Hotwire Airfoil Cutting in detail
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- A complete wing hotwire cut with tips. Foam blank shaping, template positioning, wire choice, LiPo power, and the cutting motion are discussed. More information below.
Newton Airlines blog (Plans) - newtonairlines....
Website - anewton.net
MATERIALS
All my building materials and RC gear - newtonairlines.......
Knauf XPS insulation foam - www.bunnings.co...
You may be able to find Blue or Pink foam, it's the same stuff.
VIDEO PLAYLISTS
Hotwire airfoil cutting - • Hotwire airfoil cutting
Build techniques - • RC plane build reviews
Transmitters, OpenTX and telemetry - • Playlist
I used to be a 6mm depron-sheet-wing-builder but this has convinced me I need to try this method for any future planes. Thanks Andrew, nice video!
+big5astra Great for wings but I think depron is still best for fuselages
@@AndrewNewton why do you advocate in favor of depron for fuselages?
Ok i just ordered by plane from banggood so i will have the 4 channels I need then after I learn hot to fly Im making new ones using yout techniques mate.I hope to be flying within the month.Buying foam panels glue wire that you speak about making the frame battry off i go onto a whole new world.Thanks to this guys detailed instructions I found a new hobby for the summers to come.
Good to hear it Jimmy. Very rewarding I find
Just cut my first airfoil using your videos as a guide, turned out great! Thanks!
Excellent, it's like magic
I like watching an expert at work,.....You make it look so easy.
+Graham R Dyer Once you get the technique down it really is quick and easy
I ALWAYS APPRECIATE and ENJOY your videos Andrew. This episode was extremely inspirational and detailed. Thanks
Thanks for another great video Andrew. You may find that it is a good idea to give a slight washout at the tips (raise the trailing edge with the tip template) This ensures that when the wing stalls in the air, such as in landing, that the root stalls first and not one of the tips. About 4mm is good in most cases.
Thanks Andrew, I have tried a little washout occasionally. But I haven't investigated it in any rigorous way. Might be a good subject for future video.
I like how you do this. No imperfections.
+RCSuperPowers Thanks super, it does work well.
Andrew, I'd like to thank you for making your videos. I enjoy them and find them useful for me. If I may suggest, I'd like to see more foam cutting with hot wires, may be other parts of the plane eg elevator or fuselage. Cheers from Finland :)
+Aslak Shallo Thanks for the suggestions Aslak Shallo. I will make a smaller hot wire setup for shapes other than wings one day.
Nice video. Thanks again.
A little trick I used when cutting chords more than 20cm deep or panels more than 1m wide was to number the templates from 0 - XXX in 1cm increments. Then having 2 people on the bow, one each end, you count the markers off one by one at the same time as the wire passes each mark. This ensures the wire passes through the foam blank at the correct speed at both ends, preventing wire drag and the resultant rippling you get. If the timing and speed are accurate, you get a core that needs no sanding before you can apply plastic film, or laminate it with it's veneer if your doing a timber build. It also makes tapered cores easier to wire cut, for that, all you do is make the smaller templates spacing marks 50% of the larger one.
Great tips thanks
you're a good teacher
Nice instructional vid. Thanks for the material specs - was going to ask about the foam!
Lol you always make things look so simple . The T pins seem to work pretty good but I didn't have any so I used pop rivets . Put them in my drill and sharpened them on my grinder , gave me a little handle to pull them out . What do you use to make your aluminum patterns . I found wood don't work real well . I haven't had the best of luck with planes , bit harder to fly than drones , but I haven't give up on them . Thanks for the video .
Sweet man. One of these days I'd like to try that. Looks like fun!
+BWX It is fun in a zen kinda way. I really enjoy it.
good job you don't have to sand of to much to make it silkly smooth
just 1 question why did you 2 cuts? wasend it easyer to place the airfoil templates all the way down so you you only have to make 1 cut and with some luck you can get a second wing out the same piece of foam?
+Happy Flyer I have tried that but it creates a nasty step where the leading edge curve transitions into the uncut flat bottom. Also none of the airfoils I use have a truly flat bottom.
Thanks Andrew, much appreciated
That really is incredible! I have a plane project in mind and I'd like to try my hand at foam cutting to make the wing.
Give it a go, very rewarding.
Thanks for going through the entire process Andrew. It answered a number of questions for me. Do you need to treat the foam prior to covering with tape? Do you have any knowledge of vacuum bagging these type of cores at all? Great work and really informative..!!!
+rustyact01 All I do is carefully wipe the sanding dust off. Probably depends on the stickyness of your tape. Pre Spraying with something like 3M super 77 might improve the bond but I have not tried that
How would you go about hotwire cutting foam core wings that have a curve with tips like on some gliders or like wings on a p51 mustang etc.
Do you cut curved wing tips after main wing is cut.
Would have to cut thin sections, glue them together and shape by hand.
First off: Fantastic T-Shirt
“…a new life…begin again…”
One of my all time faves.
Do you have any specific guidance on this hotwire bow you made?
I want to make one just like yours and would like some details about the construction…?
Thanks for a great vid.
-Andrew from L.A., CA.
Thanks, links in the description
a very helpful video , thanks alot
Andrew nice vid mate if you don't mind me asking which state r u in don't answer if don't want to excellent vids Greg vic
Thanks Greg. I'm in Geelong Victoria
Nice tutorial, Thanks!
Nice Demo Andrew....Have you ever thought about making a Fuz using this foam? A plane rather like a Skywalker for example? Using 2 thick Foam sides and then maybe Depron sheet glued on top and bottom? ...I like the true airfoil you get using the Foam cut over the Depron wing, but I would be interested in seeing a Fuz cut / carved with this stuff because you can sand and carve it too....The Foam I use looks similar to yours but if you ding it, it stays that way...Great Tutorial m8...:)
+EnglishTurbines I have used solid XPS for the Red Trainer fuse and for the Fokker cowl, but I will try it more in the future.
Andrew Newton Yes, I was thinking you could make a small vertical wire cutter, rather like a Bandsaw to cut out profiles in sheets? I saw a homebuild Skywalker made this way, it looked pretty solid once the decks were on it..
You make it seem so easy...
I wasted an entire sheet before i could even get a hang of how much to heat my wire, and just work everything else out
Same here, I did lots of bad practice cuts.
Very nice. ¿The airfoil templates (Aluminum, you said), did you make them also? ¿How much current/power on your hot wire cutter, please? (I love your workshop). Thank you for sharing.
+Somewhere Usa Thanks Somewhere. Yes thin aluminium window flashing. The wire I'm using needs about 4 Amps for the right temperature. There is a link in the description to all my materials and hotwire videos, all covered there.
+Andrew Newton Thank you very much, Mr. Newton. I'll look there, as you suggest. Thank you again. God Bless. tonyd\.
This great timing, because I just made my first hot wire cutter today. It's like you knew!! Thanks Andrew.
+Christian Prodanov I see all. Good luck, hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Great job, I noticed you're wearing a lav Mic
+7demo7 Thanks Jeff, that's right, straight into the DSLR. I'm getting closer to OK audio now.
beautifully done.
বাইখোববালো
Hi Andrew! Could you write me the ohm resistance of your cutter? Between the two endpoint of the cutter wire. Thx!
4 Ohms. The wire is 5 Ohms/m and the span is 800mm. I usually power it with a 4S Lipo (16V)
Nice! Im thinking about making one of those for my self. How do u power it? Just plug the positive and negative of the battery directly into the wires? Would it work with a 1300 mah 3s 25 C battery?
+Felipe Forlin Yes that battery would work fine. Battery is connected to alligator clips which clamp on the wire, very simple.
I miss these scratch build videos.
Gday Andrew just wondering where you pickup your xps foam these days? Seems like bunnings no longer stocks them. cheers
Still in Geelong Bunnings the last time I visited.
@@AndrewNewton can't see it listed on their website I'll have to have a proper look at my local next time I'm in town. Thanks mate.
What aluminum did u use?
Window flashing
Why no spring on the wire to compensate for expansion as the wire heats ?
Not needed with this bow design. Look closer
OK. Thanks for the VERY quick reply. Appreciated. So the arms pivot on the two bolts through the strut joining the arms and there is some elastic material connecting the bottom of the arms keeping the wire at the other end taught? I guessing spear gun rubber given you dive ??
Yes bungy cord keeps the tension. I'm not a spear fisher, more of a photographer.
Thanks again. Have mine up and running.
Excellent, very satisfying I find
How would you go about hot wire cutting an elliptical wing?
Could only Hotwire the straight section, then hand shape the elliptical tips
So is there any method you could recommend to build a completely curved elliptical wing with no straight sections, out of foam? Looking to start building my DLGs and F5Js out of foam instead of balsa...
Not possible unless you hand shape it or carve it out using a CNC machine.
Hmm...I guess the F3K guys probably use CNC, eh?
Another good source for cutting wire are vape supply shops for electric cigarettes. They sell 10m spools of 0.3mm or 0.5mm heat wire.
I wish I had the space to do this.
There are so many projects I want to do.
Ha, the cars suffer for my hobby
Всё классно! very good!
+Александр Зякин благодарю
Удачи!
thank you for share this great video .
Sick of paying $200-$300 for a bunch of foam (AKA PNP FOAM AIRPLAINES). Got to learn how to do this :) Nice video.
It is very satisfying when you can cut your own
How can you get such straight cuts every time?My wire always lags halfway into the cutting making the center thicker or thinner :(
More tension on the bow and a little more heat might help. Also slow the speed of the cut. It's a balance between all these factors.
Andrew Newton Thank you!
Hi Andrew where did you buy your foam blocks from ?
Link in the description
Hi all, what is the materiel he is using. It seems wood. please do not mind, I am pretty new to this.
XPS insulation foam, like smooth polystyrene
good job pro
In my opinion your wire is too thick and that's why you are burning deep. I use galvanized 10 lbs wire on 6 volts. It's much slower than your cuts but the result is perfect, no loss of foam. On the other hand the fact that my wire is not as hot it does trail a lot thus I have to be much much slower. Ideally I think 9 volts would be better.
wont the lipo short cirqute?
It would short out if you used copper wire, but this SS fishing wire has resistance of about 5 ohms per metre.
+Andrew Newton ok,is it ok when I use veery thin chopperwire with enough Ohms?
Just make sure you don't breathe the smoke.
+yellowbusguy Good advice, thanks
All this means nothing without being a bit more specific on your hot wire.
40kg ss fishing trace wire