devCnc Foam is an application to drive a
Cnc 4 or 5 axes hot wire foam cutting machine. This new version can also manage the 5th rotary axis!
See also the new Light version devCnc Foam LE, without 3D preview and GCode exposed:
See the Supported
controllers page to have more info about the Cnc you can actually drive
using devCnc Foam.
You can see below an image of a standard Cnc 4 axes hot wire foam cutting
machine (courtesy
Foam Linx):
devCnc Foam can open a GCode file and use it to drive the Cnc machine along the
cutting path.
You can create the right GCode file using an external Foam Cam application or
use one of our well known applications that will automatically run devCnc Foam
at the final stage of the process, with the right cutting file and parameters
already loaded.
Actually 4 different applications are available:
-
devFoam LE:
this application can create cutting files for untapered texts or free shaped
parts, importing them from Cad or Raster files.
-
devFoam:
this application can create cutting files for untapered texts or free shaped
parts, importing them from Cad or Raster files, or drawing them inside devFoam itself.
-
devFoam Pro: the Pro version adds to devFoam Pro the capability to draw and
manage tapered parts, and a special feature to vectorialize pictures.
-
devFoam 3D: the 3D version adds to devFoam the capability to
manage the 5th rotary axys, Table or Lathe type.
-
devWing
Foam: this application is specialized to draw and cut complex wings (or
similar shapes) in a very simple way.
-
devFus
Foam: this application is specialized to draw and cut fuselages (or
similar shapes) in a very simple way.
As devCnc Foam is written from scratch
thinking to Cnc 4 axes hot wire foam cutting machines, the interface is very
clean, it includes ONLY command referred to foam cutting, so it's very easy to
use and all the features are optimized for Foam cutting.
A second plus is the realtime 3D preview of the cutting job. This shows what
you are supposed to see, the 2 cutting carriages, the foam block, and the final
part is rendered as long as the cutting job proceeds. Other applications
usually show only the carriage(s) movings, and this is really confusing when
you are cutting tapered parts. You can also preview the cutting in simulation
mode, applying a faster preview speed (a foam cutting job can take a really
long time...).
Other interesting features are
included:
-
Hot wire temperature management, as an On/Off switch or PWM controller
-
End travel switches management, very
usefull to calibrate the Cnc origin automatically
-
GamePad. You can use a GamePad to control the movements and commands of devCnc foam.
-
Hot Keys. You can define your own Keyboard Hot Key to control the movements and commands od devCnc foam.
-
Metric Custom movements. You can create there custom metric movements in an easy way, and apply them immediately, or creating a new cut file (Job) or appending them to the actual job.
-
Recording. You can record Jog movements, and load them as a new Job or save as a new GCode file.
-
GMFC .cut file import. A .cut file of GMFC can be imported and converted on the fly to GCode, loaded as the new actual Job
The development plan of next versions
includes:
-
Import of other file formats and
immediate conversion to a working GCode
-
Management of other Usb controllers, as long as we will make agreements with
other Usb controller producers
