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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Posts
    4

    Plasma cutter, Ideas and suggestions

    Hi guys,

    Making a 4 X 4 plasma table.

    20mm round precision rail supported.
    4 X 425ox in Nema 23 stepper motors. 2 for X axis,
    48 V 10amp Switching power supply
    gecko g540 drive
    Running belts, and 15 tooth pulley direct drive to the belt. (similar to Fiero Addiction)
    Going to use Mach 3



    Wanting to get my head around a few options and get some ideas.
    So just some questions for the masters!
    1. I am looking for a decent plasma cutter around the $1500 AUD mark. (im from Australia)
      Wanting to be able to cut 12mm plate, if ever needed!

    2. How does every one control there plasma when to switch on and off?

    3. Wanting to know if its possible to run the Z axis with 100mm of travel and control the torch height myself using Mach 3. eg set standards where you select your material thickness and it raises or lowers the torch height to the correct height. So have presets for 1.6, 3, 6, 8, 10, 12mm Thicknesses?

    4. Has anyone purchased from this ebay seller. He has been very help full with all my questions! He has got the Gecko G540 and case, all wired!
      http://cgi.ebay.com.au/G540-4-Axis-G...item439c891608

    5. Looking a a cheap Dell computer on ebay. Its got on board graphics is that adequate?



    Thanks for all your help guys
    Mitchell

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    92
    Computer horsepower is probably not very important. Anything with half a gig of RAM and built within the last 2 or 3 years should be enough. Just make sure you don't get Vista. :-)

    At the very least check with the provider of the CAD/CNC software you are going to use and verify the specs they suggest for the computer. They might even call for Vista...but I doubt it.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    2247
    This would work great in a perfect world...where the slats never get any slag buildup......and all plate remained perfectly flat. For those two reasons....for best THC you need a method for sensing the surface before every cut......then the ability to retract to pierce height, then fire the torch, wit for pierce to complete (timer) then rapidly index to cut height, start x and y motion.....then activate the real time arc voltage based torch height control.

    There are many machines that do all of the above.....and many that don't. The drawback if you cannot control pierce height accuracy to within .020" to .030" of manufacturers suggested pierce height....will be short nozzle life and poor cut quality. There is not a piece of steel on the planet that will stay within that flatness range when sitting on the slats of a cutting machine with a 25,000 degree arc slicing through!

    Jim Colt

    [*] Wanting to know if its possible to run the Z axis with 100mm of travel and control the torch height myself using Mach 3. eg set standards where you select your material thickness and it raises or lowers the torch height to the correct height. So have presets for 1.6, 3, 6, 8, 10, 12mm Thicknesse

    Thanks for all your help guys
    Mitchell[/QUOTE]

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Posts
    287

    Your table build Duke

    Hi Duke,

    first of all I've sent you a private message plus a little backup one because I can't find where I can view private messages which I've sent. Was wondering if it just vanished in the cnczone system. If you didn't get them let me know through these messages.

    I've got a Hypertherm 1250 and I think it's max rating for machine use is only a half inch. From what I've picked up on forums, etc this is half of its' hand torch thickness capability the reason for this is to do with piercing. When you're hand cutting you can angle the torch or start piercing from the edge which greatly reducing all the blowback into the nozzle. With machine cutting however this luxury doesn't exist and supposedly the nozzle won't last long trying to pierce the same thickness. I suppose if it's not too much of a hassle you could alter your start points to be just on the edge or maybe drill a hole at a start point and make sure your "pierce" will be on the edge of the hole. That might get tiring real quick though. I have no idea what you'll get for $1500. Mine cost $6000 with a hand torch less than two year ago but it will probably be less now due to the US exchange rate. Hypertherm's also rated as the bees knees though and maybe its price is higher than other brands of equal size.

    You remind me of myself when I first started learning all of this and was trying to figure out how to do so much of it manually and cheaply. I gradually weakened as I felt like I was chasing my tail and just bit the bullet and started buying the ready made gear to do the job. There may be some people who say they've built a table for not much but I can't figure out how to do it. I mean just add up even cheap torch height controller, floating Z-axis, rails, motors, drives, power supply, etc, etc and the dollars mount up. Then there's the software like CAM (I bought sheetcam) and the licenced version of Mach3. I'm using the MP3000 with digital torch height control from CandCnc. They also have full packages ready made which if I could do everything again I would probably buy. The price may work out comparable when you add up all the individual bits and peices you put together youself to make a system. And you're up and running much quicker on the electrical side that is. I believe their power supply has some sofistication to it such is regenerative braking to prevent sudden stops causing overvoltage and burning out the stepper drives. Check out there website they have complete packages where Mach is also in there. Their support is excellent too with a public Yahoo forum and where questions are promptly answered.

    Anyway let me know if you got my private message.

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