I just made a Hotwire styro-slicer’ that
traces out styrofoam shapes with an
impressive amount of precision and
control it’ll create 3d puzzles for
entertainment and decoration or help you
craft a custom styrofoam sword for
cosplay or metal casting the wire blade
can be set to any angle you need and
perhaps the best part is the whole thing
compacts together easily for quick and
clutter-free storage
[Music]
styrofoam usually isn’t the nicest stuff
to work with if you snap or break a
piece in half it’ll spew a mess of tiny
styrofoam balls that stick to just about
everything and even if you try cutting
it with scissors or a knife the pieces
still come out jagged and look terrible
but not with the styro-slicer’ there’s a
much easier way to form your foam and
all it takes is a simple hot wire foam
cutter like this one I made out of low
cost and easily accessible materials the
heart of the styro-slicer’ is a thin
stainless steel wire that uses
electricity to slice through any
thickness of styrofoam you want as the
wire gets hot it melts through the foam
pieces like a hot knife through butter
leaving some of the cleanest and
smoothest edges imaginable the little
spring at the top is there to help keep
constant tension on the wire as it
expands and contracts with the heat and
looking at the side of this improvised
foam factory you’ll see a red switch and
an adjustable dial the dial is for
fine-tuning the temperature of the wire
so it will slice faster or slower
depending on your skill level and the
kind of material you’re working with and
the red switch boosts the system from
normal power to overdrive I’ll show you
what that does in just a minute now
watch what happens if you try gluing
something like a custom paper template
to the top of the styrofoam and setting
it to about 30% power you can see the
foam cutter still glides easily through
the styrofoam but notice how it doesn’t
actually go through the paper this means
you now have the option of using your
own custom paper shapes as cutting
guides to produce really clean and
professional looking props I went ahead
made some custom 3d weapon art like a
styrofoam handgun as well as an arsenal
of mini master swords which I’ll show
you how to make yourself in to other
project videos the base of the
styro-slicer’ is an 18-inch work surface
that gives plenty of room for most of
your hobby projects and if you attach a
straight edge to one of the sides you’ll
be able to slice and dice perfectly
clean lines like never before
now normal power is the mode you’ll
typically use for cutting foam and
tracing templates but if you need a
little extra boost simply flip the red
switch to overdrive this instantly gives
you enough power to cut through balsa
wood and burn through paint sticks like
the kind you get from the hardware store
I’m not really sure why you’d need that
much power but the option is there just
in case you do and check this out if you
have to quickly step away from your
project just click the button on the
side to instantly kill the power and
stop the cutting within three to five
seconds the wire will be cool enough
that you can actually touch it by hand
and when you’re ready to get going again
just press the button to pick up exactly
where you left off but that’s not all
the styro-slicer’ is designed to shape
foam blocks up to eight inches tall and
the slicer arm can be adjusted to make
beveled cuts as well up to 45 degrees on
the work surface and over a hundred and
eighty degrees when used by itself
what’s really cool is if you position
the arms horizontally over the base you
can actually cut styro slices as thin as
you can imagine and if that’s not enough
simply unscrew the wing nut at the back
of the support and you’ll see the entire
wire saw comes right off give you the
option to cut larger styrofoam blocks
free handed but wait there’s more if you
ever lose power or want to operate off
the grid simply unclip the backup
battery cable and hook the clips to the
terminals of a six volt lantern battery
and you’re back in business
these cheap and easy modifications make
it so you can take your foam factory
just about anywhere and if your Lantern
battery dies on you rather than throwing
it out try hacking it open so you can
repurpose the carbon rods inside to
build a mini arc furnace like the one I
showed you in a previous project the
styro-slicer’ is made completely out of
low cost and easily accessible materials
and can take as little as five seconds
to set up and start working it’s also
designed to snap back together
ergonomically so it takes up as little
space as possible when you’re finished
and ready to put it away well now you
know how to glide through styrofoam with
ease and create amazing styrofoam
creations on a budget you’ll just need
to build your own styro-slicer’ first
but I’ll show you how to do that in
another project video well that’s it for
now if you liked this project perhaps
you’ll like some my others check them
out at the king of random calm Hey are
you a fan of anime if you like the anime
experience then check this out I’m going
to show you how you can get all the
Digimon parasite Naruto you can handle
free step one use the link in the
description to go to crunchyroll.com
slash the king of random and sign up for
a 30-day free trial step to instantly
begin watching as much animes you can
stand this project was sponsored by
crunchyroll which is the most authentic
anime experience you can get outside of
japan they have over 25,000 episodes in
1080p HD that you can stream on any
device ranging from the best new anime
to the classics and there are never any
ads or commercials you have to sit
through either when your free trial is
up it’s just 695 a month to stay
subscribed or you can cancel anytime
with just a click of a button every
episode has professional subtitles and
what’s really unique about the
crunchyroll experience is that when a
new episode is released in Japan it’s
available for you to watch in as little
as one hour who else does that now I’m
gonna go turn this styrofoam sword into
solid aluminum and I’ll show you how
that turns out in another project video
but while you’re waiting why not go
watch some anime and pick up a few cool
ideas for a project of your own thanks
for your support and I’ll see you in the
next project video talk to you then
[Music]
traces out styrofoam shapes with an
impressive amount of precision and
control it’ll create 3d puzzles for
entertainment and decoration or help you
craft a custom styrofoam sword for
cosplay or metal casting the wire blade
can be set to any angle you need and
perhaps the best part is the whole thing
compacts together easily for quick and
clutter-free storage
[Music]
styrofoam usually isn’t the nicest stuff
to work with if you snap or break a
piece in half it’ll spew a mess of tiny
styrofoam balls that stick to just about
everything and even if you try cutting
it with scissors or a knife the pieces
still come out jagged and look terrible
but not with the styro-slicer’ there’s a
much easier way to form your foam and
all it takes is a simple hot wire foam
cutter like this one I made out of low
cost and easily accessible materials the
heart of the styro-slicer’ is a thin
stainless steel wire that uses
electricity to slice through any
thickness of styrofoam you want as the
wire gets hot it melts through the foam
pieces like a hot knife through butter
leaving some of the cleanest and
smoothest edges imaginable the little
spring at the top is there to help keep
constant tension on the wire as it
expands and contracts with the heat and
looking at the side of this improvised
foam factory you’ll see a red switch and
an adjustable dial the dial is for
fine-tuning the temperature of the wire
so it will slice faster or slower
depending on your skill level and the
kind of material you’re working with and
the red switch boosts the system from
normal power to overdrive I’ll show you
what that does in just a minute now
watch what happens if you try gluing
something like a custom paper template
to the top of the styrofoam and setting
it to about 30% power you can see the
foam cutter still glides easily through
the styrofoam but notice how it doesn’t
actually go through the paper this means
you now have the option of using your
own custom paper shapes as cutting
guides to produce really clean and
professional looking props I went ahead
made some custom 3d weapon art like a
styrofoam handgun as well as an arsenal
of mini master swords which I’ll show
you how to make yourself in to other
project videos the base of the
styro-slicer’ is an 18-inch work surface
that gives plenty of room for most of
your hobby projects and if you attach a
straight edge to one of the sides you’ll
be able to slice and dice perfectly
clean lines like never before
now normal power is the mode you’ll
typically use for cutting foam and
tracing templates but if you need a
little extra boost simply flip the red
switch to overdrive this instantly gives
you enough power to cut through balsa
wood and burn through paint sticks like
the kind you get from the hardware store
I’m not really sure why you’d need that
much power but the option is there just
in case you do and check this out if you
have to quickly step away from your
project just click the button on the
side to instantly kill the power and
stop the cutting within three to five
seconds the wire will be cool enough
that you can actually touch it by hand
and when you’re ready to get going again
just press the button to pick up exactly
where you left off but that’s not all
the styro-slicer’ is designed to shape
foam blocks up to eight inches tall and
the slicer arm can be adjusted to make
beveled cuts as well up to 45 degrees on
the work surface and over a hundred and
eighty degrees when used by itself
what’s really cool is if you position
the arms horizontally over the base you
can actually cut styro slices as thin as
you can imagine and if that’s not enough
simply unscrew the wing nut at the back
of the support and you’ll see the entire
wire saw comes right off give you the
option to cut larger styrofoam blocks
free handed but wait there’s more if you
ever lose power or want to operate off
the grid simply unclip the backup
battery cable and hook the clips to the
terminals of a six volt lantern battery
and you’re back in business
these cheap and easy modifications make
it so you can take your foam factory
just about anywhere and if your Lantern
battery dies on you rather than throwing
it out try hacking it open so you can
repurpose the carbon rods inside to
build a mini arc furnace like the one I
showed you in a previous project the
styro-slicer’ is made completely out of
low cost and easily accessible materials
and can take as little as five seconds
to set up and start working it’s also
designed to snap back together
ergonomically so it takes up as little
space as possible when you’re finished
and ready to put it away well now you
know how to glide through styrofoam with
ease and create amazing styrofoam
creations on a budget you’ll just need
to build your own styro-slicer’ first
but I’ll show you how to do that in
another project video well that’s it for
now if you liked this project perhaps
you’ll like some my others check them
out at the king of random calm Hey are
you a fan of anime if you like the anime
experience then check this out I’m going
to show you how you can get all the
Digimon parasite Naruto you can handle
free step one use the link in the
description to go to crunchyroll.com
slash the king of random and sign up for
a 30-day free trial step to instantly
begin watching as much animes you can
stand this project was sponsored by
crunchyroll which is the most authentic
anime experience you can get outside of
japan they have over 25,000 episodes in
1080p HD that you can stream on any
device ranging from the best new anime
to the classics and there are never any
ads or commercials you have to sit
through either when your free trial is
up it’s just 695 a month to stay
subscribed or you can cancel anytime
with just a click of a button every
episode has professional subtitles and
what’s really unique about the
crunchyroll experience is that when a
new episode is released in Japan it’s
available for you to watch in as little
as one hour who else does that now I’m
gonna go turn this styrofoam sword into
solid aluminum and I’ll show you how
that turns out in another project video
but while you’re waiting why not go
watch some anime and pick up a few cool
ideas for a project of your own thanks
for your support and I’ll see you in the
next project video talk to you then
[Music]
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