One of the most popular ways of turning an object trapped inside
the world of a computer into a real, metal object is the art of
lost wax, or lost foam casting. In this process, a full-scale
model of the object to be made in metal is crafted in either
foam or wax, placed in a pile of sand, and burned away by molten
metal. [ptflea] over at the Bamberg, Germany hackerspace
Backspace came up with a very clever build that automatically
cuts foam into the desired shape, ready to be taken out to the
backyard foundry. The build is based around an old flatbed
scanner and a hot wire cutter. The old scanner conveniently had
an equal number of steps per axis, so attaching an Adafruit
motor shield and replacing the old control electronics was just
an issue of finding the correct resistors. Software control is
provided by a Processing app [ptflea] whipped up and is able to
carefully cut very delicate shapes that even the steadiest hand
would have trouble with. Making stuff out of styrofoam is cool
and all, but the real go