And now I can cut foam shapes

Like most engineering processes, the ability to perform concurrent processes always lead to a more efficient and flexible product. Having said that, It is often prudent to not "eat more than you can chew" referring to developing electronics and an UAV airframe concurrently.

Throwing caution out the wind and the fact that building 'foamies' is one of the easiest and quickest way to get an airplane concept in the air, the objective was clear... Build my own hot wire cutter. This little piece of magic hardware, will save you hours of foam sanding and cutting ( Or countless hours of balsa cutting and gluing).

So after some research (quite a bit actually) a came across this piece of document that helped spec my power supply, and wire. I added a motor speed controller (which I had to assemble/solder myself - nerve-wrecking!) to easily regulate the temperature of the hot wire in between cuts.

I know it's popular to use light dimmers but the motor controller seemed a better fit for this application and fell nicely with the specification of the power supply.

Positive alligator clip connected.

Negative alligator clip connected.

The motor (in this case plain voltage) speed controller.

12V-6A Power Supply with OCP (Over Current Protection) and SCP (Short Circuit Protection)

I used a springs to keep the 12 gauge guitar string taught as it gets hotter.

Overall design (ignore the background clutter :) ).

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