I

Y
5110

I sEqulnEmm :
NO CODE
%
<
I
1. PU’22RLAL: CAR20N S22EL 2ER MlL-S-=
8
CORRO21ON R231STANT STEEL PER MI L-s-S059 , A= 5510 s
c CODE
OR MS 5512.
~
ALLIU124LPI ALWY 2024 (A2.CIAD) P2R QQ-A-25015 .
D CODE
COND1TION 13 OR Tb

B CODE +
BRA3S PER w-B-613. COHFU31TION 1 OR 11

2. COATING: CADMIUM PCAT2 PER w- P-L16. W= 11. c~s 2

No CODE :
(FOR CAR20N ST2EL ONLY)

K CODE
ANODIZE PEa NIL-A -8625

J CODE
CKEWL SLIWACE TREAT PER HIL-C-55i1. cuss 3 - ‘~
x CODE
BIACK OXIDE COAT FER XI L-C-1J92S (rOR c~s ONLy) -
EO CODE $
w WRAL BP-iSS
NO CODE
PASS IVi.T2 PER w-P-35 (FOR I-xcM=D cF= ONLy) -
+
Ah.DIZE PEE ::lL-A-8625. OR c~H su~Ac~ ~T
P CODE
PER HIL-C-55G1 . cUSS 1A u
~ &

ij

s
s
21 INACTIVE FOR NEW DESIGN. NAS 1149 MAY ~
o
I BE SUBSTITUTED IN ALL APPLICATIONS. ::

P.A.
0 21 DE5W2’2S CIL4NC22
I .

FORCE-NAVY AERONAUTl~L 5Mt4DARD

AN 960
wr.u AIR
CL13T90
Mm:
UV1.4S
Amw.av
AIR FMCC-99
WASHER , FLAT
-...
w,,.,..”,
-..!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. .
. .
. .
,-.
. . ,“.
. . .
..,.,
,“.. .
, ,
, .,
“. ..
FF. U.9Z
I
I I
.
 FED, SUP CLASS

.7
5310

~,

1. RC!OVC ALL BURRS AI:D SNARP EW.SS

2. DI)IZHS1ONS Ill INCHES - TOLERANCES OX THICKNESS,

FOR ALOUINII?! ALLOY WASHER,
.016 + .001: ,032 ~ .OCU, .042 ~ .004: .045 ~ .005:
.063 f .006, .090 ~ .007.

ALL OISER MATER3AL5 : ~ .010.

3. PABAL3EL1SU Am F3AIX3SS :

UASNER FACES SIIALL BE PAULLEL WITHIN .002 INCH.

UASIKR FACES SIIALL GE Fl_AT WITHIN z
.007 INCH FOR srzEs uP m MD INcLuDINc me 112 mcn S12E.
.010 lNQI FOP. 9/16 m 1-l IG INCH S12=, 1NCLUS1V3 AND
.015 INCH FOR 1-5/16 INCH AND MGER SIZES.

5. J cam utitims M-3 INENDED mn USE mm w H.3rriuw. W13TANIik- M wjiuiO&.

6. x cow. uA3Hms Am 1N13NDCD Fon us~ ~m.s COP.ROS ION pROEmlON Is THE PRIm c00510EmT10N.

7. P CODE WISHE!U ASi REINSTATED FROM .. CANCCLLED” To ,, INAmlm FOR 113!4 OLSICI.% AS OF 30 .jU71E
19s2. USE J OR K CODE UAWIEP5 P COD.! u=rn~m l~y BE USED ~~IL smcK Is D~pL~T~O.

8. muss WASHERS ARE REINSTATED FROM ..aTcELLEn 10 ,.lNAcTIVE FOR NEW D3s1cW. AS OF 3U sme 1982

9. NO. 2 THREAD S1Z33 ASE SE INSTA?ED FRON ‘“WCELLEW m “’lNA=lVE MR NW DE51c1~ ~ Or

30 JUNE 1982.

10. s.umLE OF PART NTJ51BER:

Am 60 c 616 LL - CXES STEEL WASHCX ?OR 3/8 BOLT OR SCREW SIZE, ,0!6 INCH 3’HICS.
BLACK OXIDE MATED PER H3L-c-1392G

p IHICKNES5 CODE [SEE — AND TABLE 1)

BOLT OR SCR3V SIZE (SEC TABL3 1)

lIATERIAL CODE (SEE REQ. 1 AND TABLE 1)

E
~L” COAT1!lC CODE (SEE REQ. 2 MID TAELC 1) s
G
sA.5xc PART Inmsm
H
.

11. %0101 SERIES - M COOE CANCELLED AFT3R 20 JULY 198G a

>
.s
G
.
:

P
s,

w 16 PART 1!0. DE31CNAT1LT! SUPEC:EDIK P.E;., 17 P/. RT K;. DES 1CX;.?1OK s

=
>
(a) AN96OXC1OLL (b) ~
:,
AN96QJD1OLL
AN%6CLD1OLL -
AN96OXC1OL
AN96OJD1OL
AN960n1 OL C..I
g
(.) Rf1NSTA7ED AFTER 20 mr 1984
=
(b) CANCELI.ED AFTER 20 JULY 19M
R
:
&
:

t
AIR FORCE-NAVY AERONAUTICAL STANDARO
AN 960
ri.1.s
5T@nluM:
vr-A5
m-&v
R FORCE-99
wASHER , FLAT
. . . . .
 1 No. 5 .140 I ,41n 1.M21
, . .. ,
5
.,
I
,
C5
,.,
I

.,.. . . .. . ..-. — KD616 Pbl& C616 T,q

J0616
616 C616 IC616

. . 1C716LL
.032 716L

! .. . . . .-
L 1 .016 1 I
I 9/16 I
I 1 1 .. . . , . ..
I n, 6 I I
I 5,0 I
I 1 , .-, , ..!.

I .016 I I
.. . . , ----
I
I 1 . . 1 1

I 1
.890 I
I
IWO I, %!I !!!:’1
!’1,,

n,.
,

,
... .

II I 1.015
. .
t 1 I I ... I
.016

w
1 1-’/8 I “4° I “75
I .078

I
1.812

I
:%.1

I ‘%I WI
“,.

. .
I
1%1
1-
,1716

c1816
I
I
ICI,,,

lC.816
I

I
Jo,,,,

JOIB16
!

I
xD1116

KDIB16
D17

Iw81P
. I

I Q1OI6
0?01 1 D201&
Jcm16L C02016L
.016
.-. ,
1.1/4 1.?65 2.mo .:: :::1 UJ2016
I c2016 XC2016 302016
.“. . ----
1 1
I 1. ❑16 I I
D2116 I 0?116

I-5=* ,7)0
[2116 KC2116 J02116 -zll~ !D211
.J026 1t4 K0261 M P02616 D26 UU

201616 P0261 6 02616 026:6

C2616 ICZ616 JL12616
. ..
J03016L xmol u PDI02 6 030t fL

1. 7/8 1.890 2.625 ::3: ::]bu ~m,s ~cm, ~ ~o,o, ~ ~~,~,~ PODI 6 03016 830:6

.!0161 & ~J61 ~ W361 a 0361~

..,. ;::: ~36, ~ U13616 W1616 03616 I B3616

10616 J03616
.090 .
PM016L LWl 6L
, ,AGyx~~, Lw i

u al 6 \
I I

... ... I -,. )RCE - .NAVY’AERONAUTICAL

AIR . .FC----- . .. STANDARD
1“1G60
WV-AS
US1ODIAIIS:
,m17.4v
....-. .—.. . FLAT
wASHER
Iml a
UVV-AS
,IRFORCE-
9 I
IRoc”nmr”l SWCIFICA1 la t SiEET 3 OF 3
I
fF-M-99
I
 Clevis Pin
AN393-17
or
.250 MS20392-2C17
Oilite 6061-T6 Angle Extrusion
Bushing 1 x 1 x 0.125
FF 303-1 1/4 Inch Flast Washer
Control Surface Side AN960C416

O .188 Note #2 + #3
R .375
1/4 Inch Flat Washer Aircraft Structure side
O .438
AN960C416
O .312 6061-T6 Angle Extrusion
1 x 1 x 0.125
Note #1 .850

O .188
.500
1.000
1.000 .250
.438
1.500

**Notes**
Bushing Installation 1. Drill undersized and ream up to press fit bushing in aluminum fitting
2. Install Bushing Inverted on control surface side
To make press fitting easier to do heat the aluminum parts 3. 0.003 clearance between bushings top and bottom
in an oven to 500° for about 20 minutes. Freeze the Oilite Use shim stock during hinge installation to
bushing in the deepfreeze for about the same amount of provide space.
time. Remove one bushing at a time from the freezer and one
fitting from the oven (don't forget the gloves). Place the
bushing in the hole, it may just drop in. If not then apply a
slight pressure with a plier or similar tool. Once seated the
bushing will be squezzed by the cooling aluminum fitting Aluminum Extrusion Gnat Hinges Rudder + Elevator
holding it tight when both reach room tempuratures. Hinges 02/02/02 DWSK
 Gnat Tail
Foam Core cutting instructions
V1.0
February 21, 2004

These are the instructions for hotwiring or cutting the foam cores used in the vertical tail and rudder
of the Gnat. You will require a hotwire saw, a carpenters square, a felt pen, your cutting templates,
a yardstick, 2 straight edged 1-foot rulers and a small amount of 1inch or longer gyproc/sheetrock
screws. The cores are cut out from 4” thick Dow RoofMate material.

You should read the Hotwire.PDF file before starting this. The hotwire file has more details on
hotwiring.

The vertical tail has a forward and an aft core while the rudder has only a single core. The method
used to cut out all of the cores is simple and is the same method for each piece. It is also the same
method used on the horizontal tail. The main wing cores are much simpler to cut out as there is no
taper. They need a bit more care, but by the time you cut them you will have enough experience with
hotwiring to cut accurate cores.

If you look at the drawing of the cores you will see there is an outside size shown of the block. This
represents the size of the block needed to wire the core. After a bit of hotwiring expertise you may
find that you can actually get two cores out of the same piece by having them arranged so the cores
overlap. For your first tries it is probably best to take it easy and just use one core per block. Also as
you cut out the cores you will begin to see where there might be enough material left to cut more than
one core, but until you are sure or have some extra foam to play with, one core per block should be it.
While I am talking about one core per block there is nothing to stop you from using one long block to
cut all three cores. If you arrange the core so that they alternate you can use the waste material to cut
the cores. If you arrange the two forward cores on the outside with the root ends on the same side
and then put the rudder core in the middle with the tip between the roots of the forward cores you
can

The first mark to make is one of the longer lines Base or B, then draw A and C. Use a carpenter
square so you get nice square corners. So what you should have now is an outline of the block.

Next look at your drawing and there will be a dimension on the left and right along the B line.
The smaller dimension at the A-B corner will define the angle of the root. Mark in along the B line.
Next draw a line from the corner where Base-A meet up to the mark you just made. This is the root
trim line. You will eventually cut the foam along the new Root line and this is where you attach the
root template.
The next mark is the tip cut line. Measure in from the B-C corner using the dimension shown on the
block. Draw a line from the base-c corner up to this mark. This is the tip trim line.

Next use a carpenter’s square to draw the line down the sides of the block. This is pretty easy as all
you do is put the square against the side of the block line up the edge where the line touches the edge
of the block and draw the line. So you should have a vertical mark at each end of the root and tip
cutting lines (4 total). The following picture shows the block with the trim areas. You will trim off
the A and B areas with the saw. This will create the proper angle to hotwire the core. The root
template is attached along A and the tip is attached along B. When you hotwire out the core C will be
trimmed off so there is no need to cut it off.

Nose line and vertical marks

At this point we are going to put cutting guides to help us cut along the vertical lines we just drew.
You can use straight strips of thin wood or aluminium about 5 inches long and can be any width.
They should be no more than 1/32 thick. The edge where the wire from the saw will rub against must
be smooth. The test to see if the edge is smooth enough is to take a fingernail and hold it 90 degrees to
this rubbing surface. Drag the fingernail the length of the guide. If your fingernail catches anywhere
you need to get out your fine sandpaper or file and smooth out the surface. When you can drag your
nail both directions without catching the guide is ready to use. One last step is to mark the guide
every ¼” along the guide and then number these. Make sure the marks match up on both guides.
You and your hotwire partner will call out the marks to make sure you synchronize the cutting speed
and get a smooth cut. Each ¼” represents about 1 second of cutting time so it should take roughly 16
seconds to cut through the 4 inch thick block.

Next drill two 1/8th inch holes in each guide. You will screw the guide to the foam block using gyproc
screws. So the first hole should be about an inch from one end and the other hole about 2 inches from
that hole. Both screws should fit into the foam with out coming close to the surface.

Attach the guides to the foam block. Make sure you line up the smoothed edge against the vertical
line. Hold the guide in place and screw one gyproc screw into the foam. You should only need to use
your fingers to screw in the gyproc screw. Just screw it in until it gets snug. If you try and get it tight
it can pull out the foam and just spin. If that happens take the guide off pick another spot on the
guide and drill another hole. Then carefully screw it on again while pretending you planned to do
this on purpose. If you want to see how much or little it takes to put in the screws just use a scrap
piece of foam or a portion of the block that gets cut off and discarded. Screw on the template and
watch how little it takes to get it snug and how little extra it can take to strip it out. When you cut you
are not pushing hard against the guides so it actually takes very little to hold them in place.
Once you have both guides in place you are ready to trim the block. Make sure your helper knows
how to cut or will be cutting the same as you will be. One person must call the movements while the
second person just tries to keep synchronized. The second person should limit responses to short
words such as “ready”, “On mark”, “good”, “pause on 5”. I know some of you have never done this
before so I’ll do this almost word by word through one cut. The important thing is that you and your
helper cut at the same speed and know what to do next or if you have problems. Do a dry run before
you turn on the saw. After one or two cut you should have it mastered.

Let the saw heat up for about 30 seconds, it should twang like a guitar when hot. Adjust the tension if
needed. After a few heat cycles the wire may stop stretching. I used stainless steel guitar strings and
it only took 3-4 heating cycles with tensioning before they didn’t stretch. Just so you know if you have
never used a saw before when they heat up they creak, and make noise and you might be tempted to
do something before its ready to work, don’t do a thing just wait it out. When it is up to temp you can
take a piece of scrap foam push it into the wire and it should hiss as it cuts through the foam. The
hiss is vaporized Styrofoam and moisture. When you cut through the foam look at the cut surface it
should be full of little hairs. If you see these then you have good temperature and cutting speed and
you are ready. Lets cut the foam. You may want to place a weight on top of the foam so it doesn’t
move.

Each of you should grab the hot saw and make sure you have a grip and no wire or anything else is in
the way. First call out is “ready”. Partner should answer “Ready” or “good to go”.

Move the wire to the guide about a ¼” away from the foam, make sure your partner knows this
before so you both start at the same level. Call out is “Guide” response can be “On the guide ready”

The next step is to start the cut. In this example let’s say “A” is the mark on the surface of the foam
or the first mark to cut to. Call out would be “Moving to A now, on mark A NOW, A moving to B”
You might want your partner to respond for the first few cuts with good, good, good as you both cut
through and touch the marks.

You will continue to call out the marks all the way through the block in the same fashion. “B moving
to C”… “C now”….”C moving to D” etc etc. Remember each mark should take one second but no
less. You might find when you near the bottom that one or the other of you is slightly behind.
Whoever is should say something and the faster cutter should not push as hard until the other side
catches up. When you cut through the bottom both ends should come out first followed quickly by
the middle of the wire. The middle tends to cool a bit more and drags or cuts slower.

After cutting you should end up with something that looks like the image below.

After cutting along the A and B trim lines you will most likely need to smooth out the surface of the
core. Use a straight board and 36 or 80 grit paper to get a level surface. Next draw a centerline along
the cut line edge. This will be used to align the core templates. The templates are attached along the
surface using gyproc screws. Once it is aligned check to see it is snug against the foam surface. In the
following image you can see how we used 3 screws to make sure it was snug.

When you cut the core out you will use the same method to count that you practised on the sides. If
you have problems you can elect to stop cutting but to do this you need to pull the wire out of the
foam. The easiest way to do this is straight up away from the core. Then when you restart you just
start the wire a little before where you pulled out.

When you cut the core you do not need to cut the core out in one cut. On some cores we would cut to
the nose and then drop out of the foam block. Then we would just have on more or less straight cut to
do. We found that if you cut from the tail to the nose on both cuts the nose retains a much nicer
shape with much less finishing required. If we started the cuts on the nose we sometimes ended up
with a bad core as the wire and the operators didn’t quite get it right. The tail to the front just gives
you a bit more wiggle room i.e. less chance of goofing it up.
I’ve shown the front core in the block for these instructions but you will find the other cores will
require a cut out for the spar. These should be cut last. If you are getting nervous about hotwiring
such a small cut-out or want to make sure its real close to the spar you can use an Exacto or utility
knife or a small Dremel tool. The hotwire can easily cut too much foam if you let it drag or sit too
long in one spot but it is by far the fastest and easiest.

Assuming you have everything cut out with no major problems you can now sand the surface of the
core. You need to wrap a piece of sandpaper around a short piece of 2x4. I have used 80-grit
sandpaper to quickly cut the surface or to take out any bumps. Then sanded it smooth with 220.

After the core are cut and sanded you can remove the templates then you need to store the cores until
you are ready to bond. If you saved the cut off parts you can stick the core back into the middle of it
and they will protect your core from dents and scratches.
 GNAT GK-7
Gnat Flying Surfaces Fabrication

The following series of photographs and 3D images shows the construction styles involved with the Gnat.

The basic tools required for fabrication of any of the flying surfaces are shown below: Most are ordinaray or
common or can be inexpensively purchased or fabricated. The picutres shown here are for a sample section
and are slighlty different than the ones used on the Gnat.

A battery charger is used to power the hot wire cutter. This is a $5 yard sale special.

The hot wire cutter was built using 1x1 wood scrap, a few bolts, some string, part of a hockey stick and
uses the G string from a guitar. This is fairly light and easily handled by two people.

Dave King Gnat@Shaw.Ca

Airfoil templates were cut out of thin plywood and veneer. They were sanded on the edges with 80 then
220 grit sandpapers to produce a smooth surface or edge for the hot wire to slide along. Any nick that
might catch the wire has to be removed.

The templates were screwed into the ends of the foam block and then the core is hot wired out.

The surface of the core is then lighlty sanded with 220 sandpaper to clean up any defects. After being blown
off with low pressure compressed air the core is ready to bond.
 GNAT GK-7

The spar is built up using aluminum angle extrustions and sheet metal spar web. The caps are riveted to the
web with solid rivets. The builder can use a rivet squeezer, rivet gun or a hammer and set to rivet these. The
following is a simple rivet set tool that I’ve used to set solid rivets with a common house hammer and a
bench vise.

The foam cores are then bonded to the spar assembly

Skinned horizontal tail Above and below.

The images used in this building example are from test sections of a flying tail that was not used in the final
design. The main wings, horizontal tail, vertical tail, as well as the flaperons, elevator and rudder are all built
using this method.
 GNAT GK-7

Dave King Gnat@Shaw.Ca

David W.S. King Page 1 06/05/03

Hot Wire Saw

The hot wire saw is a very simple tool and can be constructed with a few scraps of wood and some screws.
The saw itself is nothing more than a frame that holds a electrically heated wire which does the actual
cutting. In fact the wire doesn’t cut it simply vaporises a small section of foam around it. When we use it to
cut foam cores we drag the wire along a template at a constant speed of about ¼ of an inch (6mm) per
second. The template will force the heated wire to follow a set path, which then cuts the foam and produces
a core in the shape of an airfoil. When the process is done correctly the hot wire will produce a fairly
smooth surface that will be fairly accurate and require minimal finishing. Once you have your saw set up
and your cutting technique working well, you can cut out an entire main wing set of cores in less than 15
minutes. And with another hours labour or less the cores will be finished. Compare that to making 15 to 25
conventional metal or wood ribs per wing.

A hotwire saw is intended for use when cutting polystyrene (Styrofoam) foam. Cutting should be done in a
well-ventilated area but not in an environment that the hot wire is exposed to winds or breezes. The saw
must never be used to cut urethane foams. Urethane foams give off a foul smelling gas when cut which is
actually a form of cyanide gas. Care must also be taken, as it is an electrical tool. You also must be aware
that the wire is hot enough to cause serious burns and it is exposed and easily touched.

Materials Required

There are several styles of bows you can build and use but I’ll just show you how to build a simple wood
saw that should cost about $5. The hot wire bow or saw can be built out of scrap wood or other non-
conductive materials such as plastic pvc pipe. My saw is built from an old hockey stick and has served well
for several projects. This is a TLAR project (That Looks About Right) so there is no need to get too picky
about sizes.

The first piece is the cross bar. This is a 1”x2”x38” (or longer) piece of wood. You need to taper the ends
slightly. This will let the side posts rock or pivot against the ends.

The next part to build is a 1”x1”x18” vertical end post. You will need two of these. They need to be
notched on both ends. The notch will help hold the wire and the tightening string in place.
David W.S. King Page 2 06/05/03

The next parts to build are the doublers or joiners. You will need 4 of these. These are nothing more than
pieces of plywood. They are about 2”x4”x1/4”. You can cut them tapered or straight.

The side plates are used to hold the verticals up against the cross bar. The image below shows how the side
bar is positioned against the cross bar. Two side plates are used one on the front and another on the
backside. Use wood screws to attach each side plate to the crossbar piece. I used 4 5/8 gyproc screws per
side.

When you have both side plate attached you need to drill through the end plates as well as the vertical post.
This is the red spot in the following image. This will be the pivot point. Use a 3/16” bolt and nut with
washers under the head of the bolt and the nut. The vertical post only pivots a few degrees so almost any
movement is fine.
David W.S. King Page 3 06/05/03

What you should now have is the basic wire saw frame. And it should look like the image below.

The next step is to attach the cutting wire and the tensioning string. The wire can be wrapped around the
vertical post in the notch then twisted with a pair of pliers. The other end should be wrapped around the
notch and then twisted with a pair of pliers. Don’t try to get the wire tight at this stage just make sure that
the wire will stay on. You can also use a screw to attach the wires by wrapping around the screws and then
screwing them in tighter.

The tension string and stick are the next parts to attach. You want to tie the two ends of the piece of string
together. Then place this loop on the uprights in the notch on the opposite side of the verticals. Place the
stick in the middle of the strings and begin to rotate the stick around the string. The string will begin to
twist and after a few minutes of winding will tension the wire on the opposite end of the verticals. When
you release the stick it should be stopped from unwinding when it hits the cross bar. At this point you
should have something that looks like the image below.
David W.S. King Page 4 06/05/03

The next thing to do is to make connections to the wire so you can power the saw and cause the wire to
heat. You will want about 30 feet of 16-gauge (automotive) wire. You want to connect the 16g wire to each
end of the saw wire. 30 feet of wire might seem a bit much but it will be cut into two pieces one about 16.5
feet long and the other about 13.5 feet long. The reason for the two different lengths is that you want the
wire to come off of the saw on the same side of the saw so the wire going to the far side needs about 3 extra
feet. And the reason for the length is that I do have a wire saw with short wires of perhaps 4 feet. And I’ve
found when you are cutting the short wires tend to catch or pull at the worst times and I ended up adding
a much longer length of wire which solved that problem.

You can connect the power wires to the cutting wire by simply wrapping it around the cutting wire or the
screw. Make sure it is snug and not prone to come off. The best way to mount the wire is to have both
wires attach starting around one of the pivot points. Run the short length down affix to the cutting wire and
then tape or tie it every few inches. Run the long wire out across the canter bar, down to the cutting wire
and tape or tie it as well. The wire should then stay in place and not get caught in the work. The reason for
starting the wire at the pivot point is that the person who is using that end can drape the wire over a
shoulder and it stays out of the way.

Tape the wires together every 4-6 inches over the 13.5 foot length. On the power source end of the wires
you may want to use a connector or something to help in connecting the wires to the power source. In my
case I use a battery charger as my power source. This has alligator clamps for clamping onto battery
terminals. I wrapped the end of each wire around a bolt and simply clamp onto the bolt when using the saw.

Power source

There are several different power sources you can use for the hot wire saw. I use a $4 yard sale battery
charger. This charger is a pulse type for deep charging batteries. I set it to constant current and turn it on.
When cutting, the needle on the charger shows about 1.5 amps. Battery chargers are the best power sources
as they are built to trickle charge a battery with 1-2 amps @ 12volts DC at most. Other power sources will
require a transformer or a means to control the power going to the wire. Too much power and the wire will
David W.S. King Page 5 06/05/03

overheat and break or burn. When the wire is hot enough it will hiss when you cut the foam and leave hairs
on the cut surface. The hiss is the foam being vaporized by the heat and the hairs are the remnants of the
foam.

Alternative power sources might be a battery or transformer. I’ve seen people use 110vac and a variac as
well. That’s the beauty of the battery charger is that you don’t need a means to adjust the power. With any
other source you need to build or use something to adjust the power.

Using the Saw

When you first build the saw you will want to test it and set it up. First adjust the tension on the wire so that
it will twang like a guitar when plucked. The next step involves powering the saw for about 30 seconds.
This will heat the wire and you can check the connections for sparks that means they are loose. You should
be able to feel the heat from the wire a few inches around it. It does undergo a colour change but it is harder
to detect after you have turned it on the first time. You may just be able to hear a slight hum from the wire.
Once you have powered the wire for 30 seconds, turn the power off, fix anything that needs to be fixed and
readjust the tension. Repeat the process 3 or 4 times. It will only take about 5-10 seconds fro the wire to
cool enough to the point you can touch it. Be careful when you do twang it that it is cool. It might take
slightly longer to cool than 5 seconds depending on the wire used so play it safe until you know how long it
takes so you don’t burn yourself.

When you use the saw to cut foam you should test the twang. If it sounds off tension the wire. If it sounds
good then power the saw, wait for about 20-30 seconds for the wire to heat and stabilize before cutting.
When you mark templates you should mark them so that they show 1 second worth of cutting distance or
about ¼ of an inch (6mm). You can cut slightly slower but any faster will cause problems with cutting
which may cause the cut piece to be inaccurate.

When everything is set up correctly you should have a few indications on how things are working. If you
look at the wire when cutting the foam will disappear for about 2 or 3 wire diameters. The next thing is a
slight hissing sound, which is the sound of the foam evaporating from the heat of the wire. When cutting at
the right speed with a good hot wire you will feel a constant drag on the wire that is even from start to
finish. There should be no tugs or extra pressure. And the last indication to look for, is when you finish the
cutting and take the part out, it will be covered with fine blue “hairs”. When you take the cut core out or
apart to look at it leave the templates in place. There should be no large cuts or gouges from the wire.
Ideally a few quick swipes of 220 grit sand paper on a flat board will finish the core.

Problems

If you have problems cutting there are only a few things that will cause problems.

Too fast a cutting speed – the hairs if there are any is be short or patchy. The foam may have waves as the
wire skips up and then snaps forward. You will feel a lot of drag when cutting.

Wire too cold – slow cutting, no hairs, with lots of pressure

Wire too hot – large kerf (cut area) around wire, wire faintly orange or red, and wire sags or requires
constant tensioning.

Bumps or ridges on one side block near template – operator lifted wire off of template

Bump or gouge near one side near template – template not smooth enough and wire is catching and then
skipping when enough pressure is on it.

If your wire breaks or sags a lot – wire is being heated too much