[unixadm]

I have been gathering parts for the last month or so and finally decided to start work towards building my table. Here's a summary of what I'm planning with this build:

• Precision Plasma 4x4 Gantry Kit with 2:1 Belt Drives
• CandCNC BladeRunner AIO Dragon-Cut Controller with 620oz.in steppers and DHTC
• Hypertherm Powermax 45 with Machine Torch
• 2x2 and 2x3 .120 wall square tubing
• 14GA Water Tray
• 2x1/8" Slats, 2" Spacing
• Prototype Platemarker
• Planning 5th Axis Rotary
• Cable Track Wire Management

Gallery: CLICK HERE

[unixadm]

Today I decided to cut to cutting some steel. I just finished painting my single car garage I set up as a shop (I should have taken the two car garage in reality!!), and also got my electrical all installed. So before I clutter it full of tools and equipment, I wanted to get my cuts done. I made a cut list for the .120 wall 2x2 and 2x3 material. Yes it's over kill, yes it's expensive, butI plan on having this around for a while. Recommended with 16GA 2x2, and I'll only be using that for the lower shelf support which will be roughly 4x5 to hold the plasma cutter, etc. All I cut today was the top frame, lower water tray supports, the legs (using 5" 1000lb locking casters), the gantry risers, and the gantry rail support tubes. All my cuts were made on my Ellis 1600 which cuts this stuff like butter. The made a stupid mistake though. I was cutting three 59" pieces of 2x2 and marked my cut location. Then I realized I had the saw set up for my 2x2 pieces that were 3.25" long as my risers. So I'm like "I better cut that first" and slid the tube over and made the cut. Then I slid the tube down and cut on my mark. Hmm... why is my tube 3.3" too short? I saved the day and fired up the Miller 350P and "mended" the tube. Guess I needed a third cup of coffee. I'll begin tacking the table together in the next couple of days.

[jjellingson]

Wow, cool tools.

You will be making smoke in short order.

[unixadm]

Today I decided to fit up the table frame and water tray support tubes. Everything went together nicely and it's tacked ready for final welding. I need to decide where best to mount the legs - be it inboard a bit or towards the outer corners. I'll decide that tomorrow when I tack the legs in place and begin cutting the lower shelf / leg brace tubing. I'm also going to affix some flat bar perpendicular to the water tray support tubes to allow me to route wiring, air hoses, etc in that space and affix wiring/tubing with hook and loop straps. By doing this I can route around the table as needed and drop to any location necessary and keep the cables clear of the equipment on the storage shelf, preventing wiring damage. Plus since it's open, getting to the wiring is easy. In the pics the frame assembly is upside down.

[Dustin407]

Unixadm,

Looks like your off to a good start. I would probably suggest to place the legs to the furthest outmost point for better stability. This stability will help from minor vibrations when the gantry is on the move those vibrations will show up on the cut edge in the form of waves (cut quality). Might wanna think about filling the legs with concrete it helps alot plus its cheap...

The build will take you probably a little longer than you think, I know it did for me and a few others but just keep pushing along and stay focused and before you know it, sparks smoke nasty smell in the air, cool sounding stepper motors.......lol

[magma-joe]

Unixadm,

Nice work. Keep the pics coming!


Magma-joe

[unixadm]

Unixadm,

Looks like your off to a good start. I would probably suggest to place the legs to the furthest outmost point for better stability. This stability will help from minor vibrations when the gantry is on the move those vibrations will show up on the cut edge in the form of waves (cut quality). Might wanna think about filling the legs with concrete it helps alot plus its cheap...

The build will take you probably a little longer than you think, I know it did for me and a few others but just keep pushing along and stay focused and before you know it, sparks smoke nasty smell in the air, cool sounding stepper motors.......lol

I finish welded a small portion of the frame where I will mount the legs so I can grind the welds to fit the legs tomorrow evening. I'm going to mount them directly on the outside of the outer most water tray support tubes. That tube will gusset the leg a bit, and I will tie it all together.

The table itself won't take long and I'll have all of the key items to make the table functional this week with the exception of the Hypertherm CNC interface cable which should arrive early next week. If I can have the table painted by next Tuesday, I'll be happy. Mcmaster-car brought me an early Christmas today with all of my small items I was waiting on.

I'm not rushing the build. I want the table to be quality and quirk free. I'm having fun, that's the most important thing of all.

[unixadm]

I spent a couple of hours working on the table frame this evening. I got the legs welded on and started on the shelf support. I'm going to span the shelf rails with 1-1/4x1-1/4 16GA tubing, and lay 16GA sheet on top for the shelf. I had some issues with my Binzel liner kinking up which was causing me some grief while trying to weld. I may switch to my Miller Passport to finish the project until I swap the liner in my gun on the 350P.

I also received my kit from CandCNC - 48 pounds of stuff. I need a break though so I may take it easy tomorrow and center punch, drill, and tap the side rails to receive the gantry side rails.

As always, more pics if you follow the link in the first post to my gallery.

[jjellingson]

Looks like you will be up and running before long. Precision's Gantry kits are pretty neat. You will save a lot of time not having that area of the project to deal with. I also had my electrics show up yesterday (heavy). You saved me having to open the box to peek inside If I only knew what it all meant. Keep us posted. I will we watching and learning.

[unixadm]

I finished welding most of the main frame. I have a slight amount of warpage I'll have to deal with. It sucks not having a big flat surface to work on. Anyhow it won't affect the usability of the table, I may just have to reduce the length of one of the legs slightly to resolve the problem. I think I did pretty good fitting this up by myself in the time I've spent thus far.

I also drilled 40 holes on the two rail support tubes, and tapped them for 1/4-20 socket head screws. That took a while drilling .120 in in two steps prior to running the tap through on my drill. I used a 2-flute HSS TIN coated tap and it worked like butter. I also used the center punch from Mcmaster-car that has a cone to center the punch for all of the holes. I clamped the rail onto the support tube and went hole by hole to get a perfectly centered drill center for each hole. Time consuming, but not hard.

I think the hardest part was tacking the rail support tube risers and then clamping the support tubes and making adjustments. I leveled the table and then leveled each tube, then checked across to make sure they were level. I also measured to make sure they were equal distance, 60.5" for this kit. If I had it to do all over again I'd go 60.75" for the outer support tube width, but the gantry adjusts to compensate for your widths.

Once I had everything where I thought I needed it, I tacked the tubes together. Unfortunately one tweaked a bit, so I had to grind the tacks off and reposition the support tube, and retack it. All is well after doing that. I then test fitted the side rails onto the support tubes, and temporary screwed the gantry tube and ends together to do my test fit. After adjusting the gantry rollers so that the gantry was centered and nearly in line on each rail, it would roll under it's own power on the slight downward grade of my garage floor from the top to the bottom. I had to put a pony clamp on the rail to keep the gantry from running off the end of the table. Smooth as silk, it's going to be a fine runner. I will take my time welding the support tubes as to not put too much heat into the steel. I don't want them to warp out of place. Once that's done I have to put the shelf rails in and weld a bit more of the table frame on the bottom side. I'm going to fabricate a keyboard tray, along with a monitor mount to save on space around the shop. They will be at standing height with a flat panel. I think I have an old 15" LCD I can use for this to run Mach 3.

[jjellingson]

Looks really good. You are moving along nice. Had to be fun to set the unit in place and move along the rails. Keep posting.
John

[unixadm]

Well first off, I got the CandCNC kit on the bench and it's up and running. I plan to spend around 3-4 days on the electronics portion once the table is completely fabricated and painted. Over the last couple of days I worked on the water tray. I built it very heavy duty, with 3x3 1/4" angle for the perimeter, a piece of 1x1/4" flat down the center, and a 14ga sheet bottom. I also fabricated the slat holders out of 1x1 1/8" angle, welded to a piece of 2x1/8" flat (same material as the slats). I spaced the slats 1-3/4" apart for roughly 28 slats on my table. I have not yet cut the slats and after doing a water test, I found I have a couple of leaks. I'll run a fatter higher voltage bead around the tray again, since I was running cold on my Passport. I also put two 1" ball valves, but I used PVC ball valves. Why I decided to do this was to save a few bucks, but I'll be going back and buying brass valves. These PVC valves are junk.

[jjellingson]

you are moving right along, looking really good. I like your idea for slat holders. Don't you just hate cold lap (leaks). It seems like every time we try to save a buck here and there it bites us in the butt. One would still expect a pvc valve not to leak, was this your problem? Or?

[unixadm]

you are moving right along, looking really good. I like your idea for slat holders. Don't you just hate cold lap (leaks). It seems like every time we try to save a buck here and there it bites us in the butt. One would still expect a pvc valve not to leak, was this your problem? Or?

The slat holders were pretty easy to make. I looked at a few ideas, such as using threaded rod with a bunch of washers and nuts to make an adjustable slat system. Drill a hole through the end of each slat, or notch the bottom to slip over the rod. Then I started looking through my pile of steel and decided to go the angle iron route. I've not seen anyone use that method, but I think it's going to work well. It gives roughly 3/4" of engagement to hold the slat. I revised my plans so that I can keep the slats below the level of the pan surround.

The lap joint is what is leaking in a few places. I got the pan cleaned up last night and stuck an old fan blowing downwards right in the center to dry the table. I can see a couple of spots in the weld where I think the leaks are coming from. I'm just going to burn a hotter bead around the entire lap joint in the hopes it will seal up. It can be tough to pinpoint because I have 2.5" of overlap on my sheet and angle iron, and the water can seep under the sheet and run down the angle a bit until it drips. I'm certainly out of practice on welding since I have not been fabricating much over the last five years. I'll get it fixed though.

The PVC ball valves are just a pain to turn, that's why they are junk. I don't have to replace them right away, but I probably will replace them after my testing is completed.

[millman52]

You might want to think about another row of holders down the center of your water tray to hold the slats in a bow. It will help with 2 issues. (1) straight slats can wobble & allow plate being cut to move. (2) when cutting a square part it will keep you from destroying an entire slat if cut happens to center on one.

You'll be amazed how many times #2 will happen. Even curved it's pretty common to muck up 5-6" of a slat.

[unixadm]

The last week or so has been extremely busy with work and with my Mom. She has cancer and it's not exactly a priority to be working around the shop instead of visiting her or talking to her. She had surgery a month ago and starts radiation tomorrow.

As a result, I've had sort of a lack of progress. I was able to get out into the shop/garage/whatever you want to call it yesterday and sealed up the water pan so it is water tight. I then mounted all of the slat holders, and got everything in plane with the upper support rails that will hold the two parallel tracks that the gantry tube rides on (X Axis). I inverted my slat holders and raised them above the water line by about a half an inch. I'm hoping this will reduce water splashing from the table some, as I plan to do most of my cutting towards the center of the table. I tested it both ways using a air nozzle at 90 PSI and they did help quite a bit when I was running the water at a depth near the top of the slats.

Today I spent cutting slats and custom fitting them for a good tight fit. They are tight and in a stiff bow and are not going to move under pressure. The post above did not take into account I was going to bow the slats for that reason and also to just keep them situated tightly. They are stiff enough that most must be installed with a dead blow and some light taps to seat them. All looks good.

I only have a hand full of things to fabricate left before I break the table down for finish work and paint.

1. Bottom Shelf Supports
2. Cable Track brackets and channel
3. CandCNC Control Box mounting, and also a mount point for the DHTC in an ABS box.
4. Wire Management under table.
5. Formed LCD and Keyboard mount. I think I'll use some 1-1/4" 16GA square tubing to form this on my JMR bender since I have a die for that stock size. I'm going to fit it into one of the tubes with a couple of hand knobs so it's removable from the table. I'm going to mount a 17" LCD and probably a wireless keyboard/mouse, and also an E-Stop button.
6. Air regulator and solenoid mount plate for the plate marker I'm building.

I'm still waiting on my Hypertherm CNC interface cable. I got my servo based Taig CNC mill up and running and it's ready to cut some Delrin parts for my plate marker prototype. I'm not going to work on that until the table is functional though. I'll probably preinstall the air lines at final assembly, but nothing else until a later date.

I wish I knew someone with a plasma table to cut me some caster plates for my 1000 lb rated locking casters. I want to incorporate a tongue that sticks out with a gusset against each table leg that I'll weld on a 5/8" nut and use a 8" long 5/8" bolt to act as leveling feet. Maybe I'll do some test cuts prior to painting and see if I can cut my parts for my table, on my own table before it's finished.

[unixadm]

Instead of calling it quits earlier today, I pressed on and got a couple more things done. I have the gantry back on the table so I can mock up the cable tracks. I'm using 3" aluminum channel to contain the track and some 3/16 brackets I had purchased for a gate/entry welding project from Kingmetal. I did a little roughing of the corners into a contour on the Wilton belt grinder. I also cut and tacked the lower shelf cross supports in place.

[jjellingson]

Sorry to hear about your mom, hope things go well.
Your table is looking pretty sharp. You will be cutting before long now. The brass ball valve looks stronger. I know the feeling of not having time to work on a project. Hang in there...

[unixadm]

I spent the last couple of days working part time on the table. My schedule has been very busy so again this project has not gotten the attention it was getting when I started it, however I was on vacation then too. I have completed the cable track channels and tied all of that into the gantry tube. I like the way it came out and my next update will show pictures of what I did. Tomorrow I need to give the pan a quick coat of black paint and clean out the interior. I gave the bottom a good coat of rubberized undercoating as a just in case against leaks. I still have a few items to build, such as a holding tray for my Powermax 45, a mount for the CandCNC control box, and a flat panel to mount air regulators, solenoids, and other misc hardware for the plate marker. I still need to build the monitor and keyboard mount, but I'll wait until the table is operational to do that as I can cut some brackets and make it come out a bit nicer. However all of that stuff is bolt on by design. Lastly Jim Colt cut my caster plates and some gussets for me which should be here early this week. I'll need to remove a bit of paint, weld them on, and then touch up the bottom of the legs and get the caster plates painted. I'll do that with a Preval sprayer though. Until those are mounted I'm not going to reinstall the water pan as the water pan weighs about 250 pounds and isn't much fun moving by myself, nor is lifting the table when it's installed.

I painted the table today, starting with a white primer. This is no odor paint that I bought by the gallon, and is water based. It went on nicely using my HVLP sprayer, and then I sprayed semi-gloss red on top of that using the same process. It's also no odor, and it worked pretty well. It seems to be quite durable. Since I was spraying outdoors and I have neighbors with kids who are always playing near by I wanted to be thoughtful. If I sanded and clear coated it, the shine would be a lot better but that's just too much work.

I also started work on the DHTC box and got the wiring done inside of the Powermax 45. I'm waiting on my Hypertherm CNC interface cable to wrap that up.

Yes the paint is bright, but I don't have anything with much "bling" in the shop so I wanted this table to stand out. lol.

[unixadm]

I reinstalled the gantry rails and tube today and fitted the cable tracks one last time. I spent about 45 minutes adjusting the rails and gantry to get everything dialed in. Once I fully bolt down the rails I'll check again, but I don't expect them to move so it should be a moot issue. The gantry rolls up and down the rails very nicely with full engagement of the V-rollers. Everything looks good, so I'm going to remove the cable tracks, open up the tracks (the top is hinged) so that I can install all of my steppers and machine torch. I'll string everything out on the floor, loosely hook up loop everything, and lay a pull string along side to aid in pulling any addition wire or air tubing in the future. The gantry tube cable track will have the following:

Machine Torch Lead, Two 1/4" Poly Air Lines, Z-Axis Motor Lead, Y-Axis Motor Lead, 18ga 2 Conductor SO Cord for Torch Switch, Pull String

The lower track will have all of the above and:

X-Axis Motor Leads

Once that's done I'll fit all of the parts to the table, do a little soldering, and install the pulleys and gears. I'm going to sit the electronics under the table at first and then figure out a good mounting location. I'm trying to keep the bottom shelf free and clear for sheet storage as necessary, so the control box and plasma will sit off to the side below the cable track channel.

I also got the water pan painted today and all I need to do is weld a couple of bolts onto the bottom so I can ground the pan to the table, and also install a ground clamp lug on the side of the plan for connecting the lead from the plasma cutter. I'll do that tomorrow since it will take about 15 minutes and then the pan can go back into the table as soon as I fit the casters. I'm done for today as I have chores to do.