I recently decided to shell out the 60 bucks to finally be able to make perfect, straight cuts in XPS for terrain building.

However, now that I've tried using it a couple of times I am cutting anything but straight. In short I can't push the foam slow enough, so instead of the wire melting the foam I am pushing against it, causing it to bend and cutting uneven.

I am concerned that the power supply it came with does not supply enough heat to cut dense foam like XPS (the user manual even alludes to this, saying that the Pro Power Supply will cut dense foam x times faster than the regular one), and I am not interested in (or capable of) spending another 100 bucks for the Pro Power Supply.

Does anyone know if the pro power supply is required to cut dense foam, or is it just my technique that is lacking?

Add a stronger spring to the wire and go slow. A hot knife is necessary for some applications.

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

Is it safe to tighten the wire by wrapping it around the screw it's attached to, or will I burn my house down this way?

It should have a fuse. The wire will stretch so you will have to shorten it from time to time. Add a spring.





Twisting the wire will be ok. Spending a few bucks at the hardware store will increase performance.
This is very useful
http://hotwirefoamfactory.com/003JC-Scr ... Cable.html
The shorter wire will be hotter. There is no reason you can not make one.

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

Cheep Hot Knife from http://www.harborfreight.com/130-watt-h ... 60313.html

Step up http://hotwirefoamfactory.com/035I-Indu ... Knife.html




The Foam Factory low power knife and engraver can be useful. I like a coping style wire bow/wand.



Adjustable power,a fence and circle cutters are not always necessary.

see Toms link http://tidesofwargaming.blogspot.com/20 ... irith.html

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

Thanks for the helpful info, I think the first step I will try is to shorten the wire and add a jumper cable. Hopefully I can post a WIP once I figure this out.

Also, that Minas Tirith looks AMAZING. Inspiring and offputting at the same time.