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No one on KZfaq can compare to you when it comes to thoroughly communicating the build process from start to finish. You sir, are a global treasure. I hope you are a teacher, parent, or at least an awesome uncle because you are truly a skilled teacher.

Usually when somebody says that a tech related project is easy, it's usually quite the opposite. However, he does a good job of explaining everything and I think this is something almost anybody with a little bit of technical savviness can handle. My hat's off to you sir. Well done

I do CNC Hotwire foam cutting for a living. Everyday I use a 15ft x 9ft x 9ft machine for large scale work orders. The amount of information in this video is priceless. Thank you for this video 👍🏽

This is one of the most comprehensive videos on youtube. Not only does it cover the mechanical side of constructing the device, but it also provides all the details you need on the electronics, the firmware for the Arduino and the CAD software necessary to provide the complete solution. A real credit to you Mechatronics.

The best video I've seen so far about Arduino and CNC. Go through all the relevant software to complete the solution. Thank you very much for posting such instructive material.

How To Mechatronics as always demonstrating how things should be done!

I really like this, I don't think I've seen a CNC build idea on KZfaq that is as accessible to a newbie while actually being useful and not instantly obsolete (not everyone has a use for cutting foam, but if you do then this looks like it will do a good enough job for a lot of people, it's not something that typically needs 0.01mm accuracy).

The best CNC tutorial I have seen so far, clean and clear from a to z !

The best part starts at 0:00 and ends at 26:53. Your welcome!

I have built this design in 2020 or 2021, but changed the dimensions to 600x600mm cutting area. Also, I removed the rotating axis and shrunk the width down to approx. 10cm wire length. I only do 2dimensional cutting, because the machine was built for bible verses, that we put as decoration on our walls in our church. We do take on a few jobs per year, as my wife sews and sells some products and started some advertising for the letters. So now, the machine gets more and more uses. Moving into an apartment, where I have my own office/hobby room and can leave the machine assembled also helps. Beforehand I always had to disassemble the y axis and store the machine in the basement. I use DevFoam Pro for CAM and make the design in Inkscape. The CAM is quite finicky, if you want really precise and smooth cuts. Cutting direction and order of cuts can make or break your parts. Things I have noticed and solved so far (or want to solve in the future): - the power supply for the wire is too big for my short wire (10cm of 0.2mm NiCr 8020), I use an LM2596 for that - the printed clamps on the y-axis failed, when I tried to tension the belt. Have added some mechanical fixtures, so that the axis doesn't rely on the friction of the clamps. - construction of some of the parts are sub-optimal for 3d printing. I did split some parts into multiple single parts and use heat-set inserts and screws to assemble them. - I had to disassemble it quite often, and setting it back up was no smooth sailing. I splitted the xy-joining part and now I only need to remove the belts from the idlers and undo 4 screws to disassemble it. Setting it up is in reverse order. Only need to resync the two belts, but tension isn't touched, since the mechanical fix points make it very repeatable. - I want to add some belt tensioners on x and y axis in the future. Also some belt clamps, so that you don't need zip-ties and gain some more travel. - We noticed vibrations in the cut line, when the y-axis accelerates, especially from stand-stills. For now it is solved with slower acceleration values, but I want to add some tension wires down to the xy-joint, that way I want to stabilize my long y axis. I'm not sure, if this problem exists with your smaller machine :) - Since I'm manually placing my letters on the foam and never cut more than one letter at a time, I got rid of the endstops. They are needed, if you want to use the rotating axis of course. - $1 in GRBL needs to be set to 255. If you use G4 dwell on corners, like I do with devFoam, the motors will drop and you get offsets in your part. Overall: Thanks for the design, it helped me very much!

He is alive :) great project as always. Thanks for sharing.

You are back! As always a masterpiece.

That is a brilliant idea, man! Simple, straight forward and gosh - super useful!

I've never seen a CNC like this before. So you can imagine my astonishment when I saw it at work. Mind. Blown.

This is by far the best Arduino-CNC video I have seen. Thank you so much. Very concrete and easy to understand.

Just one Word: WOW!

It has been so long man . Do not go away that much again .we missed your awesome projects

I always thinking I couldn’t build things like this. You have changed my life!

I've been watching a lot of your videos (old and recent) today and want to thank you for you clear explanations, calm voice and how open you are about things that don't go how you prefer. Also with your videos you've given me ideas how to solve issues I had with my 3D model drawing. Many thanks!

The best Arduino-CNC tutorial I have seen on youtube! Thanks man! That was very clear, very detailed and direct to the point!

That is awesome! Added to my to-do list.

great video, about 15 years ago i worked for a company who had a massive version of one of these, man the ammount of fires we had was unreal ,

Wow! You've used science to make magic, brother... And perhaps more importantly, you've made it accessible and inspirational to knuckleheads like me. Thanks!

Absolutely love this, im building one!

Thank you It's Amazing project!!🤙

Bravo! This gonna be my next build !

Thank you HTM, this was exactly what I was looking for. I'm considering making some automotive parts using carbon fibre over foam core and was concerned about the possibility of human error using a hot wire 'bow' where one side cuts through the foam faster than the other side and the part is uneven. Also, machine code eliminates the need for the use of templates as guides as good code is very accurate. It occurred to me that a CNC hot wire cutter would be the solution to these 2 issues but wasn't quite able to picture the positioning of the wire, which is unlike a millhead or similar, as its long and is connected at two endpoints, not once central point. So, I searched and found your video and project page and you answered my wire location question. I just wanted to thank you very much for your work. You're a very clever man able to do something I could not do; and I really respect the time and effort that you've put into this video and the project page so that others can benefit. I'd actually like to scale this up a bit in size (to maybe 4040) and improve its rigidity wherever needed, so let me know if you'd be interested in working together on that somehow. Peace.

Amazing job. Thank you this was brilliant.

Really cool project ... *Thank you* for all the effort to inspire random strangers. This is basically the essence of being a good person I think.

Somewhere around the 18 minutes mark I realized that I need to give you a thumbs up and subscribe to your channel. This is coming from an electrical engineer and a software programmer, and a past teacher. Great job!

Your channel has come a long way! This is excellent :)

I was thinking about making this like 2 days ago, awesome timing!

Freaking impressive! Thanks for the awesome tutorial :)

Very nicely done, very detailed and could be followed when you actually want to build one for yourself. I have a tip when calibrating the steps per mm and I would suggest calibrating it along a greater distance, in order to minimize the error. Another solution would be to count the pulley teeth, and also the belt teeth and doing the necessary calculation. Great video, one of the best tutorials on how to build a simple CNC machine, not to mention the idea, which I personally found very creative and as far as I know, no one has ever done! Well done! The editing and filming were excellent too!

This is f...reaking awesome! Thanks for your work, man!

At first I was like "I'll just skip to the interesting parts" And I kinda did, I watched the entire thing 🤔

If you ever want to upgrade this machine, consider the following: 1. Stiffer frame. I know hot wire cutting doesn't require much force, but I wonder how your current setup wobbles under acceleration. I would add a second pair of rails on top, making the machine a solid cube. 2. Better temperature control of the wire. A PWM output and a MOSFET or two would handle it. 3. Separate control for each end of the wire. For two motors more you could cut at an angle, useful if you want to cut plane wings etc. 4. Different wire tensioning system, especially needed with the previous point, since the wire length could change from 450mm to 780mm if both ends are at the opposite corners (although you probably normally wouldn't run that steep tapers). Three potential solutions, in order of difficulty: - Pulley and a weight on one or both ends of the wire. Pros: constant tension, simplest solution. Cons: Takes up a lot of height. - Constant force spring and a spool, like those retractable badge holders. Pros: Possibly off the shelf parts, constant tension, large extension range. Cons: limited tension force, no force adjustment without buying/making custom springs - Motorized spool with a tension sensor. Pros: Biggest flexibility, as much wire range as the spool allows, adjustable tension. Cons: most complicated, adds one more motor. Generating G-Code for 4 axis machine would be a fun challenge, but there exist projects tackling that problem already.

Many thanks!! I will try to build such useful stuff, my first CNC project

Is there a written version of this tutorial. Love the video! And your ability to explain well is above and beyond. Awesome

this is beyond amazing, great job, this kind of machines are really useful

This video is so good. I guess this video is a result of countless hours of research, trial-n-error, and numerous failed attempts.

What's especially useful about foam is that it can be used in sand metal casting, which makes the machine more useful than a PLA 3D printer. Amazing professional look on the machine. Better than what comes off kickstarter.

Jesus christ, I'm a film school student, you know how insanely useful this for props? It blows my mind.

Amazing project! I really want to make one. I have absolutely no need for one, or space for one, but I want one!

Привет, спасибо за ролик!

I am a huge fan of your work! After 6 months, finally a new project! Wow!! Thank you!!

Awesome, clear, concise video! Small tip, to perfectly straighten the wire, tie the end to something static and put the other end in a power drill and twist it for a second or two. In this application the minimal loss in strength wont matter much, and it will be pretty damn straight.

Awesome, I have a normal cnc homemade by me, your project it's so good. Big like

That's really cool, and the foam can be used to cast aluminum or bronze!

Awesome work and explanation, what a great beginner friendly project, thank you for posting this

15 years ago I was member of rc planes building club. We moved the hot wire manually through a piece of styrofoam to make wings. We attached aluminum profiles of wings on each side of styrofoam piece. Process required 2 kids: one on each side. We had numbered marks on aluminum profiles, and we said these numbers when hot wire was passing them, to go in sync. If you go out of sync with your partner, that's wasted wing, because shape will be wrong. If you both go too slow, then wire will burn styrofoam too much and that's another wasted wing. If you both go too fast, then wire will bend, middle of wire will go slower than ends, giving you one more wasted wing. 2-4 failed attempts was normal. It was fun.

Excellent, THANK YOU!!! You are one of the best in youtube world ! Please keep work.

For any limit switch intended to stop an action, it always must be wired as NC for safety. Anyone who has done industrial automation knows this.

Wow great job! Sometimes you see an older person and they’re having trouble with their cell phone and wonder, where’s my limit? This...this is where I say nope, can’t build that. My 3D printer is chugging along, printing models my son and I crafted from scratch, but this is above my head. Nice job though! I’d love to have one!

Always innovating! Keep up the great work.

This video gave me hope again that some day I will own a self-built 5-axis CNC in my garage.

I feel like this would be an amazing tool. cut out the shape, make it into a mold, then pour in your material.

You simply slowly explained every detail. Nicely done, Thank you.

Welcome back. It's been long time.

Now it just need a 6-axis one for complex 3d foam cut.

Awesome! One idea - grbl has ability to control the „laser” by pwm. You can use it and connect the output to the center pin of the potentiometer of the converter (instead of potentiometer). Maybe with low pass filter or some voltage converter to make it compatible voltage-range speaking :)

This is a really rad build. It probably wouldn't be the most difficult thing in the world to build a slicer which could cut complex, non-symmetrical 3D shapes simply by rotating a model and casting the outline based on step resolution. Then just doing as you have done here, having the system slice, rotate, load new file, repeat.

쩐다.. 님 천재인듯..

Why didn't you move it 100 mm to get a much more accurate measurement for calibration?

Hello....very awesome project!! Can you make a 5 axis cnc machine that engrave wood,plastic, foam and may be aluminium ?

Very thorough explanation of the details. Much useful information for any novice like myself. Excellent no nonsense video. Thank you.

Thank you You are back!

Бро, видео - збс. Акцент - жесть.

Hey dude, next : build an arduino drone and make the complete guide of it... awesome

Just saw this! about to make one for my work. You're awesome bro!

Exactly the video I was looking for. Good on you mate.

Amazing and really great ingenuity ! Well done !

What an excellent tutorial. Very clearly explained. Thank you.

As always, a good tutorial. Now working on school on a mecanum wheel robot, using your tutorial

great job explaining everything!

Really great. I may have to build one. I was thinking of using two 3D printers to do it. I built a numerically controlled foam cutter back in 1988 using a Commodore 64 and an old Radio Shack line printer I got out of a dumpster. The printer had the required stepper motors and X axis drive. I used it to cut foam wings.

thank you, this is a best video I seen about CNC machine

Great video, thank you for sharing Just a suggestion: Why not connect the spring to the wire using a mini block of ceramic as a temperature insulation medium ( maybe that has a couple of drill holes for connection ) to increase the life time of the spring and keep tension at bay

You are genius man. This is so satsifying to watch

Hugely Impressive!! I never would have thought to apply CNC to a cutting wire. Genius... and I can't wait to try making one some day! =]

Thanks for this fantastic project!

THIS IS AMAZING! KEEP IT COMING!

No words can express excellency of this video

Excellent video, very useful and inspiring. I am not a engineer but now after watching your video, I am feeling that I can do it. Thank you for this video.

WoW thank for sharing in such detail yet in such simplicity

impressive! I'll make this project for my College.

This is an insane build completely awesome

What a beautiful and affordable cnc machine!! Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for your time and effort really well done

Amazing project and video! I love your clear and detailed explanation while your voice is very soothing 😄

Awesome and Perfect!

Beautiful simple and leightweight construction, and beautiful clear and precise video !

Great project! Thank you so much for sharing!

So clean! Great work

Great video!! I did construct an foam cutter for wings, basicly cuts two profiles at the same Time with a ancient program called jedicut this looks good man!

This is truly amazing. Well done, and thank you

Man, this tutorial is pure gold! Thank you very much.

This guy is a badass. No Doubt. Usually when somebody says something is easy

Outstanding build and tutorial!