of such equipment. As mentioned above, such an instrument has a string. It heats up and melts the surface of the foam.
This material reacts quite poorly to heat.
Therefore, it is important to maintain the technology of the entire process. Cutting using a hot thread is done quickly. This allows you to achieve high quality cuts.
It's easy to check the string's heating level. To do this, a test is carried out on a test piece of polystyrene foam. If, when immersing the thread, long pieces of material remain on it, it has not yet warmed up enough.
If there is no foam on the string at all, then the temperature is too high. In this case, you will have to cool the instrument a little. With proper heating, you can perform fast, accurate cutting.
Line cutting cutter
A linear cutter for foam plastic with your own hands will allow you to create blocks of material of the required dimensions. This significantly speeds up the work of the master. If necessary, this tool can be used to cut circles, triangles or squares into the foam.
Two racks are installed vertically on the table surface. Two insulators are attached to them.
A nichrome thread is stretched between them. This alloy heats up quickly, providing sufficient temperature for cutting. A freely hanging load is passed through one of the racks. Contacts from the transformer are connected to the thread.
Passing through the nichrome thread, the current will heat it up. It will be taut all the time thanks to the weight hanging from one side.
This is necessary, since the string may sag when heated. If desired, the design can be modified by adding a spring instead of a load. However, the original version is easier to implement.
Line cutting process
When considering how to make a foam cutter with your own hands, you also need to understand how to operate it correctly. Cutting can be done vertically or horizontally. To do 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 a structure vertically, a frame made of metal or plywood is added.
A holder is installed on it. An insulator and a nichrome string are connected to it. On its other side a load is suspended.
It will go through a hole drilled in the table. It must be large enough and covered with a special insulating material. Next, you can perform vertical cutting.
Shaped cutting
If you need to cut fairly large sheets of foam plastic or create decorative elements or sculptures from this material, a special type of equipment is used.
You can also make it yourself. This is a manual cutter for foam plastic. It is made on the basis hand jigsaw or hacksaws. In them cutting element change to nichrome string.
If you need to create curly elements, you can make several tools various shapes. A wire is connected to the handle of the jigsaw. It must be carefully isolated.
Otherwise, it will be unsafe to work with this equipment. A nichrome string is attached to the wire contacts. This can be done using nuts and screws with washers.
Also, a pulse soldering iron or wood burner may be suitable for creating such equipment. This tool is considered convenient. Their working element is removed from such equipment and replaced with a piece nichrome wire.In this case, the threads can be given different shapes.
Cutter with metal plate
There is a foam cutter that uses a copper plate in its design. To create this equipment, you can convert a soldering iron.
Equipment with a power of 60 W is suitable. Removed from the device a heating element. Instead, a plate is installed here.
One side of the copper blank needs to be sharpened. This will allow you to create a more accurate cut.
The sharpening angle should not be made too large. The cutting will be done using heat. To find the required level, you will have to experiment on a test piece of foam.
This method is also used by craftsmen of various skill levels and profiles.
If necessary, the copper plate can be replaced steel billet. This option will require more effort when sharpening. But with the help of such a tool you can cut denser polymer materials.
When choosing which foam cutter is most suitable for the master’s work, you should take into account the recommendations professional builders.
The greater the volume of work performed, the more complex the design will be. A simple battery-powered cutter is quite suitable for cutting several blocks. However, to perform a large amount of work, preference should be given to network types of equipment.
When cutting, the foam heats up. At this moment, they stand out from it into environment substances unsafe for human health. Therefore, the work is performed in a well-ventilated room or outside.
In order not to make a mistake with the cutting configuration, you should mark all the lines with a pencil before starting the action. This will avoid mistakes when cutting. These simple recommendations will allow you to do the job quickly, correctly and safely.
Having considered what options for foam cutters you can make with your own hands, every master will be able to choose the best option for myself.
Hi all. You can make many interesting things from polystyrene foam: volumetric letters and figures, models of ships and aircraft, art objects. It was for such purposes that I made a similar cutter from polypropylene pipe.
We will need:
- Polypropylene pipe with a diameter of 20 mm; Two staples of 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.
To do this, the U-shaped part is mounted on brackets and can move freely relative to the handle. A 1.5 mm copper wire is laid in the cavity of the tube, coming out of the handle in one cable.
The entire 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 corners soldered into the tube by heating.
A Soviet transformer with a power of 150 W was taken as a power source, which has one of the outputs at 2.5 Volts. This voltage is safe for humans. True, of course, there is a danger of getting burned by a hot nichrome thread.
The thread itself does not become red hot, but easily melts the foam. With a little experience, you can cut foam strips thin even layer, like on a vegetable cutter. You can burn a design: in the middle of the workpiece, first burn a hole with a heated knitting needle, insert a nichrome thread and only then secure it in the holder. This is the cutter I came up with and assembled with my own hands to create crafts from foam plastic. That’s all, thanks for your attention! ILYA20 -05-2018, 00:242 803GadgetsFacebookVKontakteTwitterGoogle+OKHello to all lovers of homemade products. In this article I will tell you how to make a foam cutter with your own hands.
With its help, you can cut out foam plastic of various shapes, necessary for different purposes, for example, aircraft modeling. This homemade product is quite easy to make, so everyone will have the materials necessary for assembly. Before reading the article, I suggest watching a video with detailed process assembling a cutter for foam plastic, as well as testing it. In order to make a cutter for foam plastic with your own hands, you will need: * Construction corner * Two wooden blocks * Self-tapping screws * Screwdriver * Nichrome thread * Unneeded stool or sheet of plywood * PC power supply * Metal corner* Copper tube* Piece of polystyrene foam for testingStep one. First you need to make a stand for the cutter, for this you can use an unnecessary stool or, if desired, make a box from a sheet of plywood. Since the unnecessary stool was standing idle, it was decided to make a base out of it; we make a hole in it for a copper pipe using a screwdriver and a wood drill.
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 wood. Step two. Next, we screw the wooden block to the end of the stool using self-tapping screws and a screwdriver, while maintaining perpendicularity with a construction angle, so that in the end the cut on this cutter is as even as possible. Then using metal corner To wooden block we attach another block at an angle of 90 degrees, in the end it should look something like this. Step three: Having cut off the required length of the copper tube using a hacksaw, we press it metal plate to the bar by screwing in two self-tapping screws, while also maintaining perpendicularity. To fix the nichrome thread, screw the self-tapping screw into the upper bar using a screwdriver. After this, take the nichrome thread and thread it through copper tubes from above and below, then we wind it onto the lower screw near the tube, then onto 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 connect the green and black wires together.
We wind the wires from the unit onto the screws and turn on the power. After the first turn on, the nichrome thread stretches slightly, so we tighten it again and you can check the cutter in action. Step four: Check the finished cutter on the foam. We turn on the power supply and move the foam in the desired direction, the nichrome thread cuts through it and the result is a piece of the required shape.
When working with this cutter, you must observe safety precautions and under no circumstances touch the nichrome thread with your hands. Using this cutter you can make airplane models, boats and much more that use foam plastic. 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. More details here.5Idea5Description7ExecutionFinal rating: 5.67 out of 10 (votes: 1)FacebookVKontakteTwitterGoogle+OK5To write a comment you must log in to the site via social media. networks (or register): Regular registrationInformationVisitors in the Guests group cannot leave comments on this publication.
Polystyrene foam (expanded polystyrene) is an extremely beneficial material for home handyman or a builder. Its most valuable qualities are low thermal conductivity, light weight, manufacturability, and durability. This allows it to be used both as insulation and as a structural material for the manufacture of various forms, models, blanks, packaging, and bases for small architectural forms. Expanded polystyrene is made in the form of large blocks measuring more than a meter on each side, and then cut into plates required thickness, from 3 to 20 cm thick (on request).
To fulfill your creative or construction plans, you have to cut foam plastic to required sizes and shapes yourself. Polystyrene foam can be cut quite easily with a knife or hacksaw. But in this case, the structure of the foam plastic is destroyed, since it consists of sintered “balls” of polystyrene foam. Extruded foam plastic is a single mass, but it can also crumble. Therefore, for cutting foam plastic, it is most convenient to use special electric thermal cutters. Their working body is usually a thin nichrome wire, which heats up to several hundred degrees when an electric current is passed through it. Upon contact with it, the foam instantly melts and forms a durable sintered layer. The cut area is neat, even and does not crumble.
To work with small flat sheets, it is most convenient to use a tabletop cutter with a vertical wire arrangement. The basis of such a cutter is a frame made of metal profile or wooden blocks (if it is small). At the bottom of the frame there is a working surface - a table. It can be made from thick plywood, chipboard, sheet metal or textolite. In general, any durable flat material. Hanging from above the frame (see sketch) is a nichrome wire, which is passed through a hole in the table. If the table is made of flammable material, then a piece of metal tube should be pressed into the hole for the wire, flush with the surface of the table.
At the top the wire is attached to the frame with a screw, at the bottom a weight of several hundred grams is suspended from the wire. The fact is that when heated, the wire greatly elongates and a weight serves to maintain its tension. Electrical wires are connected to the ends of the wire. If the table is made of metal, then the upper frame beam to which the wire is attached should be insulated from it. For example, the very end of the beam may be wooden. If the table is made of dielectric material, then the frame can be completely metal.
This cutter is convenient for cutting. sheet material, carry out figured cutting, since the sheet can be rotated in any direction. For quality cutting It is better to mark the line of the future cut on the foam.
However, for “cutting” sheets of large size and thickness, as well as in conditions where it is impossible to bring foam plastic to the work table (for example, when performing work on insulating a house, cutting off excess and protruding parts, making holes in a whole sheet of foam plastic), it can be useful and manual electric cutter. You can also make it yourself.
To make it you will need any hacksaw, preferably with a split handle. Using a cutting machine - grinder, we cut the teeth from the blade. (They won’t go to waste - they can be used to make a good garden hacksaw with a narrow blade).
At the end of the remaining sheet we drill a hole for attaching nichrome wire. We attach a tin plate to the handle to secure the other end of the wire. Of course, it should not touch the hacksaw blade.
To compensate for the stretching of nichrome when heated, we install a small but strong spring. When the wire is cold, it should be well stretched, and when heated, it should maintain a slight tension so that the wire maintains straightness. We connect the wires to the ends of the wire (a hacksaw blade is used as a conductor on the end of the wire farthest from the handle). Now the manual foam cutter is ready.
It cuts expanded polystyrene better than a hot knife cuts butter. However, it must be taken into account that it is impossible to make a figured cut with it, only a straight one (due to the flat blade of the hacksaw). You cannot change the “route” of the cut during the process - you only need to cut straight. If you need to cut out a piece with a complex shape, you will have to do it in several iterations.
The power that is dissipated by the wire should be approximately 100-150 W per 50 cm of its length. The wire resistance is usually 1-3 ohms. The operating temperature is on the verge of reddening the wire. A step-down transformer can be used as power supply. Its secondary winding should have 6-12 volts with a current of up to 10 A. However, it makes sense to “bother” with a transformer if the cutter will be used very often and a lot. If the work with the cutter is quite occasional, then it is wiser to use a small battery. In addition, this greatly frees up your hands in terms of mobility. After all, with a battery you can work even while standing on a stepladder and move around the entire construction site. And from the point of view of electrical safety, the battery is better.
When working with small details or for very precise adjustment of dimensions, as well as for figured cutting, you can use a cutter made on the basis of a pulse soldering iron. A pulse soldering iron is a transformer with a very high current and low voltage on the secondary winding. The tip of such a soldering iron is a small V-shaped piece of thick nichrome. It is connected to the secondary winding of the transformer and heats up in a matter of seconds before high temperature. Therefore, as a cutter you can use a soldering iron with both a standard tip and a homemade one. A homemade cutter is made from thick nichrome wire. It is given the desired shape and clamped to the soldering iron terminals instead of a regular tip.
A wood burning device can also serve as a good cutter for foam plastic, especially if this model has a tip made of nichrome wire. A cutter for polystyrene foam will also be made from regular soldering iron, whose tip is a copper rod. There is no need to remove the rod, but you can make an attachment for it - a knife and tin. The soldering iron should be more powerful, 60-100 W, so that the nozzle warms up well.
As you can see, there are a lot of ways to cut foam, so choosing the most suitable one for a specific requirement is not difficult.
Konstantin Timoshenko © 11.11.2011
On the forum you can discuss and get acquainted with other
Polystyrene foam is used in many construction works. It has good thermal insulation. However, this is a rather fragile and crumbling 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 foam cutter you can do it yourself. This will significantly save the family budget. It will be interesting for every craftsman to know how to create different versions of a tool for cutting foam.
Tool type
Creating manual foam cutter, you should study the existing varieties of this tool. There are mechanical and electrical varieties. If the foam product is small in size and cutting accuracy 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 boards 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 insulating layer. Its heat loss will be minimal. When cutting unevenly, large gaps form between the joints. Through them, heat from the room will escape to the outside.
Professional designers and builders use exclusively electrical equipment for cutting foam. 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 structure forms a single unit. A guitar string is connected to it. When electric current passes through the circuit, it will heat up. It is in this state that the string can easily cut a sheet of foam.
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 slabs of foam. If you need to do a large amount of work, this option will not work. The batteries will run out quickly. We will have to provide an option for connecting the system to a household network.
Types of electric cutters
Electric foam cutter can be used for various purposes. This will determine the type of design and overall performance characteristics of the equipment. There are three main types of homemade cutters.
The first category is used for linear cutting. The second group includes cutters that perform shaped cutting of material. Designers use them. This type is used less frequently for home repairs. There is also a tool with a metal working plate.
Such equipment must have a step-down transformer in its circuit. It must be rated for a minimum power of 100 watts. 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 high performance results.
Features of work
Studying how to make your own handheld foam cutter, it is also necessary to consider the operating features of such equipment. As mentioned above, such an instrument has a string. It heats up and melts the surface of the foam.
This material reacts quite poorly to heat. Therefore, it is important to maintain the technology of the entire process. Cutting using a hot thread is done quickly. This allows you to achieve high quality cuts.
It's easy to check the string's heating level. To do this, a test is carried out on a test piece of polystyrene foam. If, when immersing the thread, long pieces of material remain on it, it has not yet warmed up enough. If there is no foam on the string at all, then the temperature is too high. In this case, you will have to cool the instrument a little. With proper heating, you can perform fast, accurate cutting.
Line cutting cutter
Linear DIY foam cutter will allow you to create blocks from the material of the required dimensions. This significantly speeds up the work of the master. If necessary, this tool can be used to cut circles, triangles or squares into the foam.
Two racks are installed vertically on the table surface. Two insulators are attached to them. A nichrome thread is stretched between them. This alloy heats up quickly, providing sufficient temperature for cutting. A freely hanging load is passed through one of the racks. Contacts from the transformer are connected to the thread.
The current passing through will heat it up. It will be taut all the time thanks to the weight hanging from one side. This is necessary, since the string may sag when heated. If desired, the design can be modified by adding a spring instead of a load. However, the original version is easier to implement.
Line cutting process
Considering how to make a foam cutter with your own hands, you also need to understand how to work with them correctly. Cutting can be done vertically or horizontally. To do 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 a structure vertically, a frame made of metal or plywood is added. A holder is installed on it. An insulator and a nichrome string are connected to it. On its other side a load is suspended. It will go through a hole drilled in the table. It must be large enough and covered with special insulating material. Next, you can perform vertical cutting.
Shaped cutting
If you need to cut fairly large sheets of foam plastic or create decorative elements or sculptures from this material, a special type of equipment is used. You can also make it yourself. It's manual foam cutter. It is made on the basis of a manual jigsaw or hacksaw. In them, the cutting element is replaced with a nichrome string.
If you need to create shaped elements, you can make several tools of different shapes. A wire is connected to the handle of the jigsaw. It must be carefully isolated. Otherwise, it will be unsafe to work with this equipment. A nichrome string is attached to the wire contacts. This can be done using nuts and screws with washers.
Also, a pulse soldering iron or wood burner may be suitable for creating such equipment. This tool is considered convenient. Their working element is removed from such equipment and replaced with a piece. In this case, the threads can be given different shapes.
Cutter with metal plate
Exists foam cutter, in the design of which it is used To create this equipment, you can remake a soldering iron. Equipment with a power of 60 W is suitable. The heating element is removed from the device. Instead, a plate is installed here.
One side of the copper blank needs to be sharpened. This will allow you to create a more accurate cut. The sharpening angle should not be made too large. The cutting will be done using heat. To find the required level, you will have to experiment on a test piece of foam.
This method is also used by craftsmen of various skill levels and profiles. If necessary, the copper plate can be replaced with a steel billet. This option will require more effort when sharpening. But with the help of such a tool you can cut denser polymer materials.
Choosing which one 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 quite suitable for cutting several blocks. However, to perform a large amount of work, preference should be given to network types of equipment.
When cutting, the foam heats up. At this moment, substances unsafe for human health are released into the environment. Therefore, the work is performed in a well-ventilated room or outside.
In order not to make a mistake with the cutting configuration, you should mark all the lines with a pencil before starting the action. This will avoid mistakes when cutting. These simple recommendations will allow you to do the job 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.
Those who are planning to insulate an apartment or a newly built house with their own hands should definitely familiarize themselves with the methods by which foam plastic is cut at home, because this is one of the most popular and available ways isolation.
Foam is a foam material and is mostly air, so it is very light and easy to work with. However, you should not think that no problems arise, because besides everything, foam is a rather fragile material. Therefore, if you use electric grinder, then you shouldn’t hope for smooth edges, and besides, the entire room and area 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 suitable for use, but cleaning will turn into a troublesome task. There is a way out of this situation; you can use a thermal knife. In this case, the edges of the material are melted and it does not crumble. But bad luck, such a device costs a lot, but in principle it can be heated and ordinary knife. However, in this case you need to be very careful so as not to get burned, and the work will be significantly delayed.
For this purpose, you can use various cutting tools, for example, a grinder, only then you should use the thinnest disk. Very often builders use simple sharp knife. Sometimes it is advised to take a hacksaw with very fine teeth, but the latter method is very dubious. In addition, stores sell special thermal knives designed for working with foam plastic.
The thermal knife heats up to 600 °C in just 10 seconds. However, this tool is quite expensive, so it doesn’t always make sense to buy it.
The way out in many cases will be a device for cutting foam sheets, made independently. It is probably somewhat cumbersome, but if you have the necessary components, it is absolutely free and always available. And if you have to do large-scale work, for example, you have in front, which you built for your big family, then the question of how to conveniently cut foam plastic, and even a lot and quickly, will not come up throughout the entire event, no matter how long it drags on.
In order to assemble a cutter for foam plastic, you will need a tabletop, a pair of springs, M4 screws and 28 mm long stands, as well as a nichrome thread, which will act as cutting tool. First, we make two holes in the base, press the posts into them, and cut a small groove at the base of the screw head, thanks to which the thread will be securely fixed in the 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 tense position. The power source is connected to such a device using ordinary twists. This way 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, we present detailed instructions what to do and how to do it.
How to cut polystyrene yourself - step-by-step diagram
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 markings. So we take a ruler, a square, a tape measure, a pencil and make marks on the surface of the sheet, then we connect them into lines. In general, we draw the contours of the future section.
There are other 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 desired temperature, and cutting is carried out carefully along the specified 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 spending time constructing a device. As you can see, it is impossible to give a definite answer as to what is better for cutting foam, it all depends on the volume and skills.
Polystyrene foam – light, durable, good thermal insulation material, which is very easy to work with. But it has one unpleasant feature: it is usually made in the form of slabs quite large sizes, which in the process of work have to be cut into smaller pieces. No matter how sharp the knife and saw are, they will not be able to accurately cut the slab, since mechanical action destroys the structure of the foam, causing it to crumble rather than cut. Therefore, you need to use a special foam cutter for cutting.
Foam plastic, like any material, requires cutting, which is why you need a cutter.
The simplest homemade foam cutter
This type of cutter is not difficult to make with your own hands. To do this, just 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 a guitar string to its ends and secure it with electrical tape, closing the electric arc. Due to the electric current passing through the string, the string will heat up.
Image 1. Diagram of a cutter that allows you to cut flat sheets from a block of foam plastic.
At the point of contact with a string heated to the required 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 whether the string has warmed up enough, since when cutting foam plastic, small stuck pieces will remain on the string. The longer such pieces remain, the lower the temperature of the string. But if they don’t 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 layers of material. But with large volumes of work, the batteries run out quickly, so in such cases a cutter powered by electricity 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 plastic;
- cutter for shaped cutting of foam plastic;
- cutter with working metal plate.
But despite this division, all cutters have one thing in common.
To make them, you can’t do without a step-down transformer.
Such a transformer must be designed for a power of at least 100 W. Its secondary winding must be designed 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 Cutting Cutter
Image 2. Diagram of a vertical cutter: 1 – cutting nichrome wire, 2 – weight, 3 – frame, 4 – working surface.
Such devices are mounted from work surface(you can use the surface of a table) with two vertical risers attached to it, two insulators attached to the risers, connected to two contacts connected to a step-down transformer and a nichrome thread stretched between the insulators, as well as a freely hanging load passed through one of the risers (image 1).
This foam cutter works very simply. Passing through a nichrome thread, electricity heats it up, and the suspended weight keeps the thread taut, preventing it from sagging, since when heated it stretches quite strongly. Sometimes, instead of a suspended weight, a spring attached to one of the risers is used to tension 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 tensioned wire. All you need to do is maintain a uniform flow rate of foam across the table surface.
For vertical cutting of layers, a different cutter design is used, in which the cutting wire is stretched vertically (image 2). A frame is attached to a working surface made of thick plywood or chipboard (indicated by number 4 in the diagram), preferably welded from a metal profile, but one made from wooden blocks (3) is also quite suitable.
The design of the frame provides for the presence of a holder-foot, to which a nichrome wire (1) is suspended using an insulator with a suspended load at the other end (2), 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 is brought out.
Such a cutter for foam plastic will not only easily cut large pieces of foam plastic into blocks of the required sizes, but will also allow you, if necessary, to cut squares, triangles, semicircles and other shaped holes in the material. To do this, just first draw a cutting line along the surface of the foam with a marker.
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Cutter for shaped cutting of foam plastic
If you need to cut sheets of large size or thickness, which due to their size cannot be placed on the work table, then in such cases use a manual electric cutter, converted from a hand jigsaw or a hacksaw, in which the cutting blade is replaced with nichrome wire.
Image 3. Diagram of a manual thermal cutter: 1 – nichrome cutting wire, 2 – screw with nut and washer, 3 – textolite handle 4-5 mm thick, 4 – electrical cord.
Such an electric cutter is not difficult to make with your own hands. At the same time, for the convenience of figured cutting, you can make several working tools of different shapes (image 3). The cutting blade of a jigsaw or hacksaw is removed and brought to the handle (3). electrical wire(4). Although the voltage will not be too high, the handle is still the same as others metal elements, it is better to insulate at least with ordinary electrical tape. Instead of the cutting blade to the supplied electrical cable using screws and nuts with washers, a nichrome wire bent as required is attached (4).
As an option, you can also use a wood burning device or a pulse soldering iron to design such a cutter. Such a cutter will be even more convenient, since the electrical wire is initially provided for in the design of these devices. To turn these devices into an electric cutter for foam plastic, it is enough to replace the heating working tools in them with a piece of thick nichrome wire, giving it the desired shape.
Such hand-held cutters are convenient because with their help you can not only cut sheets of foam plastic, but also cut out all sorts of recesses and cavities in them, remove chamfers, in a word, not just cut foam plastic into pieces, but sculpt real works of art from it.
