Heating control fixed and setup for Windows XP

Do you still use CNC machine with parallel port ?

The dynamic heating control feature didn’t work with parallel port. The root cause is a bug in plugins.

I just fixed it and you can now get it on Jedicut’s download page (in the archive file, or reinstall Jedicut).

The concerned plugins are :

  • CncNet_XP,
  • CncNet_XP_Vista_7.dll,
  • VisualCNC.dll,
  • VisualCNC_XP.dll

New setup for Windows XP, Windows 2000 and previous

I also publish a new setup files for Windows XP, Windows 2000, and previous versions.

This setup will live apart now, and forever, because a software I use give up Windows XP compatibility. You can still downoad your favorite hot wire cutting software on the download page.

Yes, old computers are still present in many workshops 😁

Jedicut 2.4.2 – Hot wire cutting in 2020

Jedicut 2.4.2 – Hot wire cutting in 2020

After a first beta version published in 2019, and quickly stopped, the work has resumed few weeks ago on the forum of hot wire cutters community. What ?! You didn’t notice that ?! It was here : https://www.jedicut.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11214

Thanks to the work of the faithful (and courageous) testers, Jedicut 2.4.2 is finally available for download.

New features for an easier hot wire cutting

Hot wire speed and temperature control

The biggest new feature is about material behavior and hot wire temperature control. Each material is characterized by 2 speed values and 2 temperature values. These values are saved in Jedicut’s settings.

Before, slow speed and fast speeds you choose to do a cutting were the speeds of your CNC machine. The temperature value was calculated by Jedicut according to the “real” speed (also calculated by Jedicut).

Now, when you choose a material to cut, the speed values, slow and fast, are the values of the selected material.

To make it work, it’s very important to follow the material configuration procedure, using the button “Test” in Jedicut’s settings. This button launch all Jedicut computation to record good Vr1 and Vr2 values you can see in the material spreadsheet (never modify it manually !).

Custom hot wire cutting path (the cycle of cutting)

Jedicut has a peculiarity : you can easily customize the hot wire cutting path for each cutting project. It’s the “cycle of cutting”.

Before, we had one cycle of cutting by default that could be customized. Jedicut use it with each new cutting project, and we can customize this default path for each project (this path is saved in your JDC files).

Now, Jedicut offers :

  • A cycle of cutting for the open (or open and active) cutting project.
  • A cycle of cutting by default, easily customizable.
  • A cycle of cutting called P1 : it’s new, it’s customizable, and you can run this cutting path whenever you want.

This new P1 path is like a short link. To start a cutting with this cycle, it’s easy. Click on P1 from the manual control panel and click on Validate button.

Promise, you’re going to save time 🙂

CNC Cutting Wizard

A new option is available in Jedicut to activate by default the Jedicut’s cutting wizard when you create a new hot wire cutting project.

Many other improvements

In a nutshell :

  • Profile editor : relative thickness is now updated in real time when you enter a new value.
  • Cutting wizard : display improvements when you delete a cutting section.
  • Cycle of cutting : the display is scaled to the input chord.
  • Stepper settings : I simplified the user interface with checkbox. If all steppers have same caracteristics, you just have to set X1 stepper configuration and uncheck X2, Y1 and Y2 steppers checkbox. Every stepper will use X1 stepper settings.
  • Communication settings : when you use Aeroden CNC board or other Arduino based CNC board, timer frequency and port number are stored in the file comport.ini. For parallel port CNC board , the base address of parallel port is stored in the file adresse_port_LPT.ini,. All these data can now be modified directly in Jedicut settings form. You don’t have to modify this file manually anymore.
  • High Density pixels and high resolution screen improvements. It remains work to do, but a new step is done.

Fix

  • Profile editor : there was a bug when we changed relative thickness value.
  • Settings – Table : Invert checkbox had bad behavior when we change the selected CNC table.
  • Cutting wizard : there was a bug when wingspan was longer than the table, and when we use multiple sections. Jedicut was stuck.

Plugins evolution

  • USBSerial_2 with a break during a cutting : I fix the number version -> v2.0.3 .
  • CncNet_XP_Vista_7.dll : I let the old version in ZIP file just in case (CncNet_XP_Vista_7_2018.dll). I found a very old bug that appeared when you launched Jedicut from a command line.

Translations update

French and English translation are updated. I let other language users update files and share it on the forum of Jedicut’s community.

One file was totally reviewed : Italian. Thanks to marcops who join the community a share this file on the board !

Conclusion

Once again, I would like to thank all members of the community who participated in the testing. We all move forward quickly together

If you have any question or if you want to share your CNC projects, visit the hot wire heating board.

Your favorite hot wire cutting software is available on the download page.

Jedicut 2.4.1 – New speed algorithm and new heating management

I started working on this version in early 2017. I did a break, and during this break I worked on the new version of my android application that I use to count my flights, to follow my credit, and to follow few birthdays. And in september I got back to work on Jedicut to finish a complete rewrite of the speed calculation and a complete rewrite of the control of the wire temperature.

The goal is : regularity of speeds like never before, and efficient heating management.

Depending on your machine, you may need to review the speed settings, and it will be necessary to review the material settings in the Jedicut options.

The main changes proposed in this version:

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Jedicut 2.4 – a new release for the first Jedicut.com birthday

Jedicut 2.4 – a new release for the first Jedicut.com birthday

Jedicut.com is celebrating its 1 year ! And to celebrate it, here is the first Jedicut’s release of the year !

I have been working on this version for a few months. You have been able to follow the progress of the developments on Jedicut’s facebook page or on Jedicut’s Twitter feed. And as usual, the bravest have been able to test beta versions of Jedicut and contribute to the tests on Jedicut’s forum.

What’s new :

  • New compiler
  • High pixel density screen compatibility
  • New location for *.ini files
  • New UI for options form
  • Automatic check of update availability
  • Various bug fix

Be careful : If you used an old Jedicut release, and if you installed Jedicut 2.4, you have to delete *.ini files manually after Jedicut 2.4 first launch. In Windows File Explorer, find the hidden directory called  C:\ProgramData\Jedicut and rename it like  C:\ProgramData\Jedicut.old by example.

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Download and install Jedicut

Download and install Jedicut

You are beginning in hot wire cutting (foam cutting), or you want to learn more about the free CNC software Jedicut ? Features, tips and tricks…

This tutorial is the first part of a new series of articles explaining step by step how to use Jedicut. The first step : how to install Jedicut ?

Download Jedicut

Jedicut is a free software. You can dowload it on Jedicut’s download page.

When you are on this page, click on on the link Download Jedicut setup. (more…)

Jedicut 2.3.4 : Use GCode to do CNC foam cutting

The main evolution of this release is the file generation in GCode, which you can use with the interpolator of your choice (LinuxCNC, GRBL …). To produce GCode file, you have to use the Jedicut cutting wizard (the reason is hard to explain …).

How to produce GCode for hot wire cutting with Jedicut

To use this new feature, simply go to the Jedicut options, section “Communication”. Select the “GCode” plugin.

You will see a new options page. (more…)

New Jedicut release, foam cutting software

After the publication of my firt Android app that help us to count everything (Times & events), I took out Jedicut project to work on few corrections and to work on ideas you sent me. Jedicut 2.3.3 (Download page) contains some of this ideas.

Here are new features that should help do foam cutting and help us to use Jedicut :

  • Cycle of cutting : A new kind of movement for your cycle of cutting called “oblique”,
  • Cycle of cutting : Jedicut show how many key points you added in your profile,
  • Cycle of cutting : New button added to delete all key points with just 1 click,
  • Cycle of cutting : Zoom in doing a selection in the drawing with mouse, and zoom out doing right click,
  • Cycle of cutting : Blue lines represent fast movement, and red lines represents slow movemet (cut speed),
  • Jedicut ask you if you want to save your last unsaved modification before closing the file or closing Jedicut,
  • You can exit all windows using escape key.

There are also many corrections and improvements like these : (more…)