RCFoamCutter Setup & Assembly Manual - Small Cutters
Unpack the boxes, once you do, please go over the parts and make sure that non are missing or damaged
The 1st step is to assemble the X axis carriage (the horizontal axis)
For this step you will need the following:
1 carriage (yellow metal u shape)
2 bearing support plates (black plastic plates)
4 teflon bushings
1 ACME nut (white)
6 Alan screws and 4 nuts
Mount the ACME nut onto the bearing support plates
use two 8-32 screws
Mount the bearing support plate onto the carriage as shown above
Mount the 2nd bearing support plate on the other side of the carriage
Another look at the carriage - insert the 4 bearings
Make sure that the wider side of the bearing is
facing the inside of the carriage.
View of the carriage with the ACME nut installed
You now can make 3 more of these assemblies
* Note that the wider part of the bushing is facing inside
of the carriage and the smaller is facing outside
In this step we will assemble the complete horizontal axis
You will need:
1 The assembled carriage you made in the previous step
1 Stepper motor (Bipolar - 4 wires)
2 Long shafts1 Long ACME screw
1 Small bearing
4 Screws
4 Nuts
Insert the two long shafts making sure that the
bearings stay in place
Screw in the ACME screw about 1/2 way in
Mount the motor mount (the part that has the larger hole)
Make sure that the ACME screw with its machined side is
facing the hole - this is where the stepper motor will be mounted and connected to the ACME screw via the stepper motor coupler Secure the two shafts using two 8-32 screws
On the other side, mount the end plate (the one with the small hole)
Insert the small bearing in the small hole
then screw in place the two shafts as shown above
Secure the motor shaft to the ACME screw with the coupler. The below image shows the entire X carriage assembled
Now assemble another one just like it.
The next step is to assemble the Y tower
You will need the following parts for this step
1 Stepper Motor
2 Bearing support plates
1 ACME nut
1 Carriage
4 Large bearings
6 Screws
4 Nuts
Follow the steps shown before to assemble the Y carriage
The Y carriage is identical to the X carriage
Mount the new Y tower onto the horizontal axis as shown below
Secure the two shafts with two 8-32 screws as shown below
You may want to flip the tower on its side in order to have access to the two mounting holes
Now build another tower just like that
You should now have two of these towers - set them apart about 24" or so - you can always change the distance between the two towers at a later stage.
Hot Wire Hookup
The next step is to connect the eye hooks - the eye hooks are used to hold the spring one one side and the hot wire on the other side
Place the eye bolt through the bottom hole of the Y carriage as shown in the picture above. The eye hook is circled in red.
Secure the wire lead coming from the hot wire power supply.
Now do the same for the other side of the machine.
On the other side of the machine, connect the spring to the eye hook, and on the other side of the spring connect the hot wire. The other side of the hot wire will connect to the eye hook on the other side of the machine.
To test the hot wire, set the hot wire power supply to the lowest voltage setting and the highest current settings. Slowly increase the voltage, and at the same time you will notice that the current will rise as well.
Thin wire will provide good cutting at about 1A and thicker wire will provide good results at 2A. Try experimenting with different types of wire/temperatures and foams
Below is the Mach3 basic setup video