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Virtual machine (Virtual GRBL)

Design, dry-run, and verify a complete 4-axis job — including real machine motion, timing, heater behaviour, and wire-safety — before you connect any hardware, or even own a machine.

This is the feature we lead with, because hot-wire CAM tools generally don't have it. Most offer, at most, a static toolpath preview — a picture of where the wire would go. FoamSync ships a behaving virtual machine: instead of picking a COM port, you select VIRTUAL_DRIVER, and the entire application acts as if a real 4-axis hot-wire cutter were connected.

What it actually does

With the virtual machine connected, FoamSync runs the same way it does on real hardware:

  • Homing and jogging — the towers home; the on-screen jog moves the wire with smooth, interpolated motion (it travels, it doesn't teleport).
  • Full job execution — press START and the generated G-code runs end to end: the wire animates along the real trajectory, the DRO and the live wire-angle update as it moves, and the ETA counts down.
  • Live feed override — change FEED % mid-run and the simulated wire speed changes with it, exactly as the override behaves on a real controller.
  • Simulated heater — the heater warms toward its target and the temperature readout ramps, so the thermal side of the workflow is visible in dry-run.
  • PAUSE / RESUME / EMERGENCY STOP — all behave as they would on the machine, including the safe-state transitions.
  • Pre-cut wire-safety pass runs the same way, so you see the warning / danger / critical analysis on the virtual run.

In other words it is not an animation of a path — it is a machine that responds to the same commands and reproduces the same workflow semantics as the real controller it stands in for.

Why it matters (the commercial case)

  • Evaluate the whole product with zero hardware. The 7-day trial runs real machines in virtual mode, so a prospective buyer can design parts, generate toolpaths, and watch a full cut run — and judge FoamSync on the complete workflow, not a screenshot.
  • Buy the software before the machine. Shops planning a hot-wire line can build their part library, validate their geometry, and train staff while the machine is still on order.
  • Don't tie up the cutter to check a program. Verify motion, timing, nesting, and wire-safety on the virtual machine; commit foam and machine-hours only once the run is clean.
  • Train operators with no risk. New staff learn jogging, zeroing, feed override, pausing, and the e-stop on the virtual machine — no wasted foam, no broken wire, no damaged stock.
  • Develop offline, run 1:1. The program you verify virtually is the same program the real controller runs. On connect, FoamSync auto-detects Marlin, GRBL, or GRBL-H-Par and configures itself — the workflow you rehearsed is the workflow you run.

How to try it

  1. Install FoamSync and launch it (the trial is active for 7 days).
  2. At the top-right, instead of a COM port choose VIRTUAL_DRIVER, then CONNECT.
  3. Generate a part (try the NACA or Dome generator), send it to CAM, press GENERATE TOOLPATH, then START.
  4. Watch the wire run the job, change FEED % mid-run, try PAUSE / RESUME, and open the wire-safety report.

When you're ready for the real machine, swap VIRTUAL_DRIVER for the COM port and connect — nothing else about your workflow changes.

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