Hope everyone in the USA had a great Thanksgiving, and outside the USA, a fantastic Thursday!
MK19, the heat is variable, I’m using a variable DC bench top power supply, you can vary the temperature in the wire by increasing the amount of current going through. Wire lengths and gauges will vary the amount of current needed to heat to the same temperature.
Mr-914, glad you’re thinking of building one too!
I have been deliberately been shying away from giving exact electrical details about this project for safety/legal reasons because I don’t want anyone to hurt themselves. It’s impossible for me to know anyone’s experience with electricity, and even something simple like this can easily be fatal. Sorry for this likely unsatisfying answer.
That said if anyone would like to PM me for help with the electrical portion of their project, I’m more than happy to provide some advice.
Here is a list of electrical safety tips that may be helpful for this kind of build:
- Never touch the cutting wire when it is plugged in to anything, even if it is off. Disconnect all wires from the machine before changing, adjusting, or touching the wire.
- Take off all jewelry (wedding rings, watches, bracelets) while using the foam cutter.
- Do not operate this with wet hands, even a small amount of sweat can be extremely dangerous.
- Wear safety glasses (the wire can snap) and an fume filtering respirator (foam fumes are bad news), operate this outdoors for lots of ventilation if possible.