Hot Wire Plastic Cutter

One thing I've always meant to try is a hot wire cutter for plastic.  The primary application would be for cutting IC tubes.  I like to package DIP ICs or sockets in the plastic tubes to prevent lead damage during mailing.  Cutting is done with an old Swiss Army Knife.  But it's kinda tedious especially with weird tubes like for TO-220 transistors.

I was looking at the July 1957 issue of Popular Electronics, from World Radio History:

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Poptronics/50s/57/Pop-1957-07.pdf

On page 79 I found this article:

Here is the schematic:

That's pretty simple, basically just a transformer and a wire.  I'm not quite sure where to get the nichrome wire but I'm sure Ebay might have something.

The only problem: hardly any kit sales lately, it wouldn't be worth it.  Maybe I could rig something up using a Weller soldering gun ?  Basically those guns are a transformer, a trigger switch and a piece of copper wire.

I'll have to think it over.

Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm