# DIY Super Foam Cutter



## smarcus3 (Feb 15, 2016)

Wanted to make my own foam cutter since I didn't want to spend $500 on one and $20 sounded better to me.

Supplies:


Power Supply
Nichrome Wire (22ga or smaller)
Wire Support
Base Structure
Power Cable
16 gauge wire

These pictures show mine which has a 1' Throat and 1' cutting thickness. This requires a 5V Power Supply that supplies around 5A. If you wanted it to cut thicker you would need a larger supply. A thinner cut you can reduce the power supply. 

Nichrome wire (this is the wire that gets hot) is soldered to 16 gauge leads which run back to the power supply. 

Power supply is connected to a 3 pronged cord. 

Nichrome wire tighness can be adjusted with the top thumbscrew.

Enjoy!


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## Odyknuck (Dec 31, 2015)

Simplicity plus, nice. Where did you get the power supply from. Looks like a CNC or PC unit.


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## smarcus3 (Feb 15, 2016)

Actually from Amazon as due to the wire gauge (Resistance) and length I needed 5V not 12V.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018TG7JC8?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I use an AC transformer for my wire cutter, I can tune it to cut various materials. I find that cutting the light white foam takes very little heat, but 2" blue or pink foam I crank it up some to get decent cutting speed.


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