Recent content by drcrash

NH EE, That post about the plug-and-play hot wire cutter power supply (using a big wall wart plugged into that Harbor Freight item) was probably from me... that ~$20 setup is about ten feet behind me as I type this. :-) I've never needed to crank the power way up on the hot wire cutter, and...

oops... that should have said "There are variations [...] from batch to batch [...] so that the ideal forming temperature is variable."

About sensors and repeatiblity... I do have a cheap infrared thermometer from Harbor Freight, that measures the actual temperature of the plastic plenty well, but I don't have an automatic thermostat thing set up to use it---getting the right parts to set up an infrared thermostat system is way...

Thanks very much for the info, folks. An infinite switch will not work for my application. I didn't think it would, but I did try it, and it didn't. The problem is that I need to heat plastic sheets to just the right temperature, then do something nontrivial with it immediately, in real...

Good point. Which makes me wonder... is there an alternative series-or-parallel wiring scheme with a DPDT switch that would not have that problem?

Thanks. I think those are way out of my price range and not easy to apply to what I'm doing---heating sheet plastic with mostly IR for a very cheap DIY vacuum former. In general you want to control the heating rate rather than the oven temperature, and then use exposure time to control how...

I'm trying to figure out how to safely use a dimmer or router speed controller as an inexpensive heat level control for a (nichrome coil) resistance heater. I've read that you can use a dimmer switch as a heat control if you don't run it at more than 80 percent of its watt rating...

Sorry for the very belated response... I thought I had notification enabled but I didn't... I'm using a 20 amp DPDT toggle switch with quick connects, and using insulated crimp-on connectors crimped onto the wires and slid onto the connect tabs. Thanks for the help! Paul

Is this a correct way to wire a DPDT toggle switch so that you can run current through two identical resistance heaters either in parallel or in series (or not at all, so that you have off/half/full power)? +---------------------------+ | | |...