K.I.S.S. Hot Wire Accesory??

[Rcmaster199 at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/23/2002 7:14:36 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
mrstev0922 at aol.com writes:

> Subj: K.I.S.S. Hot Wire Accesory?? 
>  Date: 11/23/2002 7:14:36 PM Eastern Standard Time
>  From: <A HREF="mailto:mrstev0922 at aol.com">mrstev0922 at aol.com</A>
>  Reply-to: <A HREF="mailto:discussion at nsrca.org">discussion at nsrca.org</A>
>  To: <A HREF="mailto:discussion at nsrca.org">discussion at nsrca.org</A>
>  CC: <A HREF="mailto:MrSteve09 at aol.com">MrSteve09 at aol.com</A>
>  Sent from the Internet 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey guys,...
> 
> Currently I am constructing my first foam wing for a competition pattern 
> plane.  I have been banging my head against the wall for a week now, trying 
> 
> to figure out how to hot wire cut the servo pocket and wheel wells, just 
> the 
> way Bob Noll does in his video.
> 
> I went so far as to purchase Inconel wire from Aircraft Spruce and 
> Specialty 
> as well as a Homebuilders Hotwire kit.  The hot wire kit was a "bust" 
> because 
> it consisted of only a transformer and a dimmer switch and it was up to me 
> to 
> design and fabricate an electrical circut.  Long story short,... 
> transformer 
> got fried and no longer works!!
> 
> Plan "B" was to use the Inconel wire with my son's HO Train tranformer.  
> Well,... that did little good because the wire barely got hot!!  At least 
> the 
> train still works though, ha!!
> 
> Then finally a friend loaned me his K.I.S.S. Hot Wire Accesory kit by Sam 
> Turner.  What a life saver that has been.  Now I've just gotta get one for 
> myself; however I can't find them available anymore!!  I can not access Sam 
> 
> Turner's web site and his products are no longer available through Central 
> Hobbies.  Please don't tell me a great product like this is out of 
> production??
> 
> Can anyone tell me where to get Turners Hot Wire kit??  Or does anyone have 
> 
> suggestion on how to build a foam cutter of my own??
> 
> Thank you!!
> 
> Sincerely,
> Steve Teerlinck
> Monson, Massachusetts

Steve,

If you just gotta have one, go to Radio Shack and get a D size battery 
receptacle. You want to have capacity large enough to fit about 10 cells, or 
around 12 volts. Voila, instant power supply! A couple crocodile clips from 
the same source, crimped to the receptacle leads, and you have built your own 
hot wire foam cutting accessory

A better solution is the "HOT WIRE" wand from Composite Structures technology 
and a transformer for old Duralite batteries. Many fellows have these 
transformers and no longer use them so finding one should not be a problem. 

If you can't find the right size transformer, buy one from Radio Shack, with 
an output of about 12 volts and 500 to 800 ma. Anyway, back to our story. 
Make a set of male and female plugs to your liking and set up the Hot Wire 
wand and transformer terminals. There is no polarity on the wand so the plug 
set up is simple.

The great thing about the wand is that you no longer need to fish a flimsy 
NiCr wire through a hole in the area you wish to cut, then connect the clips, 
and then sort of blindly manipulate the wire . 

You simply work from one side only, and cut only as deep as you want to, 
having your work in full view at all times

Try it and I think you will like it.

Let me know if you do, or contact me directly

Matt Kebabjian

PS. This is the same gizmo I used in honeycombing my new Alliance wings. Same 
results as the more typical honeycombing technique, at a fraction of the time
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