I had the electronics for a fast ~300 grams model lying around so I decided to venture in to the land of Hot-wire cutting.

The model I had in mind to start with was something like the ST-Model Typhoon 430 and just by chance my friend happened to have one.

I took the measurements of his model and printed out a Zagi-10 wing profile and made a template of do it yourself printed circuit board glass fiber.


Since I’m making flying wings with a sweep I made my setup with a pivot at one end so that I only need one template and can operate it by myself.


The wire I use is 0,4 mm “Nikrothal 80” and to power it I use a CV/CC adjustable 5A Power-supply.
I run it in CC (Constant Current) mode at about 1,7-1,9A for this type of foam.


The cut is very smooth and takes about 1-2 minutes depending on the current used.




Results.
I made the fist of cheep expanded polystyrene foam S80 (EPS).


Build up. 3mm Depron as control surfaces and winglets.




No carbon fiber in this first model.


This is the stuff I had laying around:
Motor: Fiago 20*40 ~3223kv
30A Jeti ESC
2s 1000mAh Li-po
Esky 9g servos
4,5*4 Prop

Video to come!