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Dimmers
40 gauge between the two ends. Any type hot wire foam cutter can use the same type power supply as the rest of this article
describes.
to
14 gauge,
10 feet to 1 lb
The problem with this overly simplified design is that it has no protection for the transformer against short circuits
and no way to adjust the voltage (and so the current or amps) so you can't adjust the heat for the optimum foam
cutting temperature. You can calculate the proper wire gauge and length and it will work fine but if you ever want to
change the wire size, wire length, or temperature, you have no way to change the voltage to match it.
The best design will add a dimmer switch and fuse, breaker, or GFI to the circuit above and will use the safety
ground wire from the wall plug and attach it to the transformer housing and also to the foam cutter frame if it is
metallic.
With these components in your power supply, you have all the necessary features for safe and adjustable features
to power your hot wire foam cutter. The dimmer switch allows you to adjust the voltage from a low value to the
maximum rated output voltage of your transformer, the transformer steps down the voltage and steps up the current,
the fuse protects all your components against accidental short circuits, and the safety ground connections protects
against shock in the case of a component or wire failure.
Dimmer Switches
There are a lot of different kinds of dimmers and fan controls. First, you don't need a fan control. You can't use a light
dimmer to control a fan because you will damage the motor but a hot wire foam cutter is most similar to a light bulb -
- just a hot wire, but not hot enough to glow. Fan controls are more expensive because they have additional circuitry
in them. Don't waste the extra money on a fan control.
There are two main manufacturers of dimmers, Lutron and Leviton. There are many different types of dimmers,
fluorescent, incandescent/halogen, single pole, 3-Way, 600Watt up to 2000 watt, white, ivory, gold, ganged, rotary
on/off, push on/off, combos, etc. Fortunately, the simplest and cheapest is also the best for hot wire foam cutters.
What you want is a 600 Watt, Single Pole, Rotary On/Off dimmer, your choice of white or ivory knob. The
Lutron model number is D-600R-WH (white) or D-600R-IV (Ivory). The Leviton model is 6602-I (Ivory), 6602-W
(White) or 6602-IW (has both colored knobs).
The most common type of dimmer you will find in your local lighting or hardware store is called a pre-set. What this
means is that you can set the amount of dimming and then leave it there so when you turn the light on or off, you
don't disturb the setting. This is either done with a separate button (used with slider dimmers) or using a push on/off
action (used with rotary dimmers). You likely will not find a rotary on/off at a local store, they will all be the push
on/off style because that is the most popular by far in the home user market. Jacobs Online offers both types on
eBay.
If you use the push on/off rotary type, then you won't be able to tell if your foam cutter is on or off just by looking at it
because the knob switch is a toggle. It is always out. You push it in to turn it on if it is off, you push it in again, to turn
it off if it is on.
If you use the rotary on/off type dimmer, you know it is off because it is all the way counterclockwise. It clicks when
you turn it off the same as old style radio volume controls that turned off the radio when you turned all the way to the
left. If you knob has no marks to indicate where it is currently set, you can easily put a mark on it with a fine tip felt
pen or a scratch mark or what ever you want. You won't know where you had it last but you can also put a mark on
the cover plate for your preferred setting so you just turn it on and turn to line up the two marks.
IMPORTANT: A dimmer does not turn on until it is turned up to about 50%. After it comes on, you can then turn it
down to about 15% or 20% of its full output. It also does not turn on until a certain amount of current is flowing
through it. Just hooking up a transformer to its output does not cause enough current to flow through it to turn it on
regardless of how far you turn the dimmer up. You MUST have a load on the dimmer. A load is an electrical term for
a device that draws current. You could connect a light bulb to the dimmer or your nichrome wire to the output of your
transformer connected to the dimmer and then the dimmer will turn on. If you only attach a volt meter or multimeter
to the output of the dimmer or transformer but nothing else, your voltmeter or multimeter will register only a slight
voltage. Hook up your transformer and nichrome wire first and then clip your voltmeter to the two ends of the
nichrome wire and you will read the output voltage. Be sure your meter is set to read AC voltage.
Another enhancement, especially if you are using the push on/off style dimmer but also just as an enhancement is to
add a separate on/off switch and indicator light as shown below. The first diagram shows the light between the light
switch and dimmer switch. In this configuration, the light will be on full bright any time you turn the power switch on
but will not indicate whether there is power to the foam cutter or not. The advantage is that if the light is off, you know
there is no power anywhere in the circuit downstream of the switch. That way you can leave the dimmer switch on
and at the desired position all the time and not change it and just turn the power switch on and off separately.
The indicator light is just a standard small 110V incandescent bulb. It can be a standard 40 watt bulb or a smaller
wattage appliance bulb or better yet, a night light that uses a small Christmas tree type bulb. You can add a standard
household outlet in a box between the on/off switch and dimmer switch or you can put both the switch and the outlet
in a double box with a combo cover plate and then just plug the night light into the outlet.
The second configuration shown below is with the indicator light between the dimmer and the transformer. In this
case, the light bulb will give an indication of the proportion of the voltage going to the transformer. The advantage is
that it shows whether the dimmer switch is on or off which is handy if you are using the push on/off type dimmer
switch. If the dimmer switch is set too low, it may be hard to see if the light is on at all but in that case, there isn't
much voltage coming out of the transformer, either. You could even put a light in both positions if you wanted to.
As in the configuration above, you can add a power outlet and plug a night light into the outlet. In this case, you
could put the dimmer switch and outlet into a double box with a combo plate. This is also handy because you can
then put a standard 110V plug on the input side of the transformer and then plug that into the second wall outlet. If
then put a standard 110V plug on the input side of the transformer and then plug that into the second wall outlet. If
you wanted to change the transformer later or even if you wanted to use two separate transformers for different foam
cutters, you just unplug one and plug in the other. You could mount two transformers on the same board with the
dimmer, switches, and outlets.
You can monitor either the voltage or the current from the output of the transformer. A clamp on ammeter can be
used to check the current flowing through your foam cutter nichrome wire by clamping it around either of the wires
coming out of the transformer since the output is AC. If you have a panel type ammeter, you can splice it into one of
the output wires. You can check the output voltage by clipping the alligator clips or touching the test probes to the
two output wires.
It would be nice to have both a digital panel voltmeter and digital panel ammeter mounted in a metal box along with
the other components for a nice self-contained unit but there are two drawbacks. Panel meters, even analog ones,
are expensive. Also, panel meters have only one range so if you are working in the 1 or 2 amp range, the panel
meter would not be the same as one for one in the 10 amp range. It is the same with the voltmeter, if you are
working with 3 or 4 volts, it would not be in the same range as a voltmeter for a 12-24 volt range. Handheld
multimeters and clamp on ammeters have ranges so one instrument can be used for any range.
You can mount your light switch, dimmer switch, plug-in for the output from you dimmer switch and your transformer
on one board. You could then put a plug on your input wires (primary) to your transformer and plug the transformer
into one outlet and your power indicator light into the other as mentioned above and you will have a nice neat
package. The diagram below shows banana jacks and a panel mounted fuse holder in a blank cover plate on the left
side. The output from the transformer goes into the left side and attaches to the banana jacks. The foam cutter
would then be plugged into the banana jacks. The 110V plug and cable also goes into the box on the left side, the
hot side goes to the fuse holder.
You could also mount everything in a metal box with rubber feet and a carrying handle for an even nicer package.
You could also mount everything in a metal box with rubber feet and a carrying handle for an even nicer package.
Metal boxes heavy enough for the transformer can be kind of expensive, though. It is also difficult to find just the
right box. If you Google electrical box or utility box or device box, you will get the kind of boxes you use in house
wiring to mount switches and electrical outlets into. Hammond Manufacturing makes both transformers and boxes
and you might find what you want there. For boxes, check here: http://www.hammondmfg.com/9ccat.htm
You can also add a DPDT switch to switch between the low and high voltage outputs for four-wire output
transformers. Here is the schematic for how to wire it.
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