[plain ol Bill]

OK folks I will start to document the build of my 5 x 10 plasma table build. There have been a lot of inspirational builds made and I would like to thank each of you for your contributions . Jcar's build was especially an inspiration to me. I have been asking questions for quite awhile now and getting ideas from a lot of places. I have unabashedly stolen ideas from other threads on this site and others. I have used manual plasmas for years and fully understand just how nasty these things can be. So the choice was either a water table or a vent system to get rid of the black nasty stuff. I chose a water table because of the simplicity of and quietness of operation, versus a blower to the outside of the building. A blower in the winter also would have exausted any/all warm air in the shop outside also. Another benefit of a water table is using the water to help control warpage from heat.
The decision of size – likely most, if not all, of my cutting will be 4 x 8 sheet material. BUT knowing Murphys Law prevails on most everything I do I decided I might as well make it large enough to drown that damn Murphy in it! I decided to use “V” tracks and wheels for my system. One reason was their cost was lower than any super accurate linear rail system I had investigated. Let’s face it – plasma is not the most accurate cutting system there is and this system will in all likelihood be more accurate that the plasma machine anyway.
I believe building the table was for me going to be the easy part of this project since I have a lot of steel fabrication experience in years past. I decided to make the table just a little over 5 x 10 so the inside measures 62 x 122. That gives me a couple of inches to play with on sheet size. I also thought a low table might be better since I don’t have a lot of head room in my shop w/ just 10 ft. eaves (if any of you build a shop be SURE to consider head room and then add another 2 ft. or more to that!). So currently my table is 21” from the floor to the top of the table itself. I figure I can always add legs to pick it up further if and when I need to but will start out like it is.
I found the concept for the water table on I believe a Thermal Dynamics web site and liked the ideas so I followed their concept for my table. I will try to keep this thread updated as I progress further folks. I’m not afraid to ask questions about things so if I can help you in return ask away.
Pics are of my progress so far.