Re: Looking for suggestions (hard rifle case)
i made my own hot wire cutter for free with junk i had laying around my shop. used a 3'x3' piece of mdf. drilled a hole in the center and built the arm to extend out over it. i drilled a hole in the end of the arm for the wire to go through. i took some .030 welding wire and twisted about 1" of it around a 2" machine screw then ran the wire through both holes, the arm and the base. on the underside i made another loop at the end of the wire and hooked a spring to it. i ran the spring from the wire to the edge of the base so that i could connect the power supply to it and keep tension on the wire as i am cutting. i made some short legs to elevate it enough to clear the spring. for power supply i used my shop battery charger set on the lowest setting. 2amps. it worked very well, but i think using .023 wire would be better. i dont know for sure since i have not tried it to see.
for making the cutting templates i simply traced the outline of my parts, rifle, bolt, accessories, etc out on some thick poster board. then i cut it out with scissors, but i made my cuts 1/8" inside the line i traced. this ensured a nice tight fit when the cuts were made. its easy enough to trim the foam if its too tight, but looks kinda janky if you have to throw some extra pieces in there to keep it tight. i just pinned the template to the foam with long push pins or or tailors pins. when cutting just keep an even pace, if you go too slow it will try to burn through the poster, but the cutter works fast enough that if you keep moving it just smooths the edges as you go.
