Glowing Filament Balsa Cutter

colorex

Rotor Riot!
Mentor
When I was building my McMillen Baker Cadet II, I found myself needing a tool which could make small slots in delicate balsa sheets without ruining the piece. The ribs, for example, have two slots each. They are 1cm long, and only 3mm wide. Cutting this with an Xacto is a bit hard. So I made the Glowing Filament Balsa Cutter.

Cutter:

IMG_9431.jpg


Ribs:

IMG_9429.jpg


It has a filament which glows hot and cuts through balsa like a warm knife in butter. It works very well with less than 3mm balsa. On 5mm the cutter loses it's effectiveness.

It runs on 110V AC converted to 12 V AC. The filament is from a foam cutter. The spring stretches the filament. The switch allows turning off so it doesn't overheat. I have not made any calculations as for voltage/current/resistance etc, just slapped it together and it worked.

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Project: I have a DVD-burner laser diode which needs a control circuit and a focusing system. No CNC cutter yet, but it will be a laser.
 

ananas1301

Crazy flyer/crasher :D
Well done!

Yeah thats truly useful. It is the same with foam and a not sharp blade you wanna cut the foam with. I thought about building one but I find a knife that´s always sharp enough.

Nice invention!!
 

Daniel Kezar

Ultimate Cheap Skate
When I was building my McMillen Baker Cadet II, I found myself needing a tool which could make small slots in delicate balsa sheets without ruining the piece. The ribs, for example, have two slots each. They are 1cm long, and only 3mm wide. Cutting this with an Xacto is a bit hard. So I made the Glowing Filament Balsa Cutter.

Cutter:

IMG_9431.jpg


Ribs:

IMG_9429.jpg


It has a filament which glows hot and cuts through balsa like a warm knife in butter. It works very well with less than 3mm balsa. On 5mm the cutter loses it's effectiveness.

It runs on 110V AC converted to 12 V AC. The filament is from a foam cutter. The spring stretches the filament. The switch allows turning off so it doesn't overheat. I have not made any calculations as for voltage/current/resistance etc, just slapped it together and it worked.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Project: I have a DVD-burner laser diode which needs a control circuit and a focusing system. No CNC cutter yet, but it will be a laser.

darn website hosting the pictures thing not working....