I am part of a university project team in Canada. As a project we are making a 3-axis 4'x4' cnc plasma table. We are having a number of issues with the design which I will outline below. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
The current design will incorporate SKF ball screws (20mm dia x 55"long x 5mm pitch) and Thomson 25mm rails. We are thinking of running two rails on the x axis with a ball screw in the center and one rail on the y axis.
1. Our client desires that the table can be somewhat portable. (Meaning it can fold vertically against a wall or something along those lines). We are going through a number a potential designs including winches or hydraulic actuators. The major worry we have is rail misalignments and other issues arising with the movement of the table. Has anyone seen this done? or have any thoughts about how we could make this work?
2. We are thinking of using Superior MO63 150oz/in stepper motors with encoders and IMS462 2amp/half step drivers. We would like to be able to have rapids of roughly 300in/min. We are concerned that these motors won't be strong enough. Any thoughts?
3. We are currently going to adapt an existing hand held torch (Miller spectrum 375). We have seen people modify the cutting torch so that it can be actuated by a micro switch. Ideally, we would like to able to leave the torch intact so that it can be also used manually. Any thoughts?
thanks for your input .. any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated.