General tips for anyone who will be trying this out for the first time: -Thin nichrome wire works better (i.e., cleaner cuts and cuts hotter faster since thinner = higher resistance) than a heavier gauge. Thick is a little easier to work with though because it's more rigid and doesn't break as easily. You also get more feet of wire for the same price if you get roll thin gauge, so more opportunities to experiment. -The wire expands when it heats up, so like Tim's, many designs incorporate a spring on one end to take up the slack. (I made one that uses a turnbuckle so I can manually adjust it as well. Also made it easy to change out the wire or disassemble the rig when I use the workbench for something else.) -If you build a set-up like Tim's, you can use a clamp-edge or similar for doing straight cuts. (I built one very similar to Tim's for cutting foam sheets into panels insulation. I can also angle the wire if I want to do a bevel cut, sort of like a bandsaw or table saw, which might be useful for some gravestones as well.) There are also free-hand foam cutters you can find on UA-cam that are great for 3D sculpting if, say, you glue several sheets together to form a block, then want to carve off parts of that. -When cutting, try to move at a constant speed. If you pause during a cut, the heat will continue to affect the foam and expand the gap right around the wire. This effect is even greater on plain white styrofoam than the denser pink or blue hardware store variety. -If it's cutting too fast/slow for your needs, you can vary the temperature of the wire in several ways. Voltage is covered in the video. (A benchtop power supply is great too since you can dial in whatever you want. 12V seems to be ideal for most folks though, and that's what I've been using after I experimented a little.) I mentioned thicker wire above, and that will run cooler at the same voltage, but that's not really helpful for most cuts. Finally, just moving the attachment points of the clips along the wire will adjust the temperature. Close together, and you'll get more electrons through the wire because they have less resistance overall but plenty resistance in the 2 or 3 inches of wire you're using. -Nichrome wire has other applications. Look up acrylic benders. I originally bought the wire to build one of those to make a guard for a power tool, but obviously there are plenty uses for it for Halloween as well. Thanks to Tim for the info and demo!
General tips for anyone who will be trying this out for the first time:
-Thin nichrome wire works better (i.e., cleaner cuts and cuts hotter faster since thinner = higher resistance) than a heavier gauge. Thick is a little easier to work with though because it's more rigid and doesn't break as easily. You also get more feet of wire for the same price if you get roll thin gauge, so more opportunities to experiment.
-The wire expands when it heats up, so like Tim's, many designs incorporate a spring on one end to take up the slack. (I made one that uses a turnbuckle so I can manually adjust it as well. Also made it easy to change out the wire or disassemble the rig when I use the workbench for something else.)
-If you build a set-up like Tim's, you can use a clamp-edge or similar for doing straight cuts. (I built one very similar to Tim's for cutting foam sheets into panels insulation. I can also angle the wire if I want to do a bevel cut, sort of like a bandsaw or table saw, which might be useful for some gravestones as well.) There are also free-hand foam cutters you can find on UA-cam that are great for 3D sculpting if, say, you glue several sheets together to form a block, then want to carve off parts of that.
-When cutting, try to move at a constant speed. If you pause during a cut, the heat will continue to affect the foam and expand the gap right around the wire. This effect is even greater on plain white styrofoam than the denser pink or blue hardware store variety.
-If it's cutting too fast/slow for your needs, you can vary the temperature of the wire in several ways. Voltage is covered in the video. (A benchtop power supply is great too since you can dial in whatever you want. 12V seems to be ideal for most folks though, and that's what I've been using after I experimented a little.) I mentioned thicker wire above, and that will run cooler at the same voltage, but that's not really helpful for most cuts. Finally, just moving the attachment points of the clips along the wire will adjust the temperature. Close together, and you'll get more electrons through the wire because they have less resistance overall but plenty resistance in the 2 or 3 inches of wire you're using.
-Nichrome wire has other applications. Look up acrylic benders. I originally bought the wire to build one of those to make a guard for a power tool, but obviously there are plenty uses for it for Halloween as well.
Thanks to Tim for the info and demo!
That is the wire I used.