Anyone got a broken toaster?

[Simon Ford]

I'm after the element out of one, to try and make a foam cutter...

Simon

[Chris Styles]

Does it have to be broke?

Tesco will sell you a new one for about £5....

Failing that.. I used to use thin rework wire...

Cheers,
Chris

Simon

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[Hugo Vincent]

Or you could buy just the resistive (Nichrome) wire, e.g.:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2M-x-24-swg-NiChrome-hot-foam-cutting-wire-Pyrotechnics_W0QQitemZ270419136759QQcmdZViewItem?rvr_id=221231834957&rvr_id=221231834957&cguid=7b583b9112d0a0aad4e0f860ffe007aa#ht_3347wt_907

Cheers,

Hugo

[Simon Ford]

> > Does it have to be broke?
> > Tesco will sell you a new one for about £5....

> Or you could buy just the resistive (Nichrome) wire, e.g.:http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2M-x-24-swg-NiChrome-hot-foam-cutting-wire-Pyro...

I would't want to buy a new one; as hugo says, i'd much rather just
buy the wire so there was no waste.

But recycling seemed more fun :)

Ideally, i'd like to make a CNC foam wire cutter of course!

Simon

[Adrian Godwin]

I'm not sure resistive wire is necessary unless you want to run it off the mains. Not advised - it's bad enough being hot without being live as well.

I made one using stainless wire sold for model aircraft purposes. It's plenty resistive enough for a 12V supply and is strong enough to string really tight.

-adrian

[Simon Ford]

> I'm not sure resistive wire is necessary unless you want to run it off the
> mains. Not advised - it's bad enough being hot without being live as well.
>
> I made one using stainless wire sold for model aircraft purposes. It's
> plenty resistive enough for a 12V supply and is strong enough to string
> really tight.

Yeah, I made one of the bow type ones years ago, for aircraft wings
too. At the moment, I'm trying to think how you might be able to do a
single ended setup so you effectively have a 10-15cm spike up out of a
baseboard.

I'm wondering if heating from the end of a solid thin spike might
work, or whether you'd need to put some heating wire inside the actual
cutter to keep it hot enough. Depends on the spike material and how
hot it needs to get maybe?

Simon

[Simon Ford]

>
> I'm wondering if heating from the end of a solid thin spike might
> work, or whether you'd need to put some heating wire inside the actual
> cutter to keep it hot enough. Depends on the spike material and how
> hot it needs to get maybe?

Maybe attach an old variable temp soldering iron to something stiff
enough like a thin drill bit?

[Adrian Godwin]

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Post to the SuperHappyDevClub group using sh...@googlegroups.com; for more options, visit http://groups.google.com/group/shdc

How about one of these ?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3W-808nm-High-Power-Laser-Diode-Brand-New-DPSS-YAG-/270677497067?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f05a2d4eb

-adrian

[Simon Ford]

>
> How about one of these ?http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3W-808nm-High-Power-Laser-Diode-Brand-New-DPSS-...
>
> -adrian

Frigin laser. Awesome :) that sounds like one to try.

I also just thought (inspired by a previous shdc) how about a hacked
sewing machine to give a jigsaw like action for a dremmel bit ?! Mount
the oscillating mech under the board.

[Tom Oinn]

On 27 March 2011 22:39, Simon Ford <simon....@googlemail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> How about one of these ?http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3W-808nm-High-Power-Laser-Diode-Brand-New-DPSS-...
>>
>> -adrian
>
> Frigin laser. Awesome :) that sounds like one to try.

I really hope you're not serious there :p If you are can you tell me
so I can never come to SDHC ever, I like my eyes :)

> I also just thought (inspired by a previous shdc) how about a hacked
> sewing machine to give a jigsaw like action for a dremmel bit ?! Mount
> the oscillating mech  under the board.

You might be best off with something with less travel, I vaguely
remember we had cutting machines at school (some years ago) where you
could touch the blades as they were moving such a small degree that
they just vibrated anything non-rigid in contact with them while going
through balsa etc like a hot knife through butter. Could probably use
an old speaker or something?

Tom

[Adrian Godwin]

On Sun, Mar 27, 2011 at 11:24 PM, Tom Oinn <tom...@gmail.com> wrote:

On 27 March 2011 22:39, Simon Ford <simon....@googlemail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> How about one of these ?http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3W-808nm-High-Power-Laser-Diode-Brand-New-DPSS-...
>>
>> -adrian
>
> Frigin laser. Awesome :) that sounds like one to try.

I really hope you're not serious there :p If you are can you tell me
so I can never come to SDHC ever, I like my eyes :)

You have a point there :-).

 

> I also just thought (inspired by a previous shdc) how about a hacked
> sewing machine to give a jigsaw like action for a dremmel bit ?! Mount
> the oscillating mech  under the board.

You might be best off with something with less travel, I vaguely
remember we had cutting machines at school (some years ago) where you
could touch the blades as they were moving such a small degree that
they just vibrated anything non-rigid in contact with them while going
through balsa etc like a hot knife through butter. Could probably use
an old speaker or something?

I've got a little fretsaw that might be how you describe - it doesn't have a proper motor, just an open transformer. Works like a buzzer. I haven't tried to cut myself but I would think the only nasty part is where the blade enters the cutting table.

It does have the blade supported by a big spring at the top end, though. Supporting a cutting tool vertically without tension would be more complicated.

I also wonder whether a simple spinning dremel tool would work - it's easy to get a burr hot enough to melt plastic, so perhaps you could heat the spindle with friction rather than cutting with abrasion ?


-adrian

[Leif Lindholm]

On 27 March 2011 20:05, Simon Ford <simon....@googlemail.com> wrote:
> I'm after the element out of one, to try and make a foam cutter...

Not a broken one, but I have one with a Swedish plug on it that isn't
currently in use.
It would probably make more green sense to dismantle it here for some
usefulness than to fly it back to Sweden :)

/
Leif

[Simon Ford]

Just back to a trip from b&q; managed to find a massive sheet of
expanded polystyrene used for insulation.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mookstar/5574532163/

Had to cut it up a bit to get it in the car; thanks leatherman :)
There were much thicker blocks (10cm), but they had lots of flecks of
grey in them, so not suitable unfortunately.

Looked around b&q for ages trying to find something thin and stiff
enough to use as a hot cutting blade, but didn't find anything (nails,
metal rods all too thick, drill bits too short). Got home, and found a
thin skewer. Just tested on the hob for now, but seemed quite
effective.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mookstar/5575119894/

Now need a rig to heat it nicely and keep it at a constant
temperature.

Simon