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Hot wire pen for hot wire cutter

Hot wire pen for hot wire cutter

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I made a hot wire cutter

Tutoring 7
Skill 6
Idea 6
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I made a hot wire cutter, for cutting styrofoam (https://www.beastsofwar.com/project/1570235/)

It started out as a one-day build, but kind-of got a bit out of control. The end result was actually quite pleasing. And I happily cut multiples strips of styrofoam to test out making planks of wood.

But something strange started happening.

I made a hot wire cutter

When drawing pencil-lines across the surface of the “virgin” styrofoam – the outer face of the foam that hadn’t yet been cut – the result was nice, deep, sharp lines. Sure, they look at bit “chunky” but that only adds to the slightly cartoon-y style I seem to have been developing in recent weeks.

But when I drew across the “planks” I’d cut, the lines were much less clear, and the surface of the foam had lots of little rips and tears in it.

I made a hot wire cutter

When painted up, the end result wasn’t too bad.

I made a hot wire cutter

But it really didn’t look as nice and crisp as the first plank that started this whole project off

I made a hot wire cutter

The newer planks looked much more like old, slightly rotten wood, with the grain broken in lots of places. They still looked like wood – just not quite the nice, crisp, slightly-cartoon-y planks that got me so excited about this project in the first place.

 

After asking around on the forums, the general consensus is that tearing is just something that happens with styrofoam. It can be mitigated by scoring with a knife before drawing but it’s still something that can’t be entirely eliminated.

So I came up with a plan…..

 

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