How to make a machine for curly cutting and processing foam with your own hands. homemade styrofoam cutting machine homemade styrofoam cutting machine

Heat and sound insulating building materials on the market are presented in a wide range, these are foamed polyethylene, mineral and basalt wool and many others. But the most common for insulation and soundproofing is extruded polystyrene foam and polystyrene, due to its high physical and chemical properties, ease of installation, low weight and low cost. Polyfoam has a low coefficient of thermal conductivity, a high coefficient of sound absorption, and is resistant to water, weak acids, and alkalis. The foam is resistant to the effects of ambient temperature, from the lowest possible to 90˚C. Even after decades, the foam does not change its physical and chemical properties. The foam also has sufficient mechanical strength.

Styrofoam also has very important properties, these are fire resistance (when exposed to fire, the foam does not smolder like wood), environmental friendliness (since the foam is made of styrene, even food products). Fungi and foci of bacteria do not appear on the foam. An almost ideal material for insulation and soundproofing in the construction and renovation of houses, apartments, garages, and even packaging for food storage.

In shops building materials Styrofoam is sold in the form of plates of different thicknesses and sizes. When repairing, foam sheets of different thicknesses are often needed. With an electric foam cutter, you can always cut sheets of the desired thickness from a thick plate. The machine also allows shaped foam packaging from household appliances turn into plates, as in the photo above, and successfully cut thick sheets of foam rubber for furniture repair.

How easily foam is cut on a homemade machine, the video clip clearly demonstrates.

If you want to make a cutter for foam plastic and foam rubber, many are stopped by the difficulty of organizing the supply of supply voltage to heat the nichrome string to the desired temperature. This obstacle can be overcome if you understand the physics of the issue.

Machine design

The basis of the device for cutting foam was a sheet of chipboard (chipboard). The size of the plate must be taken based on the width of the foam plates that are planned to be cut. I used a 40x60 cm furniture door. With this size of the base, it will be possible to cut foam plates up to 50 cm wide. The base can be made from a sheet of plywood, a wide board, and the cutting string can be fixed directly on the desktop or workbench.

Stretching a nichrome string between two nails is the limit of laziness home master so i implemented the simplest design, providing reliable fixation and smooth adjustment of the height of the string in the process of cutting above the surface of the base of the machine.

Attached ends nichrome wire for springs dressed on M4 screws. The screws themselves are screwed into metal racks pressed into the base of the machine. With a base thickness of 18 mm, I picked up a metal stand with a length of 28 mm, so that when fully screwed in, the screw does not extend beyond the bottom side of the base, and when the maximum unscrewed state provides a foam cutting thickness of 50 mm. If you need to cut sheets of foam or foam rubber of greater thickness, then it will be enough to replace the screws with longer ones.

To press the rack into the base, first a hole is drilled in it, with a diameter of 0.5 mm less than the outer diameter of the rack. In order for the racks to be easily hammered into the base, the sharp edges from the ends were removed on an emery column.

Before screwing the screw into the rack, a groove was machined at its head so that the nichrome wire could not move arbitrarily during adjustment, but occupied the required position.

To make a groove in a screw, first its thread must be protected from deformation by putting on a plastic tube or wrapping it with thick paper. Then clamp the drill in the chuck, turn on the drill and attach a narrow file. In a minute, the groove will be ready.

To prevent sagging of the nichrome wire due to elongation when heated, it is fixed to the screws through springs.

A suitable spring from a computer monitor, used to tension the ground wires on the kinescope, turned out to be suitable. The spring was longer than required, I had to make two of it, for each side of the wire attachment.

After preparing all the fasteners, you can fix the nichrome wire. Since the current consumed during operation is significant, about 10 A, for reliable contact of the current-carrying wire with nichrome wire, I used the method of fastening by twisting with compression. Thickness copper wire at a current of 10 A, it is necessary to take a cross section of at least 1.45 mm 2. You can select the wire section for connecting nichrome wire from the table. I had a wire with a cross section of about 1 mm 2 at my disposal. Therefore, each of the wires had to be made of two with a cross section of 1 mm 2 connected in parallel.

If the electrical parameters of the nichrome wire are not known, then you must first try to connect a low-power electrical appliance, for example, a 200 W electric light bulb (a current of about 1 A will flow), then a 1 kW (4.5 A) heater, and so increase the power of the connected devices until the nichrome the torch wire does not reach the correct temperature. Electrical appliances can also be connected in parallel.

The disadvantages of the last scheme for connecting a nichrome spiral include the need to determine the phase for proper connection and low efficiency (coefficient of performance), kilowatts of electricity will be wasted.

The issue of home insulation is very relevant today. Sheathing the facades of houses with foam plastic is one of the most popular types of insulation. And this is very reasonable, because. the process of such insulation is simple and understandable, and all necessary materials always available for sale.

But everyone knows that gluing foam is very convenient on a flat wall. With any method of gluing foam to the wall: dry mix adhesive, foam or adhesive foam, it is always very important that the foam sheet fits snugly against the wall and does not create air gaps.

If the wall is even, then no questions arise. But, unfortunately, the walls of old houses do not differ in ideal evenness. Yes, and different design features structures sometimes create drops on the plane of the wall.

Partially, this drawback can be leveled by laying the foam on a thicker layer of glue. But the maximum allowable thickness of the adhesive layer often cannot cover the magnitude of the differences in the plane of the walls. In addition, too large differences lead to unjustified overspending of glue.

The next way out of the situation remains - cutting the foam in thickness. But doing this with a hacksaw is very inconvenient and time consuming, especially if you need to cut a large amount of foam. In addition, during cutting, a large amount of debris in the form of foam balls is formed. Yes, and the surface is uneven and the accuracy of such cutting is very conditional.

In order to quickly and evenly cut the foam of the desired thickness, you can use a foam cutting machine. This device can be made independently, absolutely with your own hands.

The principle of operation and the device of the machine for cutting foam

The principle of operation of the machine is based on the fact that the foam is easily melted under the influence of temperature. Thus, if you draw a thin heated wire over it, it is easily cut, while forming a perfectly flat, smooth surface.

For the manufacture of the machine, the following components are needed:

• LATR (laboratory autotransformer) or car battery;
• nichrome thread;
• racks for attaching nichrome thread;
• spring (1-2 pcs.);
• tabletop board;
• copper wire.

A nichrome thread (spiral) is used as a cutting object. You can either buy it in a store or extract it from old household appliances in which they were used as filaments (a hair dryer, for example). The thickness of the spiral can be 0.5-1 mm. The most optimal thickness is 0.7 mm. The length depends on the width of the foam to be cut.

An important element of the device for cutting foam is LATR. But if it is not there, then it can be done using an old transformer and a device for charging car batteries.

You can also use a computer power supply that uses wires that give 12 watts (yellow and black) to connect to the spiral.

To operate such a machine, it is enough to have an output voltage of 6-12 watts.

It is necessary to correctly adjust the length and thickness of the filament and to match the voltage. If the thread is too hot, it may break. Well, if the thread is slightly heated, then cutting will be slow.

It can also be used as a power source car battery. They can be used in conditions where there is no electricity on the site.

For different tasks, you can do different designs foam cutters.

Basically, these devices will differ in the length of the spiral. To cut foam into bars, a short spiral length is needed.

You can install two spirals and cut the sheet into several bars in one pass.

Two spirals cut the sheet into three parts in one pass. The stand is stuffed with guides for smooth feeding of the foam.

But, in extreme cases, foam plastic can be cut into bars with a hacksaw. It is much more difficult to cut the foam in thickness, and even with a given size. Therefore, we will consider how to make a machine for cutting polystyrene in width.

Step-by-step instructions for self-manufacturing the machine and cutting foam

Step 1. Preparation of the countertop. As a tabletop for a do-it-yourself foam cutting machine, you can take any piece of chipboard of the right size. The surface on which the foam will move must be smooth. Holes for racks are drilled in the table top. It is convenient to use metal pins with a thread with a diameter of 10-12 mm as racks. The height of the racks should correspond to the thickness of the foam sheets plus a margin in height. The pin is fixed with nuts.

To give the structure stability, bars are attached to the tabletop from below, which will also serve for the safe passage of an electric wire.

Step 2. Connecting the current supply wires. From below, under the tabletop, the wires are connected to metal rod-racks: the wire is wound around the lower end of the pin and pressed with a bolt.

The other end of the wires must be connected to a power source, depending on the method chosen. The best connection will be through a plug, which will be connected to the LATER socket. It is possible to connect via self-clamping terminals, as well as by twisting and soldering. It depends on the selected power supply.

In any case, the connection must be made in accordance with the rules for working with electrical installations and devices, be convenient for work and safe during operation.

Step 3. Fixing the Nichrome Spiral. Nichrome spiral is fixed between two racks. A spring is attached to one end of the spiral (there may be two of them).

The spring is needed in order to pull the nichrome thread during operation. The fact is that when heated, the nichrome thread lengthens and sags. The thread in this state will not give a quality cut. Therefore, the thread is fixed in an initially stressed state, so that the spring is slightly stretched.

To fasten the nichrome thread to the pin, washers with an inner diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the pin are used. A small hole is made in the washer for attaching the spiral itself. A small sharpening is also made on the side of the inner diameter so that the washer can be fixed on the thread of the pin.

A spring with a spiral attached to it is inserted into one washer and put on the first pin. The second washer is put on the second pin and in drilled hole thread a nichrome helix. Next, it is pulled so that the spring is stretched, and fixed.

Step 4: Cutting the Styrofoam To dissolve a sheet of foam into two sheets of a given size, the spiral is set to the desired height. The required distance is measured with a ruler.

The machine is then connected to a power source. The thread heats up and now you can cut the foam, smoothly moving it forward along the countertop.

The cutting speed depends on the temperature of the filament, which in turn depends on the voltage applied and the thickness of the filament itself. Do not try to apply more voltage to achieve high speed, because. this can lead to rapid filament burnout. Here, a balance between tension, thickness and length of the thread must be selected empirically. The thread should not overheat during operation. When heated, it becomes red or scarlet. But it should not turn white - this indicates that the thread is overheating and that it is desirable to reduce the voltage, otherwise the thread will not last long in this mode. Of course, smooth adjustment easily done if LATER is available. But if it is not there, then a laboratory power supply can also be made from a computer power supply, the video below has more information. After you have made this foam cutting machine with your own hands, you need to make sure that the machine is safe.

It must be remembered that all activities must comply with safety regulations for working with electrical appliances. The power supply must be grounded, all connections must be carefully insulated. All work on the assembly of the machine must be carried out with de-energized wires. The machine is connected to the mains only while working with foam. After work, it must be immediately turned off. While working with the machine, touching the metal parts and the nichrome thread itself should be avoided.

Step 4: Cut the Styrofoam at an Angle Sometimes it becomes necessary to cut the foam in such a way that one side is higher and the other lower.

To do this, the spiral is set at a slope with the desired parameters. In this way, foam sheets of various sections can be obtained.

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Orderliness and uniformity of the structure of polystyrenes high density makes heavy grades of foam an ideal material for making all kinds of models, crafts, design elements. Sometimes you just need to cut a sheet of foam in the longitudinal direction, which is not so easy to do manually. If you have to halve a dozen thick slabs, you can significantly simplify the task by making a do-it-yourself foam cutting machine. The construction of such an apparatus will take a maximum of several hours, but foam cutting can be performed in unlimited quantities.

How to make a foam cutting machine

Processing foam blocks or sheets is possible in two ways:

• Mechanical cutting with a rotating high-speed cutter;
• Heat treatment, most often with the help of a hot nichrome wire.

Advice! With any method of cutting foam, a large amount of foam dust or thermal decomposition products of polystyrene foam is formed when it comes into contact with a hot surface, so you will need to remove the dust with a vacuum cleaner or a powerful exhaust fan.

Any other methods of cutting, for example, with a sharpened knife, melting with alcohol-acetone mixtures, or a laser beam, turn out to be either unproductive or ineffective. Moreover, if you want to cut the sheet along the plane in any other way than with a wire machine, it is almost impossible to do it with the proper level of quality.

Practical diagrams of foam cutting machines

Due to the very low thermal conductivity and low melting point, the foam plastic can be quite easily cut not even with a hot, but simply with a metal cutting edge or wire heated to the melting point. Therefore, the machine diagram below does not pose a particular danger to the environment and humans, but it should be used with caution, because of the risk of getting burned.

Nichrome foam cutting machine

Structurally, the foam cutting machine consists of four main parts:

1. Beds with supports for wire tension;
2. Power supply;
3. Nichrome wire with tension system.

The best material for the manufacture of the machine bed will be thick plywood and planks made of fiberglass or getinaks. The device of the machine is shown below.

For convenience of work, the bed is made of a sheet of plywood with a width of at least 60 cm. At the edges of the working plane of the machine, two threaded studs 150 mm high are attached to fiberglass supports.

On the reverse side of the plywood base, the first contact from the power supply is connected to one of the studs.

Advice! As a power supply, it is best to use a conventional LATR.

The foam plastic can be cut with a metal knife heated to 270-300 ° C. To ensure a good cutting speed, the nichrome thread must be heated to 500 ° C. The actual conditions and cutting temperature on the machine will have to be selected by adjusting the working voltage with the LATR.

Nichrome wire 0.7-1 mm is used as a working tool. It is fixed on the studs of the machine using a tension spring, while the second contact must be fixed, as in the photo, to the "ear" of the wire. If the copper core is simply screwed to the spring or machine stud, then during operation the current will heat up the spring steel, and after a certain period of time the tension system will fail.

The best solution for attaching a nichrome thread would be to use ceramic earthenware barrels used for hanging electrical wiring. In this case, the red-hot thread does not transfer part of the heat to the steel racks, respectively, cold zones of the wire are not formed at the attachment points.

For cutting with nichrome, a current of at least 10A is required, for a wire with a diameter of 0.7 mm and a length of 60 cm, the operating voltage will be 18-20V, a wire 1 mm thick must be connected to 12V. When starting the machine, it is necessary to set 50% operating voltage with LATR and smoothly raise it by turning the handle on the power supply. As soon as the color of the nichrome wire begins to acquire a dark crimson color, you can start cutting.

If the fasteners of the nichrome thread are made sliding, then you can cut the foam at an angle, as in the photo.

After cutting, the foam surface is far from ideal and resembles a rough, raw edged board. These boards are easy to stick. mounting foam or bituminous mastic to brick, concrete or even metal.

Styrofoam mechanical cutting machine

More interesting project is an apparatus for curly cutting foam. Considering the low effort required to cut soft foam, it is possible to make a CNC foam cutting machine from commercially available parts. The estimated cost of purchased components is $650.

The basis of the machine is a body assembled from a plywood board with a thickness of 15 mm. For the manufacture of the case, the main parts are printed on a printer and transferred from paper to a plywood base. Machine parts can be milled or cut with a conventional jigsaw.

After cutting the parts, the body is assembled according to the diagram below. All parts are glued sequentially with polyurethane adhesive and connected with M8 bolt-nut fasteners. The upper steady and the working table of the machine are additionally reinforced with aluminum corners.

The machine provides cutting in three directions, so a belt drive system from three stepper motors is used. The motors are controlled by a programmable controller and a laptop. For guide rails, steel, chrome-plated or nickel-plated tubes with a diameter of 12 mm are used. Plastic or aluminum guides are not suitable, brass tubes are ideal.

A hand engraver or a high-speed engine is used as a working executive tool. direct current, with a power of at least 40 watts. Because of the soft surface, when cutting foam, you need to use a working tool designed for high rotational speed. For cutting foam, you can use chromium-cobalt disk and end mills with a working speed of 7-8 thousand. For fine grinding of the model, the rotation speed should reach at least 15 thousand rpm.

With the help of the machine, you can perform curly cutting and engraving of the most complex curvilinear patterns, make inscriptions and cut details for all kinds of decorative coatings. The foam cutting speed with a joint width of 4 mm and a cutting depth of 15 mm is 30 cm/min.

The machine can be used both for milling and cutting foam blocks, as well as plywood, softwood bars, linden, poplar, birch, aspen. Surface quality and performance are determined by engine power, on average, it takes 60-90 minutes to finish a cut “rough” model.

Conclusion

In addition to the options listed, it is often used to cut polystyrene tape machines for cutting lumber. The cutting width is only 1 mm, which is comparable to the cutting parameters on a homemade thermal cutter. The width of the foam plate, which can be cut on such a machine, reaches 40-50 cm, the cutting speed is 10 cm/s.

When building a house, foam is used very often. When repairing, foam plastic is also assigned quite large functions. It is used both as a heater and as a waterproofing agent. Quite good material: not afraid of moisture, light, easy to install, combined with other materials. And given that the cost of polystyrene is by no means high, then we can safely call this material a favorite among other heaters.

In many respects, foam is second only to mineral wool and extruded polyurethane foam. But these materials are many times more expensive than polystyrene. One significant drawback of the material is still present. And it concerns the usual cutting. Sheet foam is produced different thickness, but as for the other sizes of the sheets, they are standard, so the sheets have to be cut during installation. And this is a significant problem: when cutting, the foam either breaks or simply crumbles. This is due to the grainy structure of the material. Do-it-yourself cutting foam plastic becomes a problem that needs to be eliminated.

Using a utility knife

Very often, a sharp knife is used for cutting papers for this purpose. Such a knife should be held at an acute angle (about 25 °) to the plane of the foam. It is necessary to carry out cutting only with the help of a ruler, since the structure of the material is able to “lead” the cut line away from the intended direction. There are proposals to cut with a heated knife. There is a sense in this: the edges of the cut are somewhat melted, which makes the sheet more functional. So this advice can be taken as one of the cutting methods. But here it is necessary to mention that this method is completely unsuitable for a large amount of cutting.

The blade of the knife gives off its heat very quickly, so it has to be warmed up very often. Yes, and you can’t guess with the temperature, then it will turn out badly: at the end of the cutting, it can turn out so that the knife begins to tear the material. Experience would help to avoid such embarrassment, but you still need to get it, and for this you may not have either the time or the desire.

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Using an electric grinder

The second cutting method is no less original: using a grinder. Do not be surprised, a plastic disk (or a thick paper disk) is placed on an ordinary angle grinder. Due to the revolutions of the grinder, the edge of the disk is able to cut materials that are not very dense. Perfect for foam. There is only one condition for such cutting: the circle must have perfectly even edges, otherwise it will tear the material. And the grinder should not be too powerful or with a speed controller.

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How to make a homemade cutter?

But we boldly consider a special cutter to be the leader among all devices for cutting foam at home. Making it yourself is very easy. For this you will need:

• old table;
• spiral from any heating device;
• spring;
• drill;
• transformer;
• rheostat;
• two long bolts with nuts;
• wiring.

We drill the table on its central line at a distance of 20 cm from each edge. From the back of the table, insert the bolts into the holes and fix them with nuts. This is the easiest way to make racks. You can improvise and make the stands as you wish. On one of the racks at a height of 10 cm from the surface of the table, a spiral thread from a heating device (heater, iron, hair dryer, etc.) will be fixed. We fix the spring to the second rack and attach the spiral thread directly to the spring.

Such a measure is necessary, since when heated, the metal thread will physically expand and sag somewhat, so cutting the foam will not be very convenient. Next, we bring the wires to the racks (or directly to the filament). It is better if the wires are drawn from the bottom of the table so that during work they do not interfere with the movement of the material.

Now the wiring must be connected to the network through a transformer. The choice of transformer must be made depending on the length, thickness and composition of the heating filament. Sometimes a rheostat is used to adjust the supplied current. Using a rheostat allows you to achieve a certain temperature of the thread. The optimal current supply will allow the heating element of the device to serve for a long time, which cannot be said about connecting through an unregulated transformer. If you still have this situation, then you will have to tinker with the selection of the heating element for some more time. The transformer should be fixed under the tabletop. You can consider a device for cutting foam plastic with your own hands finished. It is enough to turn it on, apply voltage to it, and you can start cutting: the foam is applied to the heated thread and evenly pressed. The cut turns out to be even, and damage to the material no longer threatens you.

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Design with vertical heating element

Even more functional can be considered a device with a vertical arrangement of the heating element. Judge for yourself: foam can be cut on it along any most intricate line. It is enough just to move the foam along a pre-marked line, and the “cutting” element will leave a cut in this place. Even artistic cutting of the material is quite acceptable. And such a device is made in the same way, only one rack will be needed, you can also do without a spring. In this case, any counterweight suspended at the lower end of the thread will serve as a compensator for the linear expansion of the heating filament. The disadvantage of such a device is only that the entire thread is heated, and only a certain part of it is cut. Overheating of the remaining sections can lead to rapid burnout of the thread.

You can make it short, but here you cannot do without basic knowledge of physics: you will have to calculate everything well in order to achieve the optimal temperature of the thread. A good rheostat can make it easier for you to select a heating filament. Connect it in series with the specified thread in the electrical circuit and feel free to start working. Initially, we set the minimum current parameters and observe the cutting process. Through trial and error, you will quickly learn how to select the required current depending on the thickness of the foam sheet and select the feed rate of the material to the thread.

The foam cutting machine is an essential piece of equipment for many businesses and home workshops. With their help, the production of various blanks used in construction, repair, decoration, interior design, etc. is carried out.

If you study the range of factory models of foam cutting machines or simply PSA, then there are several types:

• Mobile. Such PSAs are more like an ordinary knife designed for do-it-yourself foam work. A mobile machine can make various simple workpieces. Quite often they are found in everyday life when processing polystyrene foam, polystyrene foam;
• Machine tools for transverse and horizontal processing. These PSAs are cut in a certain direction, that is, it is problematic to achieve complex figures. But the machine provides highly efficient production, cutting of large materials is carried out;
• CNC machines. PSAs equipped with a CNC module are modern models machines for the processing of expanded polystyrene, polystyrene. With it, you can make the most diverse in terms of parameters, complexity and configuration of machines, 3d models. The current furniture, repair and construction production is not complete without the use of CNC PSA.

The principle of operation of the machines

Scheme-drawing machine for cutting foam

If you want to buy a PSA or make it yourself, first you need to understand the features of the device.

• The work of most types of machines for working with foam is based on a single principle;
• The cutting part of the machine heats up, affects the material being processed;
• The cutting element moves according to the drawings;
• The process is similar to the passage of a hot knife through butter, that is, the process is carried out easily, with minimal damage to the foam or polystyrene foam;
• Most simple model machine has one cutting string. Such an installation is easy to do with your own hands, having the appropriate drawing at your disposal;
• To work with complex 3d figures, perform high-precision cuts, use the SRP with a CNC module. The machine itself can have up to 6 cutting strings;
• The advantage of the machine is that additional processing of the edges is not required due to a clean cut. This simplifies production, minimizes the cost of fine-tuning parts.

Device Features

• If you want to make a cutting device for foam plastic with your own hands, this can be done in two ways - by vertically and horizontally cutting a foam sheet;
• To make a vertical cut, the cutting line is set perpendicular to the work table;
• For a horizontal cut, you need to make an appropriate construction, opposite to the first example;
• To get a smooth, neat cut, you will need a competent drawing and a template for further processing;
• The drawing is widely presented on the net, which allows anyone to make the machine at their discretion, based on personal needs or materials available for assembly of the PSA;
• It is recommended to use a nichrome thread as a cutting element. Almost every drawing provides for its use;
• For processing complex parts, obtaining 3d models, the current production of machine tools has reached a high level. Special models of CNC units are widely used, designed specifically for curly cutting. The workpiece is processed in several projections at once. Due to such equipment, it is possible to establish the production of models of cars, people, aircraft, animals and much more. Moreover, in fact, 3d products are obtained that accurately repeat all the bends, lines, configurations of the copied product.

We make a machine with our own hands

The production of special machines for cutting foam plastic has been put on active flow. At the same time, the cost of equipment for many potential buyers seems high. In addition, having the opportunity to assemble a foam cutting machine without too much help, with their own hands, many simply refuse the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bpurchasing. The estimated price of a factory machine is from 40 thousand rubles. But there are models worth 100 thousand rubles and more.

Yes, for that kind of money you can get an excellent foam cutting machine equipped with a CNC module. The CNC machine is far superior to home-made simple devices. At the same time, not everyone has a real need for CNC and automated cutting of foam. Therefore, we will give an example of how you can make an excellent unit for processing polystyrene foam or polystyrene with your own hands. It will not be superfluous to consolidate the skills with video lessons.

1. Drawing. It is not necessary to use a drawing specifically for this machine model. Here it is not needed, since the design is quite simple. But for clarity, you can draw a drawing yourself, rely on the selected parameters. Another option is to choose a drawing of a more serious installation. It all depends on what you want from your foam cutting machine.
2. Choose or assemble a table on which the Styrofoam cutting operations will be performed. The surface should be covered with thermal insulation or electrical material. Polyamide film has proven itself in this component.
3. Attach the insulator to the center of the long side of the work surface. One from each end. Ceramic or glass elements can be used as insulators. Between these structural components, you will then stretch the thread, which will act as a cutting tool.
4. Choose a line. If you have an old electric stove, an unnecessary soldering iron or an iron, you will find a nichrome thread inside them. It has sufficient power.
5. Remove the spiral from the tool, carefully straighten it to get a smooth thread.
6. It is not recommended to use nichrome threads with a thickness of more than 0.5 mm for a homemade machine.
7. Be sure to connect the thread to the network through a rheostat or step-down transformer. This will protect your main working element of the machine from combustion.
8. A nichrome line is connected to the reel on the insulating material. Connects to the line electrical cable through which power will be supplied to the machine. Try to ensure that the contact between the electrical cable and the thread is of the highest quality.
9. Under the table, stretch the thread to another insulator and pass through it. The end of the thread will hang from the insulator, so a weight should be provided here. The weight of the load determines the tension of the heated thread when processing the foam. Here you have to “play around” a bit to determine the optimal weight parameters. Movable sliding fixation is the most beneficial when creating such a machine with your own hands. This is due to the fact that this way you will get a better and cleaner cut line, you can adjust the position of the thread as needed.
10. Near the second insulation coil, a second electrical cable is mounted to the thread, which goes to the rheostat and is connected to the slider terminal.

The machine can only be started after the slider has been set to the maximum resistance level. If this is not done, literally immediately after turning on your thread will burn out, you will have to look for a new one.

The power of the unit depends on the parameters of the current and the thickness of the thread used. The only drawback of a homemade foam machine is that when heated, the material emits bad smell And harmful substances. Therefore, it is highly recommended to use the machine only where there is efficient system ventilation.