FOAM CUTTER MACHINE

Instead of bits or lasers, the main tool of this machine is a hot wire, or a special type of resistance wire which gets really hot when current flows through it. The hot wire melts or vaporizes the foam when passing through it and so we can precisely and easily get any shape we want.

FOAM CUTTER MACHINE

Overall, in terms of construction and rigidity the design is probably not that good, but I my point was to make a function machine with minimum parts possible and still to be able to get the job done.

Next, I will attach one more T-slot profile across the X-axis. This profile will serve for attaching the 3rd stepper motor to it as well as for placing the foam pieces on it. With the 3rd stepper motor we can make 2.5D or actually three-dimensional shapes with this machine, like for example the chess piece.

Next, we need to install the CNC machine end-stops or limit switches. These micro limit switches have 3 connections, Ground, normally open and normally closed connection. Initially I connected them to Normally Open connections but after con

Of course, the brain of this CNC machine is an Arduino board. Along with it we also need an Arduino CNC Shield, three A4988 stepper drivers and a DC to DC converter for controlling the temperature of the hot wire.

I continued with securing the DC converter in place. Then I connected the three stepper motors to the Arduino CNC shield, as well as the two limit switches to the X+ and Y+ end stop pins. For powering the machine, I will use 12V 6A DC power supply. The Arduino CNC shield can actually work from 12 to 36 volts and also the particular DC converter that I use can work with the same voltages. On the input of the DC Converter I added a switch so I can turn on and off the hot wire separately. On the output of the DC converter I simply connected the two wires from the two ends of the resistance wire. Finally, we can connect and power the Arduino through the USB port and power the Arduino CNC shield and the stepper motors through the DC power plug.

The best way to test at what voltage you should set the output of the DC converter is by trying to cut through some foam piece. The hot wire should be able to cut through the foam without much resistance and bending.

Next, we need to calibrate the steps of the motors in order to achieve correct and accurate movements. As we selected 16th step resolution on the drivers, and the motors have 200 physical steps, that means it will take 3200 steps in order the motor to make full 360 degrees movement. Now depending on the transmission type, or in this case the size of the pulleys, we need to calculate the number of steps the motor needs so the machine moves 1mm. The default value here is set to 250 steps per mm. So, once we click one of the these move buttons the motor will make 250 steps.

Here we need to find the homing cycle lines and comment the default set for 3 axis CNC machine and uncomment the setup for 2 axis machines. Now we need to save the file and reupload the grblUpload example to the Arduino. Note that you should probably restart the programs again in order everything to works properly.

Ok so now the program is ready to work. Before each use, you should always Home the machine and then you can do anything you want. First, I would suggest to play around and test the Jog controller or manually move the machine around. Also, at this point you should try to cut some foam pieces in order to find out what feed rate or speed of movement will be the most suitable for you.

Then we can scale our model to the desired size. Next, we need to go to the tools library and with this define the tool that we are using for the Arduino CNC machine. We can select a cylinder as the wire obviously have a cylindrical shape. Here we can change the parameters like diameter of the tool, I set it to 1mm, as well as the feed rate. The other parameters are not important at this time. Finally, now we can generate the G-code for this shape using the Path to Gcode function.

The G-code is simply a set of instructions that the GRBL or the Arduino can understand and according to them drive the stepper motors. So now, we can open the Gcode in the Univeral G-code sender program and through the Visualizer window we can see that path that the machine should go through.

I got the pillar shape with the Trace Bitmap method shown earlier. Now we can draw a simple rectangle as big as the pillar and we will subtract the pillar from the rectangle. We will delete one of the sides as we need only one profile path of the pillar. So, this is the actual path that CNC machine should make, and after each passing, we need to rotate the 3rd stepper 90 degrees.

In order to do that when creating the Orientation points, we need to set the Z depth to -8mm. Then in the tool parameters we need to set the depth step to value of 2mm. Now after generating the G-code, we can open it in the G-code sender and we can see that the machine will do 4 passes of the same path at 2mm depth difference. In case of a CNC router that would mean that each time the bit will get 2mm deeper to cut the material, but here as show earlier, we set the Z axis to rotate 45 degrees with each millimeter or 90 degrees for 2mm Z stepper motor travel.

Actually, we could leave G-code unmodified but it will make unnecessary movements of the Z axis, or rotate the foam for no reason. Therefore, after each iteration of the code we just have to modify the Z axis values to stay at the same place, without moving back to the value of 1mm.

Before running the G-code, we need to manually bring the hot wire near the foam piece. The distance from the center to the hot wire should be as much as we want our shape to be tick. Or in case we want the exact dimension like in the drawing we need to measure distance from the origin to the center of the shape in the drawing.

Thank you for your detailed explanation. We made the prototype. We have a problem. The machine is only working with the Normally Open Limit Switches, not with the Normally Closed Limit Switches. When I use Normally Open Limit Switches, it immediately stops with alarm: Homing fails. When I use the Normally Closed Limit Switches, it works for Homing but when I try to cut any shape, it stops with the error: Hard limit triggered (I think the noise from the limit switch as you mentioned in your video). I am not able to understand why it does not work with NO Limit Switches. I understand for NC Limit Switches. I think the noise comes in both situations. Am I right? What could be the solution to this problem? How can I filter noise? Where can I connect resistor and capacitor?

Awesome, Great explanation and thanks for all the links to purchase require parts. That was my main concern with other videos on youtubes, I didnt know what they used but this blog answers all my questions. Will definately going to build this machine.

Very good tutorial, I have already designed my 2 and 4 axis foam cutters. I use free and also expensive software to run my CNCs. I was trying to implement a third axis, and your information was very helpful. My main interest is to use my machines to build my rc planes.

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