[HPIcustoms]

So I am not looking to start a forum war or be negative to anyone in particular, just in need of some serious guidance. We bought a 4x4 plasma table from a Canadian company, PCS (Precision Cutting Systems) who is no longer in business. They have sold to another company, no longer produce tables, but still work as partners in this new company. We have been able to get ahold of them but there is alot of "Beating aorund the bush" so to speak. Our shop was still being built, and the power needed to run this table and our other equipment had not been installed until now. Its been a long process, but thats how it is in small business in our industry and many others, you all know what I mean. So I have finally found the time to start hooking up the table and getting things going. Not exactly a Turn-Key setup like I was told. I am no stranger to operating CNC machinery on a more basic level, and fairly well versed, but I have minimal experience on Plasma Tables, and I definately dont build CNC equipment. So here is the root concern I have.

I thought I was doing the right thing to buy Canadian Made, (but that only holds true if it really is made here as I will explain) and hoped that having support in our country would be a benefit. At the time we were comparing it to the then-new Baileigh table, price range and feature wise.... but we decided on a Made-at-home piece of equipment over an import. Turns out I was wrong. In all the searching I can do now, it seems that all traces of PCS has vanished from the web. No small feat. But the few things I have found seem to be NEGATIVE on all fronts. Furthermore, all the pictures I have and specs I have been told about the PCS Easyloader Blue series table look nothing like mine. the table I was sold a blue series table from PCS, but its not like any of their pictures. This table mimics the baileigh table, and judging by the castings, welds, finishing, labeling, electronics, and the metric socket heads everywhere (we still dont use chinese metric socket heads on Canadian made product as a general rule..... despite being metric. Its a telltale giveaway) this table is made overseas. Top it off with the fact that it was WHITE, and simply BRUSH PAINTED tremclad blue without removing any parts or taping anything (which is now peeling I might add) and I think I have been duped.

Also, the instructions mention Hypertherm Torch Height control, but I got a HYD torch height controller with a chinese manual. Its not quality, and its a Capacitive Torch Height which by my understanding is mainly for flame cutting......

Its supposed to have a downdraft system, and the pics and instructions mention having this built in, but all i got was two pieces of ABS pipe drilled into the back of the table edge teed together for me to hook a fan up to. when you put a sheet on the table, they arent even totally under the inlets. therefore the Draft wont be pulling under the parts, but over the top as much as under. Being at the back of the table seems less than ideal for total table coverage too.

The torch mount is not compatible with my Thermal Dynamics A80 torch either without modification.

So who has any more information for me? Someone MUST have pictures of a PCS table I can see? I really feel I was sold a chinese table under false pretenses. There is no wiring schematics, and no instructions on how to hook anything up. Just a basic overview, talk about grounding the table (I know its important) and a manual for their version of Mach3. Someone want to tell me about this Capacitive torch height too?

School me.... break my heart easy though please. I have not been able to run this at all yet, and am only really figuring this out now becuase I wasnt in the position to look closer earlier, too busy with business. I feel naive and stupid.....please help! If you know anything about this table, or the PCS tables in general let me know. I will post pics tomorrow.

[HPIcustoms]

Attachment 259176

Here is the table in all its brush painted glory. Now that I got it moving on its own, I have some more issues other than quality and asthetics. For starters, in previous model pictures of PCS tables the cutting grate was elevated on top of the dust collection pan making it easy to load and the dust collection effective. Now the grates sit on the bottom of the pan, and the sheet actually only covers maybe 2/3 of the pathetic abs pipe inlets on the back of the pan (total afterthought) so the suction is not forced under the sheet. Its just an exhaust fan for the whole room. I had to buy my own dust collector, which I actually bought a real nice one, but now its nicer than the table.

[HPIcustoms]

Another issue I find now, my invoice states its got dual side drive motors for the Y travel on the gantry. Turns out its ONE stepper in the center , with a ball screw under the table and a cast arm that links the gantry side to side, with one bearing riding on it. Another issue is the lack of limit switches. It only has one Y limit at the front of the table, none at the home end. The X only has one limit switch at the motor side, not at the other. When I powered up the table and sent it home, it hit the back of the table and since its a center ball screw, the gantry cocked sideways a bit as the motor loaded up. stupid setup. Oh and you will see how glorious the mounting is for the motors. Crooked mounting, and for a company that "makes" plasma tables they sure dont seem to know how to use a plasma....look at the cuts.
Attachment 259180

Attachment 259182

[HPIcustoms]

Another thing that is a big issue, take a look at my Z axis motor for the torch height.....cheap radio controlled toys have bigger motors. And the mounting is so crappy, its self explanatory.

[HPIcustoms]

Over a hundred views, but no replies.....does ANYONE have any information on this company at all? Someone has to have one of their tables or sold parts to someone with one of their tables..... anyone?

[mcv]

It seems that this machine is China built
maybe this is the base OMNI1212_Sign Making CNC Router_cnc wood router
I guess it was a router converted to plasma

[HPIcustoms]

Thanks for finding that out mcv! Just adds ammo to my arsenal. Thanks. Turns out they shut down operating as PCS but opened a new business called Okotoks Power and Equipment in the same building, same numbers, doing the same thing. Stay away!

[Torchhead]

The capacitive torch height is a clue its not US or Canadian. I don't know of any vendor (even the flakey ones) in those countries that offer a Capacitive THC

[HPIcustoms]

Thanks Torchhead. I know its a chinese THC. I didnt buy that though, they advertised it to be Hypertherm THC when we bought it, but thats not what we got.

[HPIcustoms]

Torchead, I have been on your site, wondering if you have a solution for a THC that could replace the puny and slow non responsive motor on my Z and supply some form of THC that might integrate into the Mach software? [email protected]

[Torchhead]

Over the years there have been some bad players in the plasma table market in both the US and Canada. There was a company called Practical CNC that defrauded customers and went out of business then back in then out then back in again basically in the same location each time leaving a wake of bad deals. In some cases it is just poor engineering and bad business skills. In others like PCNC and it appears PCS, there is intent to screw the customer. It is obvious in this case you have been defrauded but first you have to find the parties then take the time to contact the right agencies. In the US the dollars have to be pretty large before the State Attorney General will get involved and you can forget the CPA (Consumer Protection Agency).

Sadly this is still happening now and will in the future because a lot of people don't like to admit they got screwed in public. I am sure there are others that are victims but I usually hear from them privately. Word of caution: No news is not good news and one negative post that is not responded to by the vendor counts 10X against all of the positive.

The first thing you need is a real Z (third axis) You need to get one designed to hold a torch and that has the mechanical touch-off (Floating torch holder) built in. A really well made one is available from Cnc routers 3D cutting 4x4 cnc router and 2D for wood ~ 2x2 cnc router 2D plastic, to Desktop CNC Routers, and cnc routers. Velox CNC Router, Hopefully the controller has a third axis (driver) in the controller because none of the THC's that you can afford are "stand-alone". The Hypertherm unit is thousands. If your controller now runs off MACH then the MP3000 series MAY work for you (depending on the motor driver(s) . If the linear components are leadscrews you may not be able to get to the speeds you need for cutting thinner material (200 to 350 IPM) or if you can, you may not have acceleration at the top end to get good toolpath tracking (corners). A mistake a lot of people make is assuming that you can just take a router table and convert it to a plasma table by adding a torch holder and a relay to fire the plasma.

TOMcaudle
www.CandCNC.com

[HPIcustoms]

Tom,

Thanks for all the info. Pending what happens with the lawyer, my goal is just to get this thing to cut something, and then its GONE. I have no problem spending money on a proper table! I spent way to much on this thing. I could have been in a higher end table. If I were to keep the table, and the only problem was the Z axis, I would have no problem spending the 3gs on proper stuff, but that would put me way over what I want to have in this pile. I would be over 20 grand if I added 3 k into a torch height. So thats not wise with the components that are here. Im not trying to do this cheap, thats not what my intention was. I didn't buy this table to come out on the cheap side of things, I was under the impression I was paying for something else.

I am going to try and round up the help to dial in whats here and make it cut, so that I can sleep at night selling it to someone that wants to do some simple cutting as a hobby (at a huge loss, im not trying to recoup all of it)