Hot wire cutting and lipos

[agupt108]

will a 15 volt 4 cell 450 mah be enough to power a simple hot wire cutter or do i need more mah? Thank you!

 

[Merv]

Not enough information, it depends on how long and how thick your wire is & how many C you battery is.
The question is how many amps will your application require and can your battery supply them.

Here is an online calculator you can use to answer your question.
https://jacobs-online.biz/calculators.htm

Nothing special about this dimmer, you can probably get one locally. For this application, get the cheap one, the expensive ones just will not work. https://jacobs-online.biz/dimmer.htm

I'm not a big fan of using lipos, just not enough temperature control. I much prefer a transformer on a simple light dimmer switch. I have 3 transformers to get me in the correct range, then use the dimmer switch to dial in the temp. Jacobs has a great online store with a wide variety of nichrome wire and a great selection of transformers. A one stop shop for hot wire cutting, highly recommend. I've tried many wires, they will work if you just want to try cutting foam. Nichrome wire is far far superior to anything else I have tried. Far easier to get the temp right.

If you just want to try, use about a foot of thin steel wire and an old 5v wall wart transformer. The wire may need or be shorter or longer.

 

[agupt108]

Not enough information, it depends on how long and how thick your wire is & how many C you battery is.
The question is how many amps will your application require and can your battery supply them.

Here is an online calculator you can use to answer your question.
https://jacobs-online.biz/calculators.htm

Nothing special about this dimmer, you can probably get one locally. For this application, get the cheap one, the expensive ones just will not work. https://jacobs-online.biz/dimmer.htm

I'm not a big fan of using lipos, just not enough temperature control. I much prefer a transformer on a simple light dimmer switch. I have 3 transformers to get me in the correct range, then use the dimmer switch to dial in the temp. Jacobs has a great online store with a wide variety of nichrome wire and a great selection of transformers. A one stop shop for hot wire cutting, highly recommend. I've tried many wires, they will work if you just want to try cutting foam. Nichrome wire is far far superior to anything else I have tried. Far easier to get the temp right.

If you just want to try, use about a foot of thin steel wire and an old 5v wall wart transformer. The wire may need or be shorter or longer.

Could I use something like the image to control the heat instead of the dimmer. Its a motor driver but the way it drives it is just the amount of voltage outputed right, so will it do the trick?

 

[Piotrsko]

There are a couple ways of controlling voltage, but with very different outcomes. Pwm uses a rc time constant to give apparent voltages, frequency control varies the effective time the full power is on so kinda like the pwm, but better for motors since they get the full voltage faster occurrence pulse to match the rpm and finally something like a SCR that turns on & off during some pulsed portion and needs to turn off by going through zero.

Not an everything description, but a start

 

[danskis]

It doesn't have to be that complicated. You can do trial and error. Take a look at Andrews videos on hot wire cutting. Car battery or motorcycle battery depending on the wire?

(1) Hotwire Airfoil Cutting in detail - YouTube

 

[valdine]

View attachment 235353
Could I use something like the image to control the heat instead of the dimmer. Its a motor driver but the way it drives it is just the amount of voltage outputed right, so will it do the trick on a small world cup

does it work? bro