A while ago I made my automated hatch, but there was still a wedge-shaped space that needed to be insulated properly.
Instead of using a hacksaw (which would have been very messy and propably wouldn’t yield satisfying results) to cut the 45° wedge, I decided to try my hand at hot wire foam cutting.
I didn’t bother trying to make an elegant jig since I’m only going to need this specific setup for this one occasion. So I just cobbled this thing together as quickly as I could. I am using a spring to keep the wire tensioned, because physics dictate that the wire will stretch when getting hot. In hindsight, I should have used a much stronger spring, but oh well… live and learn.
The specific wire I used is an AWG 28 NiChrome resistance wire for those that are wondering. If memory serves me right, I set my PSU at around 10V / 1,5A for a wire length of +/-40cm.
As you can see, the cut was more or less succesfull. I hit a few snags which are visible, mostly because of the ghetto setup. I didn’t really mind tbh.
So I just gave the wedge a light sanding all around and screwed it in place. It’s a perfect fit which I could never have achieved with a hacksaw, that much I know!
I’m ready for winter.