[theweldor]

Hi All
I am new here. I am interested in retrofitting my Linde CM-50 shape burning machine to CNC. I have been reading some of the posts here for a few days. Seems to be a lot of sharp people here. I have been looking at commercial systems and cannot figure out what would be the best system. The machine is presently fitted with 2 oxyfuel torches. I would like the capabilities to run them along with plasma. It is a heavy built machine and I have been looking at just using the table and building all the mechanism. Any suggestions where to look, what do look for from your experiences would be greatly appreciated.
I am sure I will learn something here.
Bob

[dahui]

this might be a better thread for the CNC Plasma discussion but I'd be interested to see some photos if you can post them. Never heard of that machine before.

[PCM]

BOB
I HAVE A CM-50 THAT I AM LOOKING FOR A WAY TO CONVERT TO CNC.HAVE YOU HAD ANY LUCK.TORCHMATE MIGHT HAVE A WAY TO DO IT I HAVE HEARD. I AM GOING TO CALL THEM. LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAD ANY SUCCESS.
STEVE

[Al_The_Man]

The Linde machines usually have a very heavy gantry which poses problems when going to Plasma.
This is one I retro-fitted for the Gas cutting system.
http://cnczone.com/forums/showthread...ighlight=rosta
As it was I went 100:1 reduction for the X axis, but lower ratio and larger motor would be needed for Plasma, If the weight could be reduced, it would help.
Al.

[theweldor]

Thank You all so far for the information. I have been reading the posts the past couple of months trying to get ideas and learn about this cnc stuff. There are a lot of pretty sharp people here. I am not sure whether to buy the system or to start with something like Mach3 and build from there.
Any thoughts and ideas are appreciated.

[smallblock]

I think this thread ended up on the wrong group, but when I was talking to JT about the Patriot machine, he told me of a customer that had used his plasma torch under CNC control from a Shoptask. As I recall, the guy built an arm to hold the torch and the arm clamped to the Shoptask table. The torch then went out over another table where he laid his steel blanks. He then wrote his programs in the Shoptask CNC and the torch would cut them out.