How Can I Achieve 270 Degrees Celsius with a 12V 500mA Adapter and Wire?

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im trying to produce about 270degrees celsius and have a 12v 500ma adapter i plug into the wall, I've wound the wire from a toaster round a nail, imn not getting enough heat though. I've tryed 5 small lenghts in parallel a single long piece, a single short piece...

so tell me, what configuration will give me the most heat?
would it be better to use copper wire? if so can anyone recommend a thickness? tryed it with thin wire but only the adapter heated up. i don't really want to get into calculating the resistivity of each metal etc, just want someone to help me get 270 degrees with a piece of wire and a 12v 500mA adapter.

ive seen it done before, just didnt take note of the thickness/turns

thanks
 
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Given the wall adapter as a starting point, you will get the most power out of it if the resistance of the nichrome toaster wire matches the output resistance of the wall adapter. You measure the output resistance of the wall adapter by loading it with two different load resistances, and calculating the open circuit voltage and output resistance based on those two points. Do you know how to do that?
 
yeah, I've pluged it into an old psu, working great now :D