The P400 is a plotter that uses the hot wire technique for cutting polystyrene. It allows you to create models of various kinds, perfect shapes to be used as Christmas decorations, such as trees, snowflakes, ribbons, boxes, two-dimensional balls, but also box letters, logos, symbols, 3D puzzles, etc. To make it even more desirable, the cutter is the cutting speed, the ability to make multiple cuts in parallel and to download several files ready to use from the Internet. Furthermore, if you accidentally make a mistake or accidentally interrupt printing, you do not risk much: you are using cheap polystyrene.
The structure is very simple and light, so that the total weight does not exceed 3.5 kg. It consists of grooved profiles that act as a frame, 50 cm long rectified steel bars on which the linear bearings slide, two NEMA17 stepper motors, toothed belts, pulleys and the electronic control board with the relative motor drivers, all managed with the classic G-code commands. The PC software that allows you to make the drawings of the pieces we want to cut is “Inkscape”..

This vector graphics software is particularly interesting not only because of the multiplicity of tools that it makes available, but also because it is open-source. It has a series of very useful tools that allow you to draw, create geometric shapes, import images and make writing in many styles of writing. To generate the G-code directly from Inkscape you need to download a plug-in, created specifically for this machine, which is called “Polyshaper” and can be downloaded for free.

If you want to make the P400 stand-alone, you can have an optional FT1147K interface so that you can run G-Code files directly from the SD-Card after preparing them using Inkscape. For cutting, the Repetier-Host software is used, which loads the created G-Code file and executes the commands directly.

The package includes: The plotter cuts polystyrene (code P400) complete with electronic card, drivers, motors and mechanical parts.

• Drawing software: Inkscape
• Cutting software: Repetier-Host
• Plugin: Polyshaper
• Assembly istructions