DIY Nichrome Wire for Melting Stuff
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- Опубликовано: 9 сен 2024
- This is a pretty fun hack. A small bit of nichrome wire can get hot enough to melt stuff with just 3 D cell batteries. It's really interesting the nichrome and hook up wires have the same electrical current, but only the nichrome gets hot.
Oh, and if you get enough current through the nichrome - it gets hot enough to glow.
Thank you! I'm building a self-aware toaster that feels pain while it toasts and this is very important to make sure his pain is not in vain and you can actually toast bread!
Did you make the self aware toaster?
@@masoncarlson641 unfortunately my roommate demanded that I get rid of it since there was no way to lower the volume
@@maou5508 justice for the toaster
it's so janky I LOVE it. This is literally something everybody could throw together with things everybody has around the house unlike the builds in most other DIY videos.
Thank you for the great explanation at the first half. Now I'm continuing to the second half. Good job
Heating wire needs to be low enough resistance that enough current flows but high enough resistance that nearly all the voltage drop is across the heating wire. So it's not JUST about being a high resistance, but being in the sweet spot for a given voltage. Nichrome was specifically designed to be in the 'ideal range', but that depends on the length of wire used and the voltage powering them.
The ideal range really depends on your application. If you're using a really high voltage and you want a really short wire and a low wattage then even this might not be high enough resistance. If you want a really long wire at a low voltage with high wattage you probably want copper
Thank you sir, simple explanation with plenty of examples.
That is great! Im making one now to heat water while in the tub. No spare batteries so ill use the wall plug...
Toaster is easier
Live Wire lmao
I hope you Believe in reincarnation.
This is really helpful and COOL!! @rhettallain I was just wondering if the smoke coming from the wire were harmful? Thanks
It's not great - in small quantities you should be fine
I'm surprised the power supply didn't burn up.
Wire:
25Ω/m • 4" • 2.54 cm/in. • 1m/100cm = 2.54Ω
12V / 2.54Ω = 4.72A
12V • 4.72A = 56W
Power supply: 1.2W / 12V = 0.1A
I thought the power supply was 12V 1200mA (1.2A). You can push these small power supplies quite a bit over their rating, but they do heat up after like four minutes
I use this stuff for wood burning!
Vaping stores have it!
I found a 600w nichrome wire. Does it mean i can directly supply it with 220V AC. TIA
@@menbocabizares433 we would call that a fuse.
Great video that explains alot is it Nichole wire they use to make hot water heater elements too. You said that toasters have the same wire could it be used to make an home made 12 volt heating element. Trying to build one for off grid Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated Thanks Dale
Very good to know, thanks
heh, funny I made a similar wand with a longer bit of wire to cut glass bottles (with a ATX PSU for 12V power)
this wont cut glass?
A couple of years ago, I built a nichrome wire Styrofoam cutter by simply linking it to a DC12v 5a laptop charger with eye bolts on a PVC frame. It worked great, but I recycled the project to make it much smaller. I went from a bout 3ft down to about 3 inches of wire, and now it doesn't work...the power supply light goes out and the wire stays cold. Any reason for this? The old reason for the power supply shutting off was because it was 12v 3a instead of 5a. I would think a shorter wire would mean less resistance, but I have no clue at this point lol.
thanks for showing that, but i wonder if u shortened that 8 times, would 2 volts be just as hot?
your probably going to laugh at me but I stole nichrome wire when I was little and used it to cut random shit. fun times
is it safe to run this ire through a Pb battery? iam asking this beacuse it is shorting the battery, so, will it damage the battery?
It's not a short, but a simple circuit consisting of a resistor (i.e. the nichrome wire itself) plus some copper wire connecting to the battery. If you measure the actual resistance of your circuit, you can figure out the current that will flow at the battery's voltage. Then check the battery's specs to see if it's too much. For example, if the nichrome is 5 ohms and the battery is 12.5 volts, then the current would be 12.5/5 = 2.5 amps. Most lead-acid batteries can safely supply that. However, keep in mind that other components such as a small/cheap toggle switch might not be able to handle that much current. And if the copper wire is too thin, it can also heat up and become a hazard.
But about the alligator clips how do they go to that battery
What size nichrome wire is that ?
Can you do this with whole wire mesh or only with current flowing trough a single wire?
I’m using the exact same set up as the first, with 26 gauge wire and 3 batteries. Only difference is I didn’t use a multimeter, but I’m nothing is happening?
please be careful you seem like a really nice guy
if i want to heat up a steel pipe and the interior to 1000c-- using this method / what would you recommend
I have a 12vdc 2amp power supply plugged in. I get 12.3vdc from the multimeter. But as soon as I connect the NiCh wire, voltage drops to zero. What am I doing wrong?
Wire is 28 guage at 4 ohms/ft
Your power supply might have a current limit to prevent short circuits. That’s my first guess. Try it with a battery instead
@@rhettallain the power supply is 2amps. From what I've read, this guage wire of NiCh needs just less than 2 amps. 🤷🏻♂️
But I guess it's possible it needs more than 1.95
So besides a battery, any ideas on how to make it work? Ultimately I'm directly connecting it to an alternator for power
@@rhettallain I set my system up just like yours with the difference being that I used a plugged in power supply instead of batteries. When I touch the meter leads together, the wire begins to heat (nowhere near hot enough). Is there a setup for this without using the multimeter in the circuit?
At what voltage did you do that? It would be really nice to know
D cell batteries are standard 1.5 volts. He's using three in series so that's 4.5 volts.
So, I've been looking for a way to create a heating element that will melt snow. I know you can buy all the super expensive ones out there, but looking for a DIY version to save on cost. From your experience, do you know if there is a way to heat up wire and then run them down a driveway to heat and melt snow/ice during the winter?
Just blow the snow with a heat gun or hair dryer.
Search this because i want to make a grass cutter with this method, but how long the wire could be?
What gauge is that nichrome wire ?
Why when I try this does my nichrome wire generate no heat? Same amperage and voltage as you, nothing. Higher amperage and voltage than you, nothing. It doesn't work at all. I copied you exactly it seems to me, I can't figure out the missing variable here.
I have a questions are Nichrome eletrical Resistors Safe to touch?
not when they have significant current flowing - they get hot. If it's not connected to a battery, it's just a plain metal wire and safe.
I did that
what gauge of wire is that?
Hey, thankyou so much.
Can u tell us the dimension of the Nichrome wire (awg, length, etc) ?
That will be much more helpfull for future steps :D
It really depends on how much voltage you want to push through it. The lower the voltage the thinner nichrome wire you will need to get it glowing.
I'll go in the other room and tell you real quick..
Around 4 in. (101.6mm)
Of 26 gauge. You can get glowing with one 18650 rechargeable battery pretty fast! Just make sure you have an off-and-on switch.
If you make it 3, 4 or 5 times longer and wrap it around a screwdriver several times & make a coil. (Of course take the screwdriver back out). You can use it for a longer amount of time before having to shut it off.
Be careful and have fun guys!
ok i am trying to make a coil out of a thin guage copper wire to see if i can make it heat up to make a small vape as im sure you know what those are,,i tried using a 9v batter and then a power adaptor of 1amp at 9v and the wire did not heat up,,is this because it has little resistance and very conductive? how many amps or wattage is needed to make this work? and the use nichrome or kenthal wire is that because it has high resistance and therefore you do not need a powerful battery to make it heat up?
Nice
Im really wanna make a hot wire(why not) but i dont have nichrome wire : (
if you get an old hair drier - pull it apart, there's nichrome wire in there.
Oh ok
@@rhettallain if you use copper wire do you need much more current?
@@ARCSTREAMS a ridiculous amount more
@@jax8604 yeah i figured since its so conductive right