[bennelson]

Does anyone have experience with hot-wire cutting in terms of using it to cut foam for aerodynamic modifications to cars?

I have this idea about making a pickup truck cap out of a bunch of of sheets of 4" thick white styrofoam that I rescued from a dumpster.

I would stack them up, and then "sculpt" them into shape with a hot-wire cutter.

I had a dead toaster, so I took it aparts, ran a section of the heater wire between two screws on a non-conductive wood frame (sort of like a bow-saw), and put power to it through a lighting dimmer.

At about 250 watts, the wire glows a nice warm orange and slices fantastic through the foam.

The big drawback I have noticed, it that even though the wire is taut when cold, it droops and goes slack when warm. This makes it hard to cut a straight line! Perhaps I can add a small spring to keep the wire tight whether it's hot or cold?

Anyone have experience with a hotwire cutter and can give any advice?

(I am running this through a proper fuse-box, a GFI outlet, a dimmer switch to control current, and know better than to touch it!)

Ok, so, any advice other than "Please don't electricute yerself!"?