This manual describes the whole software, tab by tab. But you do not need to read all of it: each need has its own starting point. Find your situation below and follow the path.
You want to test your machine first
Move the carriages, heat the wire, check the direction of the axes.
- Machine — declare your machine and transfer its parameters.
- Machine › Test panel — moves and heating from the configuration window.
- Cutting tab › Manual movement — the same thing from the Cutting tab, with the wire position, its checks and the return to the origin.
You want to cut a wing
The most common case in model aircraft building. You do not need to go through the Design tab: the Wing tab does the work and prepares the cut.
- Designing a wing — the panels, the profiles, the sweep, the dihedral, the twist.
- Designing a wing › Structural elements — sheeting, spar, hinge (optional).
- Designing a wing › Transferring a panel — each panel, or the whole wing at once, becomes a document ready to cut.
- Cutting tab — the material, the block position, the simulation, the cut.
Before the first cut: Machine and Materials.
You want to cut a fuselage or a volume
Two methods, depending on the shape.
- By sections (segments cut from sheets, then stacked): Designing a volume in segments.
- From two views (two silhouettes cut from a single block, turned a quarter turn between the two passes): Designing a volume from two views.
In both cases, a section or a view already drawn elsewhere (DXF, DAT) is imported from the tab’s library, and the transfer produces documents that you cut in the Cutting tab. The Assembly tab shows you the assembled whole, to check the proportions.
You want to cut the silhouette of an image
A logo, a drawing, a cut-out photo.
- Vectorizing an image — the image becomes a path.
- Design tab — the path is imported into both sides, and you adjust the size and the block.
- Cutting tab.
You want to cut a word, some lettering
- Design tab › Importing a path or a project — open an alphabet file and compose the word letter by letter in the selection window.
- Cutting tab.
You already have a profile (DAT, DXF, SVG)
- Design tab — import the profile into side 1; side 2 is filled in automatically. Set the chords, the spacing, the sweep, the dihedral.
- Cutting tab.
You are picking up a FilChaudNX project
.fnx files open directly: Design tab › Importing a path or a project. Both sides, the spacing and the block are carried over; the material and the cutting parameters must be entered again.
You have just installed the software and your machine is not recognized
- Installation, activation, first launch — the startup screen and the detection of the interface.
- Machine — create your machine from a template, transfer and test.
- The site’s system requirements, for the wiring and the firmware.
You want to calibrate a material
Materials — the library, then the calibration method: speed, heat, kerf at the cutting speed and at half that speed.
The chapters, in order
The full list is in the sidebar. Chapters 1 to 3 introduce the software; 4 and 5 are the core (designing, cutting); 6 and 7 cover the machine and the materials; 8 to 11 are the specialized design tabs; 12 and 13 the image tools; 14 to 16 the reference material.