CNC Plasma table

[SuperBuickGuy]

mindblowingly stupid question time.

Do I have to buy a license to Solidworks to input the design onto Mach4?

[SuperBuickGuy]

not an answer to my question, but saving this for later

http://www.pmdx.com/mach4hobby

[SuperBuickGuy]

onward, make square


welded in corner braces


square the glides



tack the bolts in place


fine tune the cross bar


by spacing the wheels


more assembly


time to build the grill


a bit more assembly required

[SuperBuickGuy]

onward... the original design didn't have bearings... not sure why not but I'm adding them


got the grill done


and worked on the tower

[SuperBuickGuy]

presuming the last parts come in, this should be done next week








yep, already stacking stuff on it.... it's actually useable as a plasma cutting table now.




now to get the right torch, the controller that connects the computer to the table, wire the table and get more belt.... I suspect the issue is going to be those belts being too small and stretchy

[SuperBuickGuy]

to answer my own question. to create g-code, you can use lots of different (including open-source) products to take your drawing and make it into a file the table will recognize. That is generally known as g-code.

I plan on using Mach4 with an ethernet cable to a smoothstepper then to the cheapy controllers. wish me luck

[SuperBuickGuy]

I'm going to use Mach3 - I've got several old computers from my office so a serial port isn't a big deal.... and since this is a teach-me-to-do kind of thing, old and cheap are good things. In that vein.....
Buy one of these
https://www.amazon.com/eastwood-plas.../dp/b00kyhl2tw
then one of these
https://www.amazon.com/SainSmart-4-A...+4+Axis+Kit%2C
buy these
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QFMPMOG...544853705&sr=1
some 3/8 bolts, spring washers....
there's also drive pulleys

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CSNLTY3/ref=dp_prsubs_2

then make a rail kit or buy any of the $200 ones around.

Truly less then $1,000 plus a plasma machine.

When this is all done, I'll put a 'kit' on Amazon if anyone else wants to follow this path.... likely I'll make brackets too, I think this gets done and I'll build a new one almost immediately using this machine to cut out its parts.
The one thing I haven't shown yet is I'm going to put a pan filled with sand as spark arrestor.

[SuperBuickGuy]

*crickets*

[silver_bullet]

Exemplary job on a thin budget!

[SuperBuickGuy]

more bearings.... whee


it's funny I can spend more time fine tuning then I ever do building


like tonight - most of my time was spent making this work....


the biggest flaw of this design is keeping the play out of the various moving parts is not easy.... almost all require at least 3 hands.... ah well, if it were easy....

[Loren]

it's funny I can spend more time fine tuning then I ever do building

Always, when working on something with moving parts. It's like if you had to hike a path up to a mountaintop and when you got there, you had to go back and start over again only now this time, hike up the same path perfectly...

[Deaf Bob]

*crickets*

The 3 torch head burn table used water in a tank under the cutting surface.
Water was about 12-16" under the table surface..
Just have the sand damp so it does not blow out

[SuperBuickGuy]

more bearings.... more work

[SuperBuickGuy]

more work - wood shelf


lay out water pan


I realize most haven't bend pans ... so some pictures of the process

when the brake isn't deep enough, you have to get clever on how to brake up the pan



now you see the issue


yep, it's long - for a reason, so I can make the pan removable and have a drain

[SuperBuickGuy]

continuing the puzzle with no instructions... how to run the belt
like this?

nope
maybe like this

nope
surely this must be it

nope
it is like this... perfect, no?

these are fun

ugh, I think the belt may have been the easy bit