8 replies to this topic

[flamingeyes245]

I was looking at some videos and found this:
foam cutter

I thought it might be useful.

[pinhead52]

I used to have a toy version of what he has, and it really does just slice through foam. I'd never thought of it in terms of nerf until now, though. I might whip one of these up in the next few months.

[laxtk88]

I have seen those before, specifically for people using them to make 40K terrain. The only thing that he did not include was an extension spring on the top so that the nichrome wire would remain taunt, as the wire shrinks when heated. I would not use one unless you had already made one as they can burn you with the slightest graze and you are using exposed electrical devices. Not to mention the nichrome wire and train transformer are expensive.

[Wes7143]

I've got a home-made foam cutter, as well. I've tried using it for cutting stefans, and it seems to work.. but it's not as good as using a blade. In fact, if you have good, dense foam, like SwiftNerf foam, it will have some trouble cutting through it.

This would work for doing something like cutting +bow foam inserts, though. Not much good for stefans.

[flamingeyes245]

Yeah, I just was kinda wondering if it would, because i dont have one, nor the materials to make one.

[cheesypiza001]

I've got a home-made foam cutter, as well. I've tried using it for cutting stefans, and it seems to work.. but it's not as good as using a blade. In fact, if you have good, dense foam, like SwiftNerf foam, it will have some trouble cutting through it.

This would work for doing something like cutting +bow foam inserts, though. Not much good for stefans.

I bet if you turned up the voltage, it would cut dense foam much easier. Also, couldn't you put some heat resistant vinyl tubing over the hot wire? (other than right at the bottom). Here's a link to some good high temp vinyl tubing I found on mcmaster. It's maximum operating temperature is 150 ºF, however, I'm not sure if the wire exceeds that temperature.

EDIT: Someone just told me that the wire gets much over 150 ºF so maybe another material could be used.

Edited by cheesypiza001, 19 December 2009 - 06:27 PM.

[flamingeyes245]

I suppose that an adjustable case made of Plexiglas could be used, but it would need to not touch the wire.

[Blacksunshine]

Yeah I would probably not even bother with this. the cons far outweigh the pros of using this. For cutting foam it would take forever. And hard to get perfect cuts without putting yourself very close to the burner. Keep it simple stick with a blade.

[OnyxZenith]

Eh.. Not so good for the foam we use for nerf, for the mere fact that the wire acts like the tip of a glue gun, it could MAYBE melt your blank stefan and cause you to lose that one "could've-been-dart" and every dart counts I believe, I guess if the wires were hot enough to melt plastic I guess you could use it to burn off edges of a blaster after the use of a dremel, or maybe cut precise foam fillers for silencing. Other than that I don't see any other use that could be applied to nerf lol I love kipkay's invention vids