Home Built Hot Wire CNC Foam cutter
Day 1 - Vertical Y Axis
Day 2 - Horizontal X Axis
Day 3 - Lead Screw
Day 4 - Electronics
Day 5 - Finalizing the machine
Other CNC foam cutters
A New Design - Hot wire CNC Foam cutter
Foam Sample Cuts
Foam Cutting Videos
Links - RC stuff, Stepper Motors, Lead Screws
More information - about stepper motors

Links
FoamLinx Site - Foam Cutting CNC Machines
CNCLinx Site - CNC Router Tables
Foam Cutting Services - EPP, EPS, XPS
All About Foam Forum - Beta
Composites Prototyping and Design
Large and Configurable CNC Machines *
Low cost Hot Wire Foam Cutters
Online Store



Articles
How to coat EPS foam (Crown Moldings)
How to build an EPS Foam Recycler
How to build an EPS base and Cap cutter
How is EPS manufactured - molded
How to make RC foam planes
How to cut EPS, XPS, EPP foam
How to cut Polyurethane foam ( PU )
How to cut Acrylics - Laser cutting
DIY CNC Foam Cutter Blog - New

What is - more info about foam
What is EPS foam
What is XPS foam
What is EPP foam - Expanded Polypropylene
What is PE foam - Polyethylene foam
What is Polyurethane foam
What is Memory Foam

 

Sunnyvale

                                                                        The Electronics Updated June 2009


I spent years looking for a good solution for the electronic board, In the year 2000, I designed and built a 4 axis stepper motor driver board.
Sold over 250 of these boards, but decided that since it was limited in power and since it could only run Unipolar motors
to stop selling them.

A few months ago, I decided to provide a 4 axis board that would support Unipolar and Bipolar motors.
The board will drive motors up to 2.5A peak and would also support ON/OFF of the hot wire.
More information at the bottom of the page.

Software:
There are a few software out there that will run the machine - some need special hardware - we spent months
testing and evaluating many of these software and hardware.

1.  FoamWorks software will work with the electronics in the package below - has CAD capabilities as well
2.  GMFC - needs a timer module  - without the timer the package below will not work
3.  Mach3 is a generic CNC router software will work with the package below, but you need to be able to generate
     4 axis g code. We use Mach3 to run our large machines and generate the G code with DeskCNC
     Here is some more information on Mach3+DeskCNC on youtube 
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvXkL3YB6VU
     and
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JR3vwDIU6Q
     and
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0YsmbNR84M
   
4.  KCAM - same as above - generic CNC router software - will do nice PCB boards as well
5.  DeskCNC - is an additional hardware board that connects to the PC via the serial port and its output is the electronics
     package below, not very easy to put together but doable. DeskCNC will also generate 4 axis G code - without the hardware

All of the software above other then DeskCNC require you to have a printer port on the PC

If you are going to cut wings or simple shapes we would recommend the use of Foamworks
If you want to cut complicated shapes and multiple shapes we would recommend DeskCNC and Mach3 combination

People keep asking us why are the electronics so expensive..
Well, the materials are expensive and the design phase is long (in order to ship a board we test it 3 months around the clock)

We now offer a cost effective 4 axis stepper motor driver board with 4 motors and cables.
And the same package but with a box and power supply.

4 Axis Stepper motor driver board combo.



Includes: 
Electronic board (4 axis)
4 motors, cables, computer to box cable (D25)
Power supply
Motors are bipolar 180Oz/inch with 4 wires
2.5A per axis peak.
Will work with Foamworks, Mach3, KCAM....
Not Included:
Case for the electronic board.
Some soldering is required (not the electronic board, but the motor wires and the power supply wires)
Price: $450 shipped in the US (free shipping in the continental USA)

4 Axis Stepper motor driver board super combo.

Includes: 
Electronic board (4 axis)
4 motors, cables, computer to box cable (D25)
Motors are bipolar 180Oz/inch with 4 wires
2.5A per axis peak.
Will work with Foamworks, Mach3
Power supply - 24V 4A
Case for the electronic board
Comes fully assembled and tested in a case - as shown above
Price: $600 shipped in the US (free shipping in the continental USA)