[lwhiway]

Just don't have the electronics checked out yet and will not be able to do that until after knee surgery recovery. Added a pic of the table in current condition.

Mr. Bill, I've watched your build from day 1 of post 1 and would have no qualms of following your lead and building my own identical to yours, if I needed one. lol I know that I could make projects to keep the dust off it, but, a daily burner, not.

I will say that I have one CNC router setup on a 4'x4' working area that I use for stringed instruments and other router/mill projects that I put together several years ago(with zero prior CNC knowledge) and am in process of putting together parts for a second.

Good luck with the surgery, follow the good Doctors directions to the 't'. It made the difference in my personal 'knee' recoveries. I had to believe them when they said, crutches only etc etc.

Here's hoping for a speedy recovery and a Happy Holiday's. I'll be watching for future post updates.

LW

[blue^ray]

Awesome build you have going on there.

I love your solid base (Probbaly heavy as heck) but I wanted to ask if you followed any plans?

I just dont get how everything goes together accurately in the first lot of steps, did you get a steel mob to bend/cut it all for you? Whats holding all the supports (is it just the 2 beams up top?) Whats the specs on the U channel that you use? What is the thickness of steel sheet you use?

Sorry to sound like stealing your design but it is the most solid I have seen so far and I am looking to build a smaller plama cutter soon myself so im going around looking what everyone else has made.

[plain ol Bill]

Hi folks - I have not updated in quite awhile and apologize. This knee replacement surgery has gone pretty well actually. I have been slow in returning to the shop because the knee seems to ache a lot more than usual if I sit in a cold shop for long. But local temps seem to be edging up a bit so maybe I can get back out there and finish up in the next week.
The table is complete w/ the electronics all installed now. I am just trying to get some bugs worked out of the software (and the bugs are me rather than the software). I have movement on all three axis's using the jog buttons but still have to get the plasma to actually fire off.

blue-ray I did not have any plans for the table. I studied different builds on this forum and gleaned ideas from them. Further I haunted the websites of commercial builders and gleaned ideas from them also. I did get a local fab shop to bend the 10 ga. plate plate for the pan. That saved a lot of work. The rest of itis mainly 4" structural channel iron for the frame. All the channel iron is welded to the pan and each other for stiffness. The frame pieces were assembled in a jig so each piece is identical, then installed over the pan and finally the top runners were welded to the frames. Plasma is not the worlds most accurate cutting system but the structural channel should allow me to stay well within the plasma parameters. "V" wheels and rails are also within plasma cutting parameters. I had more of a problem designing the gear drives for the X & Y axis's and installing them than anything else. If I had it to do over I would allow another 1/8" between the drives and the rack gears. Mine are really close, they work but something I will have to keep an eye on to insure I do not have problems down the road.
Look thru all the different builds on here and the manufacturers and pick out the ideas you like best and build your table to suit you.

[blue^ray]

snip

Yea I was thinking of a design like yours but I prefer to work with RHS.

Ie. Frame on the outside with sheet on the inside. I love your R&P with V's on top design.


sorry but what is 20 ga. in inches or mm. I am in australia and they never use the guage measurement.

[lwhiway]

Mr. Bill, so glad to hear your back up and around.

Cold weather, weather changes will play havoc on the bods we motor in for sure.

As I mentioned before, once you get your bugs to play nice, it would be super to have an MPG of sorts to watch this creation in action.

Great work.

blue ray
sorry but what is 20 ga. in inches or mm. I am in australia and they never use the guage measurement.

The internet is your friend.

Please take this in the spirit of it's being offered. If your looking at designs of anything from most everwhere found on the internet, look on-line for a conversion program, free ware, that will offer you conversions of all measurements in/of all variety. You have to start somewhere.

LW

[blue^ray]

The internet is your friend.

Please take this in the spirit of it's being offered. If your looking at designs of anything from most everwhere found on the internet, look on-line for a conversion program, free ware, that will offer you conversions of all measurements in/of all variety. You have to start somewhere.

LW

sorry about my laziness.

Found one on a jewlers site

http://66.38.218.33/jewelry/gauge-inch-mm.html


Best Regards,
Chris

[millman52]

Glad to see you back Bill. Hope your recovery continues to go well.

I'd like to build a larger table than the one I have now. My time is needed elsewhere at present though. For whatever reason in this nosediving economy I have more work in the shop now than ever before.

[millman52]

Blue Ray I didn't look at the link you posted but my wall chart has 20GA listed as .0359" thick

[ronateah]

Bill - Glad to hear that despite your recovery you are still making progress. Don't over do it though. I have finished my mill drill and I am now following through with my router. Looking forward to hearing about your first cuts. - Ron

[plain ol Bill]

It seems that when the project is in its darkest phase with nothing but troubles a ray of hope comes along. I had a visit from a fellow forumite today (tinman13) and he was a welcome relief! It seems the problems I have been having and solving very slowly were really not that major after all. With his help and advice we actually had the table false cutting a part today. I discovered a fault in my design wherein we broke the linear slide I used on the Z axis when we referenced it to "home" without material under it to stop it. The plastic ball screw nut inside broke up. I will have to fit another limit to keep this from happening again. Oh well - I will call and try to get parts for it or send it to them tomorrow. I feel 100% better about it all after a visit from someone that is actually using his equipment.

[millman52]

Keep the faith Bill. I had a few issues in the beginning. & was becoming discouraged. It all worked out in the end & running the table is one of my favorite things to do now.

Neil

[Dustin407]

Everything looks like its going to work great.. Do you have an overflow tank for water height? Or do you have an air bladder under the water to control water height? Just curious..

[plain ol Bill]

Dustin I don't have an overflow tank. Just turn on the air and the water starts to come up. When it gets to where you want the level to be just shut off the air. There is enough water in the tank you could make a big mess on the floor if you forget to shut off the air in time.:drowning:

[plain ol Bill]

I worked one of my files (a bugling bull elk) through Sheetcam today and put the Gcode into Mach. I hit the run button and watched the table take off and follow the code on the table and on Mach's screen. What a blast!
Then this afternoon I got curious and decided to see if my plasma torch was hooked up right or not. It is out of the mount currently that I broke and had to send in for repairs so I hand held it (away from me) fired up the table and Mach and hit the torch on button. SHAZAM! fire in the hole!(flame2) Now I can't wait to get my mount back and try to actually cut a part.

[ronateah]

Go Bill Go - Very excited for you Bill

I worked one of my files (a bugling bull elk) through Sheetcam today and put the Gcode into Mach. I hit the run button and watched the table take off and follow the code on the table and on Mach's screen. What a blast!
Then this afternoon I got curious and decided to see if my plasma torch was hooked up right or not. It is out of the mount currently that I broke and had to send in for repairs so I hand held it (away from me) fired up the table and Mach and hit the torch on button. SHAZAM! fire in the hole!(flame2) Now I can't wait to get my mount back and try to actually cut a part.

[Dustin407]

I am in the process of building an aluminum waterbed.. I heard rumors that alum. and S.S. can produce highly explosive HHO gas when the plasma is running, is this true? If so should I continue....

Also I am about to order the Candcnc plaz pak. Should I go with two motors for my x axis( slave) or one x axis motor and run a driveshaft along the gantry w/ two spur gears at each end(basically two wheel drive) or one x axis motor and let the other side of the gantry free float on wheel bearings?

Sorry if I interrupted the build....Thanks

[Apples]

Yes cutting allly in water will present a potential KABOOM problem.

So bad that I have been told that the blast lifted the whole ganty off a machine and dumped over on the floor. This was an industrial cutting machine with a much heaver gantry.

Water tables that have the pneumatic (air) assisted water lift actually trap the gas under in the air chamber.

To help prevent this you must raise and lower /purge the gas out before cutting each morning and probably during if cutting ally all day.

Old mate that had his machine blow up was starting up for the first shift of the day and did not purge and clear the gas. That's why it went boom.

[millman52]

I am in the process of building an aluminum waterbed.. I heard rumors that alum. and S.S. can produce highly explosive HHO gas when the plasma is running, is this true? If so should I continue....

Also I am about to order the Candcnc plaz pak. Should I go with two motors for my x axis( slave) or one x axis motor and run a driveshaft along the gantry w/ two spur gears at each end(basically two wheel drive) or one x axis motor and let the other side of the gantry free float on wheel bearings?

Sorry if I interrupted the build....Thanks

Shouldn't have a problem with the tank itself being Al. It's the cut process of Al that produces the gas. just don't use Al. for your support slats.

I highly recomend 2 motors X + A slaved. You'll have better braking/reversing with 2 motors, also with the use of properly adjusted "0" home switches your gantry will self align with each return home. It's the first thing I do before every sheet I hit the Ref.X,Y There is just a lot of peace of mind with this feature.

[FPV_GTp]

plain ol Bill , nice workmanship , some youtube vids would be great


cheers

[Dustin407]

Thanks milliman and apples for the advice... I am going to start my build this weekend and post pictures and video for all to see...