[anthony]

here it is.
i can't convey the sense of satisfaction from watching it move on its own.

still dry running, no torch attached yet. two axis, X/Y. 500oz-in steppers with timing belts. gantry weighs approximately 15lbs. i'm getting 5000 mm/min with no problems.

struggling with the Gcode a bit. using sheetcam. can't seem to get my torch control right. its either on all the time (cutting even during rapids), or doesn't turn on at all, depending on which post-processor i used in sheetcam.

two pix attached.

extremely grateful for everyone's help so far.

-anthony

[JavaDog]

Wow, nice looking machine. I like the all-belt-drive, must sound great zipping back and forth.

196ipm is pretty good. Gotta get a camcorder so WE can see it zip around!

[Jkier]

Great looking machine, movies are a must!

Also, you've got the niceset looking shop I've ever seen

[mxtras]

I'm jealous!

Looks great - keep us up to date.

Scott

[anthony]

thanks all. i'll see what i can do re: a movie. i'm on dialup and the upload will probably take longer than building another table.

i'm still in the tuning stages. the thing will move faster, but above 5500 mm/min, the accelerations need to be slower. and my table is only 3' so i'm at the other end before i know it.

jkier: its my living room. the shop's got too many chips flying. if all goes well, i hope to upgrade with a THC.

thanks again,
-anthony

[David Bord]

Anthony... Man you don’t waist any time!! Looks great!! Im still finalizing my plan, but still committed to having one running by the end of the year.

Do you feel you will get enough accuracy running the steppers with no reduction? Are you planning on attaching a sharp pen to the gantry and do a little drawing of circles and boxes to check its precision?

What size precision rod did you use for the X and Y gantry? Have you measured if there is any sag? (all issues I am struggling with)

BTW, if you have windows XP, you can use windows movie maker to make a super high quality video around 500 Kbps of about 3 megs for 1 minute of run time.

David

[anthony]

David,
I've actually already run the 'pen test' and a 600mm diam circle closed on itself!
i could've cried when i saw it happen.

i haven't put the dial indicator on yet, but from a tape measure's point of view, things are looking good. mach2/3 are doing a great job. theoretically, i'm getting 0.08mm. i'll keep you posted.

i'm not sure if we're talking the same X's and Y's (my table is square), but for gantry i used 20mm rounds and for the carriage/head i used 16mm. my rough numbers show 20kg in the center of the table, on the carriage, to give me a total sag of 1mm (combined from both axis). i'm under 7 kg now for the total gantry weight (including the 2.5kg stepper). if you're going for a similar design, it seems that angling the two carriage supports at 45degrees gives the most rigidity (in the Z direction)

tonite i set up Mach3 (I couldn't get Mach2 to toggle the torch, and Mach3 Plasma wouldn't move my steppers -- all (seemingly) the same configurations). Mach3, however (same setup/pins/ports/etc) seems to be working perfectly.

-anthony

[Apples]

Hi Anthony,

What type od steppers are you using and how much did they cost? What are you using to drive the steppers, Gecko......?

Apples

[anthony]

apples,
sanyo-denkei 5Nm steppers, about $100 ea, and two gecko g210s.
-anthony

[David Bord]

Anthony... Any updates?? Must have more pictures

Cut anything yet? Any more accuracy testing such as diagonal lines, boxes or super small holes?

David

[anthony]

David,
as a matter of fact, cut my first pieces today. really wishing i opted for the THC.
here's a "wrench" i cut.. heck, it was easy to draw in a CAD.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...d/2kWrench.jpg

thats almost a $2000 wrench you're look'n at
12mm thick, under 10mins to cut.

will spend the day with the machine tomorrow. can't explain how hypnotic it is when it runs. am having some trouble with torch going out (esp when it crosses already cut areas.. the plasma cutter thinks its done and cuts the arc off.. esp at slow speeds with alot of 'hang time' over the openings. no Arc sensing installed yet.

-tony

[David Bord]

Congrats!!! Man you've got to be proud! You built that machine amazingly fast.. and it even works to boot

Are you happy with the accuracy and quality of the cut? What kind of machine are you using and how much bevel are you getting on the edges?

Again, congrats!

David

[anthony]

the accuracy seems good. haven't cut anything critical yet.
lines meet up, circles close, that kind of thing.. the 40mm wrench measured
41.6 mm but that was my mistake, overestimated the kerf size.

i'm using a Cebora Plasma 3100. i'm italy, its italian make. though i found
a 3ph inverterbased plasma by CEMONT that claims to do 1" on 6kW.
(sorry for the mixed metric units there)

would love to add a machine torch, but they're quite expensive out here.
once i get comfortable with the plamsa cutter, i'd like to add a new carriage
for an oxy torch.

bevel doesnt seem too bad unless i'm round sharp corners (where the base metal
is already significantly preheated, perhaps?) there i get alot of negative bevel (opens toward the bottom). slowing my cut speed seems to help.

am surprised by how warped my sheetmetal is right off the truck. before i got into
this CNC stuff, it seemed pretty dang flat. all relative i suppose.

i forsee adding a THC unit (probably Campbell's) in the near future.

david, my suggestion: jump in and make it. i was very preoccupied with getting everything nice and neat and clean but it seems like this thing would power its way through even buried in mud. cnc plasma cutting sure is dirty work. other than wiping the rails down when i'm finished, theres not much more to do.

-anthony