Starting to put together a basic 2 axis hot wire cutter to cut some simple patterns in foam - very limited knowledge of cnc technology so need some advising.

Have setup a table (approx 7' x 4') with a carriage for the foam that will slide (on rollers) in a straight line parallel to the tables length (pic below). The carriage will be moved by this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Also have these parts:

2X Single 1 Axis TB6560 3A Motor Driver Stepper Board CNC Router Controller New | eBay


Would Nema 23 CNC Stepper Motor 179oz.in(1.26Nm) Bipolar motors be good for this?

Intend for one motor with the drive belt to move the carriage (y-axis). Also, one motor coupled by 1/4" threaded rod to each end (2 motors total driven in tandem) of the hot wire frame to move it up & down (x-axis) and only thru less than 3" @ approx. 1"/sec. Wire will always be parallel to the table surface thus all though it has 2 motors, they will operate as one (in tandem - driven by one control board?).

Mechanically, both the carriage and the wire frame will be built to move easily with little friction.

As to programs, since there will be only two sets of "instructions" (2 axis) sent to the motors, am wondering if I would need to buy any standard program such as Mach 3 which seems designed for more complex (3 axis) operations? Or could I simply just write the programs myself?

Hope someone(s) can advise/help me on this - thanks.

Oh and by the way, I have a variac for controlling NiCr wire temp but not sure how to connect it up - would hate to burn up the variac first time I use it! How do you connect these?




The white board has been eliminated. No uprights on each side have been added yet as guides for the hot wire frame.