[madosta]

Well boys and girls. I've had the itch to build a CNC router and plasma for a while now and have been lining things up to make that happen and I found a guy with pieces to a Cybermation 700.

The Bad:
It's old.
It's in pieces.
The gantry rails (thompson) are rusted (flakes).
It's only capable of max 1/4"
The compute probably doesn't run and it used to run Venix.
It will take time and $ to get running.
It's Huge.

The Good:
It's Huge.
Servos and Encoders.
It's a project.

I don't know if it''s a good idea or not or how much it would actually be worth as pieces or running given the age of the machine.

Thoughts?

[awerby]

If this was free, I'd say what the heck, go for it, since you put "it's a project" on the positive side of the ledger. But if it's not, then I have to question what in this pile of rusty junk is really worth anything. The rails obviously aren't, and I doubt the rest of the structure is any better. The spindle doesn't sound great, if it only can hold a 1/4" tool. The electronics will be obsolete at best, and hazardous waste at worst.

So we're down to the servos and encoders. But servo motors are quite various; some of them are easy to figure out how to drive, and others nearly impossible. Huge ones tend to be less useful than smaller ones. And the encoders (or resolvers, or whatever they are) may or may not work, and may or may not be appropriate for what you're trying to do, or compatible with the system you eventually put together.

So no, I'd advise you to give this one a miss, if it costs any money at all. But sure, if you've got lots of space and time to tinker with things, offer to save the guy a trip to the dump and take this stuff off his hands.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[jimcolt]

The Cybermation 700 was designed for low tolerance (+- about 1/8") high speed (400 ipm) plasma cutting of galvanized ductwork. If I remember correctly is was a cable drive machine, rather loose by todays standards and it used a microprocessor based cnc control that is completely obsolete. Cybermation closed their doors about25 years ago after losing a patent infringement lawsuit for their HVAC design software....so it is unlikely that parts are to be found. It may have a few mechanical parts you could use, but it probably is worth scrap value only.

Jim colt Hypertherm

Well boys and girls. I've had the itch to build a CNC router and plasma for a while now and have been lining things up to make that happen and I found a guy with pieces to a Cybermation 700.

The Bad:
It's old.
It's in pieces.
The gantry rails (thompson) are rusted (flakes).
It's only capable of max 1/4"
The compute probably doesn't run and it used to run Venix.
It will take time and $ to get running.
It's Huge.

The Good:
It's Huge.
Servos and Encoders.
It's a project.

I don't know if it''s a good idea or not or how much it would actually be worth as pieces or running given the age of the machine.

Thoughts?

[madosta]

Thank you guys. That's exactly what I've wanted to hear.

I made a really low offer for the base only basically. The steel really. I figure if I even cut it in half to make a 5'x5' I'll be starting from scratch. So we will see. It's a pipe dream.