On Jul 4, 12:56*am, notbob wrote:
On 2010-07-03, Zz Yzx wrote:

What's the best way to cut 1-1/2" or 2" styrofoam sheets? *I don't
have a "hot wire" cutting tool.

Make one! *

When me and a buddy worked at "a place", we were told to make a
whole buncha foam dividers, about 2" thick, for a whole buncha
containers, about a dozen per container. *It woulda taken forever to
cut by hand. *Days. *

Since we had nearly unlimited resources and were too stupid to know
any better, we thought, "let's make a hot wire foam band saw thingie".
Some 1-1/2" channel stock, some chromium wire, some lamp plug wire, a
110V Variac, and a couple of insulators and we were in business. *We
bolted the whole thing together in an afternoon and hooked up it up.
We cranked up the Variac till the chromium wire began to glow and ran
a piece through it. *Worked like a charm! *We finished that day by
mapping out the piece cuts and gathering foam stock. *We finished the
whole project the next day.

You may be able to rent a Variac. *I've seen chromium wire on the web
for about $50 roll, but didn't look real hard. *I'm sure you can find
it cheaper. *I'll let you work out the construction details. *Our rig
was just as crude as it sounds, but worked like a thousand dollar
machine. *

nb *

You need none of the above. Use a car battery and steel wire, thin as
you can get it. The way to go is to disconnect the starter motor on
a car and use the supply to run your gadget. You can use "jump leads"
for this purpose.
The steel wire is stretched between nails banged into a plank or two.
One person (or better two) stands ready to feed the foam in. The
other turns the key in the car.