[Edwardo]

Hi all, im not having any problems with my Dynatorch but i am trying to figure out my cutting speed settings. Right now it is still set up the way Leon told me to do it.

Max Velocity 10" per sec
Rapid Move 10" per sec
Cutting Move 8" per sec

With cutting move at 8" per sec does that mean then when im cutting at 100% on my sceen i am cutting at 480" per minute?

In sheetcam i have my cutting speed set at 100" per minute, would that override the machine setting and cut at 100" per min or vice versa ?

Thanks
EDD

[magma-joe]

Hi Edwardo, I can't offer much help on these setting as I have not "explored" them on my machine. I do know if you open the help section in the dynatorch cutting screen there is some information on these settings. I noticed in the video you posted that you have the dual motor drive, drop side table. I have the single side motor drive standard table. I just ordered a dual motor drive drop side "conversion" for my 5 x 10 table. I purchased my gantry about 3 years ago. Until recently I was not aware of all the improvments that had been made to the Dynatorch machines. With the conversion comes an upgraded 24 pitch gear rack. I am also adding the Dash unit and when the money comes in (it seems to be on a slow boat from China right now) I will add the scibe unit. I like the fact that when ever Dynatorch upgrades their machine they make sure that it can be retrofit to the older versions. Let us know what you find out on the settings.

[Edwardo]

Thnx Joe

I havent really bothered with the speed settings up till now either, if i had dross i would just speed it up on the DT screen or what ever i needed. Reason i was asking was asking is a guy gave me some 3/16 alum to play with and according to Hypertherms chart i needed to cut +- 300" min with a 80 amp nozzle, i have been itching to crank up my 1250 to see what it can do and besides fine cut gear all i have is some 80amp nozzles and sheilds that came with my cutter, anyways to make a long story short i set everything to Hypertherms guide except i winged it on the speed and let er go and it made a perfect cut, no dross at all, nothing!! only a little where the alum was touching the slats, little angle on it but nothing serious, i only have a small fan on my airhandler so it was like a shuttle launch in here for a while. I know 80 amp is over kill but its all i had and did a nice job. I attached a few pics, sorry theyre not that great of quality, but i didnt clean these cuts at all, thats the way they came off the table. Also i was going through the help section like you mentioned and relise im cutting backwards, probly why im getting the taper on the cuts so i'll change that around next time i fire up. I agree with everything you say about Dynatorch, im glad i bought from them.

Regards
EDD

[magma-joe]

Edwardo, your cuts look very nice and dross free in the pics. I rarely use 80 amp consumables. They do pack some punch and the sound / smoke levels are much higher than the 40 amp fine cut I use most of the time. I have expiermented on some 3/4" before and was surprised how nice the cut was. I normally cut .080 aluminum. When ever I do cut other thicknesses of metal that I am unfamiliar with I use my joy stick control and make some straight cuts on the end of the sheet to "dial" in the best cutting parameters before cutting my actual part.

I noticed in your picture you have the 24 pitch gear rack on your machine. This is what I will be using for my upgrade from standard to the dual motor drive drop side table. Since I built my own water type table I will have to make some modifications to mount the slave side gear rack. One question I have is how much higher is the working table surface or (top of the slats) from the surface of the slave side gear rack that the cam followers ride on. This measurment will give me an idea of where the the rack will have to be mounted. It will be a week or so before the conversion parts arrive. With this measurment I will have a head start on what modifications need to be done. I included a picture of my table.
Thanks Edwardo

[Edwardo]

Hi Joe, I attached a couple pics for you on the height, hope its what you need.. The top of my slats are 2-1/8" above the rail.

Regards
EDD

[magma-joe]

Thanks Edwardo! Thats exactly the information I needed. It will help speed up the conversion.

[Edwardo]

By the way, thats a good looking table... i almost modified my table over to a water table but then decided not to. Would be nice to see some pics while you are changing it over to a drop side.

Regards
EDD

[morvaman]

I'm thinking of doing a dual drop for my next table like this one at www.fastcutcnc.com but without the belt.

[Edwardo]

Duo drop like that would give you better access to the table, especially on a bigger table like yours.

[magma-joe]

Thanks Edwardo, I will post some pics of the conversion. I do like the water table. It works very well and was much less costly and bulky than the air handler. I use the Plasma Quench additive from Koal Industries which also works great. Just add water when it evaporates.

Morvaman, take a look at the new Tracker Cnc table, they also have incorporated the dual drop on both sides like Flashcut. I am not sure how they did it but it sure makes for a nice design for loading. Something else I have seen that looks very handy for loading is a table extension so you can park the gantry completly off the table.



http://www.trackercnc.com/macpicstable.htm

[morvaman]

The tracker design looks good joe. I am thinking of using a open type pillow block on a one piece support rail on the drive side. The slats supports will be mounted so the slats will sit flush to the top of the table and the rails will be down about 4" to 5" from the top of the table along the x. I may have to shorten the Y to make this work. Hope you can picture it.

[Edwardo]

Im starting to really like working with alum, clean up and finish is easier and it wont rust, made this today out of the same 3/16 peice i had, used the 80 amp consumables for wider cut lines.. i called my supplier and a 4x8x3/16 sheet is $156.00, its actually not much more than steel.... guess i'll have to learn to weld alum if i go this route..

EDD

[magma-joe]

Hey Edwardo, that is a nice piece you have there. Did you hand draw it and then scan it? What program do you use? I cut aluminum alot. To be honest I like working with it much better than steel. Some of the parts I make I have to polish to mirror finish BEFORE I cut them as it would be impossible to polish after the pattern is cut out. Here is a pic

[Edwardo]

Wow!!! that is awesome work Joe... so you polish the sheet before hand while it is still flat, then cut and shape it? Really nice work. I have to ask how long it takes to get a mirror finish like that?

I use Corel Draw 3x for all my drawings, i attached the sphinx photo i used. I import it in then use the bezier tool to create the lines i want, corel has a quick trace feature but it doesnt really work that well on things like this.
The horse is 26" high, its off one of the art CD's i bought, they come as bitmaps so i use corel trace for them which works well, i generally delete alot of the arches or circles and make my own because from the file they arent that round etc, resize it to what i want then export it as a .dxf file and into Sheetcam, it creates the tool paths etc and saves it as a .tap file then straight into Dynatorch.

Im going to have to do a crash course on alum welding, while typing this a guy emailed me to make him and his neighbor a couple of property signs to mount on a boulder in there yards, alum would be ideal but i would need to weld a couple pins on the back for mounting, i have a mig but i'll have to get the gas and give it a go...

Regards
EDD

[magma-joe]

Hi Edwardo, It takes about me about 20 minutes to polish on a 5hp Baldor buffer. I actually cut the perimeter and form the pan, weld the corners, polish and cut the center last.

I will have to look into the corel draw. It certainly looks like you have it mastered. I must say it takes awhile to get to know all the software and if you don't use it frequently a person tends to forget. I also have a CNC mill so between the plasma and mill I have 6 different software programs. From running the machines to Cad Cam and drawing conversion software.

As for welding aluminum I will say it is TOTALLY different than welding steel, especially with a mig. Prepare for an extended learning curve. The thicker it is the more forgiving it becomes.

[Edwardo]

Well i just learnt another lesson the hard way, im running fine cut on 16 gauge cold rolled, i used to turn my amps down to 25 and run slower ipm on fine detailed drawings, i started running at 40 amp and increased the speed to reduce dross and that part works well, except with the higher heat now i burn through on narrow sections, im going to increase my kerf setting in sheetcam to try and correct that. I just had a guy email and ask me if i can cut 102" on my 4x8 table, my max travel distance is 105.5" so i'll mock up a sheet to 104" tommorow and see what happens.

EDD

[magma-joe]

Hey Edwardo, Sounds like you may have a chance to make some money with cutting the large sheet? How thick is it?

I have never tried 25 amps on 16 gage steel. What cutting IPM do you use at 25 amps? I think I saw a video on u tube of you cutting with a water mister hooked up on your machine? Did it help alot?

I visited the hardware store last week and noticed an adjustable water mist spray head for drip irrigation systems. Got me to thinking how easy it would be to incorporate a solenoid valve in line to make the mister come on automaticly.

[Edwardo]

Hi Joe

I didnt write any setting info down on running 25 amps like i do now, i'll be doing another 16 ga later today after i do this 1/8th up and will try it at 25 amps, will write the settings down and post it, the water mister worked good but seemed to add to the dross on 16 ga, 1/8 it didnt affect at all and pretty much eliminated the dust and plasma gases along with the downdraft. i have taken the mister off as i want to modify it to a line on a tap instead of using a small pump and havent had the chance to finish it yet, i think a fine mist instead of a stream of water would work better dross wise, plus it helps reduce any warping of the thinner sheets while cutting.
Will see about cutting these long peices also, i just got the call yesterday to head back to work down in Mexico on the 13th, so time is a factor also... was hoping to take the summer off and do metal work but with the economy the way it is today i'd be a fool to turn down guarenteed money. Moth ball everything till i get back home in 8 weeks, then fire up again.

EDD