Burntables, To change gantry and all electronics or not?

For general topics and questions that do not fit into any of the other categories or forums.
Post Reply
Pamela K.
1/2 Star Member
1/2 Star Member
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Jan 25, 2018 11:59 pm

Burntables, To change gantry and all electronics or not?

Post by Pamela K. »

We have a Burntables, bought it used. We went to the school in Hutto TX to learn the software and also got tech support for paying $500.00 to go. Well, we have had nothing but trouble getting it to run like it should. We have spent the last month on trying everything people has tried helping us with, to no avail. I saw on here someone mentioning a few places where a person could go if they needed to replace those things. #1- should we replace gantry, one person said it weighs 150 and another said it weighed 110, I don't know for a fact, but it is huge compared to what we have seen on different sites. #2-should we just replace the electronics and keep the old gantry?
We are ready to do something besides having disappointment after disappointment. I watched a video where someone had taken their Burntables somewhere and they replaced the rails and put a whole new setup on it. I am hard headed and would love to have fixed it myself, but this is starting to wear on my last nerve, I was hoping we could get it up and running and start paying for the machine we bought. We knew nothing about Burntables before we got this one. Wait, yes I did, I was reading about Burntables reviews on our way to pick up this machine, and they were nothing but bad reviews. We stopped and my husband called Burntables Company and the guy said there are Burntable and Burntables and the reviews weren't meant for their machine. Now I understand what the guy did. He made a play on his words that made it sound like there was another company called Burntable. He also knew we would be coming to Hutto to the class because my husband had said we would be glad to have the class and life time support. If you buy a used table and go to their class you get lifetime support and us not knowing about these machines it sounded great. So we went ahead and bought the table. The support we got was told to do a few things and when it didn't work they wanted us to send our computer and control box in and they could look at it for $150.00 an hour. We listened to advice from people on these forums that have plasma cutters and y'all helped us get it running again, only to have another problem to come up. Now the computer won't talk to the box so it wont do anything.
So, that's our situation. Advice please on who or where to get our gantry and electronics. We are ready to burn some metal instead of having a case of the reds. Thanks in advance.
motoguy
4 Star Elite Contributing Member
4 Star Elite Contributing Member
Posts: 1184
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2015 12:05 pm
Location: Central MO, USA

Re: Burntables, To change gantry and all electronics or not?

Post by motoguy »

Tom and CandCNC did the YouTube video on the Burntables retrofit. Here is the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH4rVFOKmvM

Here is the CandCNC website: www.candcnc.com

Tom is on here, I think his userid is CandCNC.

Sorry to hear you got taken on the Burntables. Any chance you paid with a credit card, or other form where you could challenge the payment and return the table?
Bulltear 6x12 w/ Proton Z axis & watertable
CommandCNC/Linux w/ Ohmic & HyT options
Hypertherm Powermax 85 w/ machine torch
Solidworks, Coreldraw X7, Inkscape, Sheetcam
Pamela K.
1/2 Star Member
1/2 Star Member
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Jan 25, 2018 11:59 pm

Re: Burntables, To change gantry and all electronics or not?

Post by Pamela K. »

Thanks for the info on my questions. We bought it used so we don't really have a leg to stand on for a return on our money. We feel taken advantage of but there is nothing we can do about it, or at least I don't think we can. We are just to the point of getting a new gantry fixed up with all the latest technology. The table it's self is heavy duty made so we are looking into upgrading to a better set up. I am so ready to have a good system so we can start making our money back. We are so new to this, we should have done more homework on it. But I am thankful we can get it fixed up to be a better table than we have right now. Again, thank you!
whiskeymike
3 Star Member
3 Star Member
Posts: 345
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2015 5:23 pm
Location: Austin, TX

Re: Burntables, To change gantry and all electronics or not?

Post by whiskeymike »

Where about are you located Pam?
Pamela K.
1/2 Star Member
1/2 Star Member
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Jan 25, 2018 11:59 pm

Re: Burntables, To change gantry and all electronics or not?

Post by Pamela K. »

I am 45 miles North of Lake Charles, in DeRidder.
tcaudle
4 Star Elite Contributing Member
4 Star Elite Contributing Member
Posts: 1353
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2012 6:47 pm

Re: Burntables, To change gantry and all electronics or not?

Post by tcaudle »

Pam , Sorry to hear you are having problems. Honestly to make the BT cut "as it Should" takes more than some tweaks or partial upgrades. There are serious flaws in the design way beyond just the THC and the electronics. It boils down to Physics and mechanics. The "rail" system is just a hand fabbed box out of angle iron with small bearings runing on the flat side of the angle iron. With no bearings under the carriages the only thing holding the 110 lb gantry down is gravity and the pinion gear into the rack. Replacing the motors and electronics can help (top acceleration on the single motor gantry was 4.)....that makes the acceleration and corner performance dismal above about 70 IPM cut speeds.. The newer two motor design is better at 10 IPS/sec but the MINIMUM for moderate performance is 25 IPSec/sec. I won't bore you with the Z axis problems. It simply has to be replaced.

Hopefully you got a good enough deal to let you spend some money to fix both the controller and mechanics issues.

We did the video to expose the problems and to show a path to make it work , as you stated. "Like it Should". We don't do table mechanics (except our recent addition of a Super Z package). If you need to have someone actually do a full retro you can contact me via e-mail (I don't use the forum messaging) and I can give you the name of guy that used to work for me as my main tech support and was involved in that first retro over 3 years ago. He has a thriving fabrication shop and powder Coat business but also builds tables and does retro -fits.
He is highly qualified to do the retro and train you on how to use the modern control system and the DTHC. He is here in Texas just down the street from our factory . He is currently (as of yesterday) doing a retro on a BT 5 X 10. He can send you photos of the progress. while Lake Charles is not around the corner its just one state away. I am not trying to drum up business but I am on a mission to try and help CNC Orphans from many of the vendors.
In the 12rs we have been doing this we have witnessed a whole string of companies come and go. Most started with good intentions and just were poor business persons. There are some others that just built junk that would never work right and ignore any user related complaints.
Brand X
3.5 Star Member
3.5 Star Member
Posts: 511
Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2014 2:48 pm

Re: Burntables, To change gantry and all electronics or not?

Post by Brand X »

That mission kind of started with the Practical CNC Tables..Yes i was one of the lucky ones to buy their THC. :) Have to mention Les at Sheetcam, helping people out too.. Two of the best on helping disillusioned Table owners.
tcaudle
4 Star Elite Contributing Member
4 Star Elite Contributing Member
Posts: 1353
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2012 6:47 pm

Re: Burntables, To change gantry and all electronics or not?

Post by tcaudle »

DyanCNC tables were an offshoot (copy of) the Practical tables except they had a working (our) THC. Everybody (I hope) knows the LighteningCNC table saga. There are lots of others. There will be more in the future.
Brand X
3.5 Star Member
3.5 Star Member
Posts: 511
Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2014 2:48 pm

Re: Burntables, To change gantry and all electronics or not?

Post by Brand X »

Yes, the owner of DynaCNC started with a Practical table. I drove up to Redmond, Wa. about the same time he changed his control box to a China made unit. Was not too much later, and they folded up.. In many ways it was still a better table then a practical,or a burn table for that matter. I still have a practical table, and the original upgraded control box, and thc from you.. The control box is about 11+ years old,, Upgraded to another driver for another motor, and the 3100 THC setup. Work nice with some CNC router parts upgrade.. I understand exactly how most burnable owners feel. Although there was some good parts on my original table, just not enough of them.. Even got the Z working about as well as any of them out.. Many ways to fix the machines, but you still need a good THC,motor control box as the heart of it..Those gets you pointed in the right direction.
Borntofabricate
1.5 Star Member
1.5 Star Member
Posts: 25
Joined: Mon Oct 24, 2011 10:04 am

Re: Burntables, To change gantry and all electronics or not?

Post by Borntofabricate »

If your intention is to make money, as opposed to a CNC hobby that is more about tinkering with a table then cutting parts, then I would try to get it operating (talking to the box) and then immediately SELL it. Even if I couldn't get it running I would still sell it at a loss and the sooner the better. No way personally I would spend time (months) and money trying to upgrade it and that's coming from a guy with a background in electronics that's very well versed in mechanics as well. I would also post reviews on the BBB and Yelp for the bogus story about burntable vs burntables. Once it gone and good riddance I would do weeks of research before settling on another brand. Pick one of the top 5 companies with a good reputation for support and you'll be 100x better off. If you sign up for the CNC plasma groups on facebook you'll quickly get a good feel for what companies to stay away from.
tcaudle
4 Star Elite Contributing Member
4 Star Elite Contributing Member
Posts: 1353
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2012 6:47 pm

Re: Burntables, To change gantry and all electronics or not?

Post by tcaudle »

The only thing left at the end of a FULL upgrade is the bottom table. slats and the paint job. While it's true that you can probably build one yourself for not much more, they will have to find a "Pigeon" to sell it to. Someone that is not on this list !
whiskeymike
3 Star Member
3 Star Member
Posts: 345
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2015 5:23 pm
Location: Austin, TX

Re: Burntables, To change gantry and all electronics or not?

Post by whiskeymike »

Reason I asked where you were located was trying to provide advice on who might help. Being in LA, Tcaudle and his recommendation are a good choice. His company makes great controllers that are used in many systems and he’s based in Dallas. If you were further north, i’d Suggest you start with star labs. They make full tables, gantry kits and use CandCNC controllers.

Sorry to hear of the difficulties. It’s a hard way to start out in this space.
Post Reply

Return to “CNC Plasma Cutters General Forum”