I need either a hot wire (Smaller one) Or a hot knife. Can someone tell me who makes them? Price? Where to get them? I’ve been looking for the smaller one but no luck.
Woodland Scenic’s sells one but it’s a bit wide for me.
One other thing. What’s the best technique for making mountain textures in foam? I have the mountain roughed in.
I made my own hot wires in any shap I needed. I use a Weller type soldering gun as the power source. Remove the existing tip and make a new one as follows.
Cut about six inches of 12 or 14 gauge copper wire, the kind that is used in house wiring. Strip off all the insulation and hammer the center two or three inches flat. The thickness at this point isn’t critical but if too thin it will burn out sooner rather than later. Form this center section to the desired contour and bend the ends like the original tip.
Insert it into your gun and pull the trigger. Of course, practice on some scrap foam and remember that THE FUMES ARE TOXIC.
BB
Bruce are you sure the fumes are toxic?
The reason I ask…someone else in the forum mentioned that how could something that use to insulate your home be toxic???
Thanks for the info in creating my own. I just might do that since I think the prices of hot wire are inflated.
The type of foam that Woodland Scenics sells is NOT toxic. The blue and pink type sold at Home Depot and other builders supply stores are also non toxic. Also note that Woodland Scenics makes an array of foam cutting hot knives/wires, and they have several excellent videos and books on the subject of working with foam for layouts. I have bought them and used them and can highly recommend them should you decide to go this route. Their manuals and videos are a must for the MRR as far as I am concerned.
Reply to all, It may not be toxic (I thought it was) but it sure smells toxic!!
BB
The fumes from pink/blue foam are not toxic, but they aren’t something you want to be breathing either. Although we overlook it, remember most building codes require extruded foam insulation, be seperated from the occupied space by 1/2" drywall, at the very least.
Nick
Bruce, you are right about not sniffing it anyways…the smell of a polecat (skunk) is mighty nasty as we all can atest, but it won’t kill you…and, we don’t go around trying to find a skunk to sniff either…burning foam falls into this category as maybe a 4 on a scale of 1-10, with a polecat being a 10. LOL
OK guys, I just checked the MSDS sheets for blue styrofoam and section 3 indicates that toxic fumes ARE expelled when burned. In another part, they say that the fumes are corbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. I still aint gonna sniff it!!
BB
The idea is to have good ventilation for a lot of the model railroading stuff we do. 
I have seen a smaller hot wire tool someplace before. I believe it was listed for $40 but I can’t find it. I tried woodland scenics. The wire tool they offer seems limited because of the width. At 4.5 inches it would be to large to some of the cutting and forming I need to do. The hot knife would be ideal but I’m not paying $70 for it.
I think I’m going to use one of my old solder irons and some copper wire as suggested. I only have to do a few things.
I’ve got the WS tool. Mostly, it works very well, but since it’s only about 6 inches deep, I can’t make the big cuts down the middle of the board that I want. Instead, I’ve learned to deep-score the cut, and then snap it off. That works pretty well, and then I can use the wire cutter to either clean up the edge and straighten it, or to slope and randomize it if it’s going to be a hillside.
When it gets down to small cuts, a plain old sharp knife or a utility knife will do. Mostly, I use the hot wire down in the garage and do the fine stuff on the layout with a knife.
Burning foam is too toxic, any kind of foam, even WS, basic science guys. It’s called carbon monoxide, at the least. Toxic stuff is used in the house all the time. One company even sold ceiling tile made from bead board for years and years. Lead solder for water pipe, chlordane, flooring that outgasses formalahyde, the list is endless. Even smoke detectors are dangerious when burnt. Fred
Ahhh I found it.
http://www.sceneryexpress.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PC4774
On it’s way.
I think I should of explained my mountain a bit more. My son has a o scale train that runs around his 10 X 14 room. It’s about 12 inches from the cieling on a 6 1/2" Shelf.
The mountain will actually be a part of the mountain. More like a rock stuck in the wall that has a tunnel going thru. Kinda neat really. Maybe I’ll post pictures if it comes out looking like a rock.
I have a HO layout in the works also. And I’m part of a Ho module club.
Mr B…Woodland Scenics makes a wand to cut deep into foam also…no restrictions on depth with this wand, I have used it several times.
As for toxicity when burned, it is important not to let the wire get TOO hot when cutting, just enough to melt the foam. Of course good ventillation is always a must when working with various elements of our hobby. I have a closed t=room in the bsaement that has no windows, so I use a large floor fan to move the air, and this works very well. I also have a CO monitor in the basement nearby because of the furnace , but it has never gone off with any foam cutting that I have done. The amount of CO is far too low below the threshold limits.
Check out the products from the Foam Factory.