Hot wire foam cutter - the tool I didn't think I needed...

Do you use foam for diorama scenery? Do you need to cleanly shape or slice foam for your hobby? For any regular viewers of my channel, you know I like to save money when making scale models - I'm always banging on about not buying expensive single-use tools. But I can also admit when a particular gizmo has saved me a lot of time and frustration - and this is one of those times.

I didn't think I needed a hot wire cutting tool. I was wrong. And in this video you'll see my terrible attempts at cutting blue insulation foam before I saw the light! :D

******* CONNECT WITH ME *******

[kerryadams]

Great video update THANKS again Dave hope to do more diaramas this year will remember this video.

[aylonewolf]

@Dave's Model Workshop - @6:20 mark the part in question that you are holding mounts on the fence and oriented so that the SLOT allows the hot wire to be ANGLED through it when the part along with the fence is moved to the hot wire. The point end allows the foam work to be pierced and then rotated with the wire cutter. To wit a square block will be transformed to a cylinder and if you adjust the hot wire at an angle then the cylinder becomes a cone... :) Hope this helps out, I didn't see anyone offer any explanation so hopefully you found this comment helpful. Thanks to your video, I'm going to be purchasing one of these!!!! :D :D :D

[valborchardt]

Thanks Dave, yeah those Hot Wire cutters are amazing, enjoy it love. Take care as always from South Africa

[andrewshaw]

Looks a good bit of kit for sure. No doubt one will find its way here one of these days! I sent for the corrugated iron maker you demonstrated - absolutely brilliant. And it only took six days to get here from the other side of the world for not much more than a fiver. Well impressed, cheers!

[TheStonehammerFiles]

I just ordered this same model. I will do some mods to it though. First I will replace the power supply with a adjustable power supply so that there is no chance of overheating.

[americafirst]

I just bought the hercules hot wire cutter, i paid $146.00 for it but i am happy i did, all my cuts are straight now with no hassle and no mess.

[brianbassettnumber]

I hope you've gotten better in the last 3 years.

[Cptpaul]

Is this thing still working? I like the ply wood construction over the proxxon. It’s been three years since you made this video so I’m just curious.

[zns]

My nichrome wire broke and when I attempted to undo the bolt from below everything fell apart. Any idea how to reattach a new wire?

[FordFalconnBlue]

i wonder if this would go through 4-5 inches of blue foam? like in thickness

[JenniferEliseAtchiso]

The thing with the spikes is for cutting circles… the foam pivots on the spike

[zenzin]

Foam has a 'grain' to it which is why it tears in some directions of cutting and not others

[adityapanwar]

Sir please let me know that can we cut sunboards with it or not....please sir....i searched it on internet unable to find it out

[diedertspijkerboer]

When cutting with the knife at about 3:30, you're pushing the knife down instead of moving it backwards and forwards.
Having said that, I tried a kitchen knife on 5 cm thick foam and couldn't move it much when it went in too deep.

[Iskelderon]

Speaking of techniques, have you ever used soldered brass armatures to create a more rigid skeleton for large models?

[tomjenssen]

It looks great. I have loads of thick foam that I could cut down with something like this. By the way, I think that block with the point may be for cutting circles. Thanks for the video, very helpful. All the best...Tom

[LeveretteJamesClifford]

I am not sure but I think the piece that you said you had no idea what it was for might be a cone cutter. The nail that sticks up is probably for pushing into the foam, and the slot is for the cutting wire to fit into and provides a way to vary the degree slant of you cut.

[tmbacz]

Dave, I’m on the fence b/t the table cutter, or a hot knife. Neither are particularly cheap. Hate to buy both if I don’t have to. I’m going to be cutting the pink 1/2 - 2 in. insulation foam for ship dioramas.

[AC-cust]

Can these cut upholstery foam by any chance?

[origamichikn]

I use less dense polyurethane foam to pack my Gunpla. For this i cut the outline of the model in sheet of foam using snap blade. Since i can't use ruler for complex shape, you can guess that end result looks very shabby. I was thinking about buying hot wire cutter but am worried that heat will melt edges into hard crust that could scratch paint job while placing/removing models.