CNC Hotwire Build

[Barley65cm]

I have the Acorn six set up with all my steppers working. I retrofitted this into an old Hotwire Machine like in the image. There is not a lot of software for these so I will most likely be modifying a CAM setup to fit my machine. At the heart of the machine is a simple Hotwire (on/off). I will be energizing this wire from a separate transformer and using a MOSFET board to handle and switch the power. All I need to trigger the MOSFET board is a low volt signal.

Im looking for ideas on how to program this. I could set that output as a "spindle" to trigger when the machine starts to move. I could also set it as a "laser" and use the fan control (which the machine has) and laser firing commands with one of the outputs. I could use the PWM features to control the level of heat, but I can also do that from the separate adjustable transformer as well. That feature would be cool, but honestly once a good speed and energy combo is found, it will rarely be changed.

i feel like there are several options and I need to keep the post CAM settings (ease) in mind as well, but if you were building this, what would you recommend? I do not know all the in's/out's of this board yet and I wanted to ask the people that do.

Thanks.

[cnckeith]

M3 ON
M5 OFF
S = power signal (0-10 vdc to the wire controller, 0 = 0 and 10 vdc max power

[Barley65cm]

M3 ON
M5 OFF
S = power signal (0-10 vdc to the wire controller, 0 = 0 and 10 vdc max power

Thank you. So is that a spindle? Which output on the board? Is that a relay? Or analog?

[cnckeith]

M3 ON
M5 OFF
S = power signal (0-10 vdc to the wire controller, 0 = 0 and 10 vdc max power

Thank you. So is that a spindle? Which output on the board? Is that a relay? Or analog?

whatever output you choose to assign SPIN FWD to.
see Acorn install manual.
https://www.centroidcnc.com/centroid_di ... manual.pdf

and all other Acorn docs are here.
https://centroidcncforum.com/viewtopic. ... 000#p26000

[cnckeith]

looks like fun machine to build , please turn this into build thread so we can follow along, please create a photo album of the project here is how.
https://centroidcncforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=6928

[centroid467]

M3 ON
M5 OFF
S = power signal (0-10 vdc to the wire controller, 0 = 0 and 10 vdc max power

Thank you. So is that a spindle? Which output on the board? Is that a relay? Or analog?

As Keith said, assign SPINFWD to a relay and use that for the enable signal.
He then suggested using the analog output (or alternatively, PWM output) for power/temperature control. If it really is set and forget then you may not need to go to that effort but being able to tweak the power using the spindle speed override could be handy when switching to a different foam or something.

[Barley65cm]

[/quote]

whatever output you choose to assign SPIN FWD to.
see Acorn install manual.
https://www.centroidcnc.com/centroid_di ... manual.pdf

and all other Acorn docs are here.
https://centroidcncforum.com/viewtopic. ... 000#p26000
[/quote]

Thank you, I have the Acorn Six and have that manual loaded up. I do see a section that talks about the 16 outputs and I see how to assign them in the wizard. I do not see how to determine what Gcode will turn said output on/off or how to assign that? Or how to assign a function to the analog section of the board which should also work?

Sorry, the other builds I have done all had software that was specific to the machine (Marlin for printing or Mach 4 for Milling) I am having trouble conntecting the finer dots since I am using software that has more common functions in mind.

Ok, I will create a build thread and catch it up on my progress. If thats the best way to address each issue I will have, that makes sence.

Thanks for all the help.

[Barley65cm]

Hi all,
I am bringing a Hotwire machine back to life. I make sculptural contemporary bronze pieces at a foundry in AZ. Part of our process is milling foam (both dense polyurethane and EPS) for sculpture armatures. Most of the foam I machine gets a layer of clay added for sculpting before we mold it. And in some cases, we 3D print the armatures. We have a 5x10 4 axis router (mill) several printers, and this foam shaper for EPS foam. i run the digital dept.

The foam cutter is old and was running on Windows XP which was annoying. (lots of glitches) We turned it on one day and "poof", the controller was gone. They really don't make replacement controllers for these and there is nothing wrong with the steppers or frame so here I am.
The machine uses 4 steppers for the X (two on each side, one on top, there other on the bottom.) 2 Steppers for the Y (one on each side at the bottom with a pully on top) and 2 separate Z motors. (one on the bottom as a "Turntable" and the other on the side as a "lathe") The original wiring had all 4 steppers for X wired together on one driver, same with Y and 2 for Z (Z always operates as one or the other) I have configured this build as follows:

4 steppers for X (bottom steppers wired together on one driver and the top steppers wired together on another driver)
2 Y steppers wired together on on driver
2 Z steppers wired with their own drivers.

I am using the Acorn Six board with 5 DM860T drivers. My motors are Nema 23 and my drivers are more than I need. I have a 16v 50 amp digitally controlled transformer (way overkill but I already owned it) for the hotwire and I will trigger it with a MOSFET board and a low volt signal

Current state: My board is running and all axis have been tested for movement. I traced all the original wiring on the cutter and will have to add a few wires to accommodate the extra X driver and more contact switches. (the original only had contacts on one side and I want to be able to square the machine.

My current step is figuring out how I want to fire the hotwire and I have another thread open for that. I will either use the relay board for the mosfet (probably redundant) or an analog signal for the Mosfet.

I'm no expert on this, but not a rookie either. Since I'm using Mill software for Foam shaping the problem solving has not been straight forward for me.

Looking forward to the help and seeing this thing cut complex 3D shapes!

[cnckeith]

i merged your two threads into this build thread so everything is in one spot!

[Barley65cm]

i merged your two threads into this build thread so everything is in one spot!

Ok cool...did you catch this in the transfer? Thank you!\\

Thank you, I have the Acorn Six and have that manual loaded up. I do see a section that talks about the 16 outputs and I see how to assign them in the wizard. I do not see how to determine what Gcode will turn said output on/off or how to assign that? Or how to assign a function to the analog section of the board which should also work?

Sorry, the other builds I have done all had software that was specific to the machine (Marlin for printing or Mach 4 for Milling) I am having trouble conntecting the finer dots since I am using software that has more common functions in mind.