Tindie Blog | A Controllable Nichrome Cutter Module

I adore a clever, bespoke solution. The more niche, the better. What gets me curious is thinking about what other ways I could use that solution, designed to solve one problem, to solve an entirely different problem that the creator might not have even thought of! Maybe all these reasons are why the Burn Baby Burn PCB caught my attention.

The board is a nichrome cutter module, usually used in aeronautic projects, like high-altitude balloons and model aircraft. The cutter lets you cut through things like rubber bands and fishing lines to trigger a release system, like a parachute or drop sensor.

With a mounting hook for your line, and a mounting hole on the PCB to attach the module to your project, installation is straightforward. The burner is powered by a single-cell LiPo battery and draws a maximum of 1.2A with that 3.7V voltage. But wait, there’s more! The board accepts a PWM signal, so you can finetune the power to your exact requirements, also making the board easily controlled by your microcontroller of choice. The whole project is also open-source, with the board files and example Python code available in this Github.

This board was brought to us by concreted0g from the United Kingdom, and I would highly recommend taking a look at their shop. It’s full of other clever products, designed with rocketry and aeronautics projects in mind, but I could imagine a number of uses for this Drop Pin Switch.