DIY Hotwire Cutter for Gun cases with Photos!

[rwb1500]

Dude...
Dude...



Wow.



Nice work. How long did it all take you?

[Kimba]

Cool Beans!

[STI]

Dude...
Dude...



Wow.



Nice work. How long did it all take you?

For tracing out the guns and because I took my time and it was between planning my wedding non the less about a week spreaded out and cutting took about 6 hours. After work yesterday, I Glued the foam together and that took 5 minutes.

If someone were to do it in one shot, I would say depending on how many you have 8 hours for everything and if doing just a pistol, 2 hours max. I highly recommend trying it, since the payoff is so rewarding.

[falcn]

You might also be able to use one of these rather than putting together a wire cutter (for those not so electronically inclined).

http://www.harborfreight.com/130-wat...ife-66182.html

Great job on your case! I love DIY projects like this.

[STI]

You might also be able to use one of these rather than putting together a wire cutter (for those not so electronically inclined).

http://www.harborfreight.com/130-wat...ife-66182.html

Great job on your case! I love DIY projects like this.

Negative, there are many hot knife and hot wire cutters that are hand held and the reason they do not work is because your hand is not as stable as a well.....table lol. A lot of people have tried that and they just cannot get the curves and straight lines with a knife or hand held wire. I thought the same thing as well and figured my route would be more fun

[falcn]

Negative, there are many hot knife and hot wire cutters that are hand held and the reason they do not work is because your hand is not as stable as a well.....table lol. A lot of people have tried that and they just cannot get the curves and straight lines with a knife or hand held wire. I thought the same thing as well and figured my route would be more fun

I gotcha! I didn't think of that. I was thinking if you used stiff enough templates that you could press against that, but the knife would probably make too wide of a cut on the radii of corners.

[LisaA]

STI, wonderful post!! Thank you for taking the time to provide good pictures and for writing the instructions/descriptions. Fantastic job.

I second the sticky request.

[STI]

Not a problem Lisa, I am a visual learner and if someone wrote this without photos would drive me up the wall! I highly suggest anyone with a foam case to do it

[Mootness]

The particle board you used looks like it would catch on the foam and prevent it from sliding smoothly.

Is there a reason you chose not to paint the wood to create a smooth surface? The same goes for sanding the corners so that they do not catch on the foam as it is pulled over them.

Or perhaps using a plastic block for the surface which would already be smooth, and not as flammable.

[STI]

The particle board you used looks like it would catch on the foam and prevent it from sliding smoothly.

Is there a reason you chose not to paint the wood to create a smooth surface? The same goes for sanding the corners so that they do not catch on the foam as it is pulled over them.

Or perhaps using a plastic block for the surface which would already be smooth, and not as flammable.

The particle board is surprisingly smooth and you can run your hand across it and feel no roughness, it is smooth and the foam glides right across it. We build this to do one thing, cut foam, not look pretty lol. I could of done A LOT to improve it and make it look better but everything works. Like mentioned before this is our version, people can go crazy on what they do, painting, sanding, whatever they want. This one works flawlessly, but you bring up good points and something worth doing when creating one.

The plastic block is a really good idea. When I built mine I was going off of what I had available to me on a limited budget. Also, and I am glad you reminded me to bring this up. The hole that the Ni-Chrome wire passes through, even though the wire makes contact with the wood sometimes, it never gets hot enough to catch fire even when cranked the whole way to the max, the wire will just snap in half.

In time I see myself going back and making small adjustments which I do when I think of new things, but for the mean time it works as it should with no snags and that is how I built it.