Why 24 V is (often) not enough to heat the wire
A 3D printer board's heating stage is designed for 24 V: enough for a short wire, not enough for a versatile machine.
4-axis hot wire CNC cutting · Software and machine
Complete, intuitive software to design your models and prepare your cuts+ Compact, high-performance hot wire CNC, suited to your projects
- No need to master CAD software
- No guesswork in the design or the assembly
- No need to be an electronics expert
More than a machine
HotWire4X brings together the software, a machine, real projects, and everything I've learned in more than 20 years of hot wire CNC cutting.
From digital to real
A digital model that takes shape quickly.
HotWire4X turns the geometry into paths, and the MC4X turns the paths into parts wich fit together perfectly. It's a cutting process that is precise, fast and silent.
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01Cut parts -
02Assembly -
03A real model -
04And then, it flies
The HotWire4X ecosystem
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The software
Design, prepare, simulate and control your cuts, in a single program.
Explore the software → -
The machine
A hot wire CNC machine designed to be built, understood and actually used.
Explore the machine → -
The know-how
More than 20 years of software, machines, cutting and problem solving.
Read the story →
20+ years of hot wire
HotWire4X didn't start yesterday. It inherits 20 years of designing and building machines and software, and 30 years of community history.
- Mid-to-late 1990sFed up with templates!Community
- November 28, 1999The Bellegarde seminarCommunity
- 2001The year of the toolsCommunity
- 2002Pappy Boyington shows up 🤯Renaud
- 2003My first CNC, in a chicken coopRenaud
- 2009-2012The birth of the 5X ProjectRenaud
- 2016The MC4X and FilChaudNXRenaud
- 2026HotWire4XRenaud
Why four axes?
The whole process, in one diagram.
side 1side 2the wire & the swept surfacethe block
The principle: two profiles, one on each face of the block. A wire, tensioned and heated, travels along both at the same time, driven at its two ends by the carriages of the machine. Where it passes, the material vaporises.
These two profiles can be different, but they must be synchronised, because the wire advances point by point, on both faces at the same time.
With a wire that is long enough, it can advance diagonally and create incredibly complex cutouts.
The principle looks simple, but it hides several challenges:
- How do you define the speed of a wire that follows two different paths?
- How fast should it advance, and with how much heat, so that the wire doesn't get jammed?
- Is there a general method to get perfect measurements every time?
Field Notes
Things I've learned by building machines, writing software and cutting, for more than 20 years.
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Why G94 speeds give random cuts
In 4 axes, the wire has two paths and neither can serve as the speed reference. That is why G94 should not be used.
A wider table is not a better table
A wide table lets you cut large panels in one go. But does it let you use the full versatility of 4-axis cutting?
Meet HotWire4X
The software I put everything I know about cutting into. For Windows and macOS.
Free, with no time limit
- Design your projects
- Set up your machine
- Simulate the cut
- Test the moves and the heat
With a license
- Real cutting, driven over USB
- G-code display and export
- Personal License$79
- Education and Non-Profit License$149
- Pro License$299
One-time payment: a perpetual license for version 6.
I'm Renaud
Mechanical engineer by training, RC modeler, solo entrepreneur since 2013.
I discovered hot wire CNC cutting in 2002, among the French model builders who had brought it within reach of hobbyists.
Since then, I've been designing the machines and the software that spare you years of mistakes.
- 20+ yearsof hot wire CNC cutting, since 2002
- 250+machines designed, built and sold
- 4cutting programs written, up to HotWire4X