Well more work was completed on the Hot Wire Table this weekend, and a handheld Hot Wire Cutter. The work done on the Hot Wire Table (forgot to take pictures) was a 6" extension to the upright on the arm of the table, and cut the top eyelet on the arm so that it's now a hook instead of just a loop. The hook will now provide easy and much quicker wire changes on the table, still need to cut the eyelet on the bottom part of the table. But that will come with some changes to where the wire goes through the table, which will allow easier wire changes. Then I also crafted a circle cutting attachment for the table which has basically settings for inch and half inch circle cutting.
And for the handheld Hot Wire I crafted it from the same Birch Plywood as was used in the table, making the shape basically match an over sized hacksaw. It functions almost like a hacksaw with a wire in place of a blade, which if you tried to use a regular hacksaw for this you could have good results depending on what your were wanting to cut with it. I was looking to make a cutter that would allow me the make a 90 degree cut on one end of the handheld, but that didn't work as I had planned. So I'll have to go back to the drawing board on that one, but the handheld worked for making cuts straight across the ends of the saw (just not for the 90 degree). Also the wiring system of the handheld needs worked out, as right now it's just the alligator clips off the table. But I did have an interesting idea last nite, I'm sure me or someone I know has a broken cordless power tool somewhere. So the idea is to take the cordless and use the handle and battery pack out of it and put it to the handheld Hot Wire frame. Then make the power level of the battery pack adjustable if needed, and maybe make it where the normal finger trigger still operates the Hot Wire.
And finally something with some pictures, more on the Modular Terrain. I bought another rattle can of stone texture, and this time I decided to try it directly on the foam. On a previous terrain piece I covered plain white foam with non shrinking spackle and then sprayed on the stone texture, which worked really good and gave the look of concrete on the city ruins piece. Also I used some stone texture on my GW Battle Board on the exposed rock sections, which the Battle Board was inspiration for what I wanted to do for the Modular Terrain. Except I wanted something that was more user friendly, like not having your miniatures slide from the top of a hill to the bottom of the board. Also hopefully something that is lighter then the extruded plastic of the Battle Board, even though the heavy plastic is nice for use just around the home or not to far down the road.
The second picture below is where I was able to cut with the handheld Hot Wire, it's a ways from being complete. But if I can't get the handheld to cut a 90 degree angle on the end then I might have to scrap plans of making the hills out of 2" foam like that. But it might be easier to use 1" foam to get what I'm looking for, just have to try out the poly Gorilla Glue to join them. More to come on both Hot Wire Cutters and the Modular Terrain.
I'd like to thank my close friends that have helped on the Hot Wire Cutters.
Travis and myself have grown up and went to school together from K-12, we have not always been friends. We were sort of friends in the later years of High School, but didn't become Best Friends until after we worked together a year after High School. We both did construction work for my uncles General Contracting company, Travis still works for my uncle's company and we remain Best Friends since I've moved to another job. Travis has helped me build the table version and is helping work out electronic issues on the power system.
Adam is a friend that I knew from before in Boy Scouts in the area, and at one point him and my sister dated when they were younger. He has since went and served in the armed forces, and started working the same job as myself only a few months after I was hired on. Adam also has some construction background, but he also likes doing woodworking as Travis & myself do. He has a small custom woodworking trim shop, and is trying to expand into custom cabinets at some point. Adam has helped with giving a new look on some ideas I've had about hobby items and on the Hot Wire Table, it's always good to see what others come up with for the same problems. And hopefully with Adam's cabinet making expansion he'll be able to get a CNC Router table that he wants. As we have both had some interesting ideas on items to crank out on it; surprising Adam was first to suggest cutting foam with it, I was thinking of some nice detailed work on display cabinets for miniatures with the CNC Router.
And I would like to thank Jon for getting my into playing Warhammer 40k, as without that I would not of been lead down this path. Jon is a really good friend & gamer to play against, and Jon has a great son that is another good friend & gamer. I always look forward to getting together with them hopefully once a year or more to play some games.
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