Finally starting my build!

[Oldsarge]

Sure can! Caught it quickly though... I had to add some tension to the springs, when switching directions quickly it skipped a tooth, so it's tracking nicely now... no binding at all... everything is lined up nicely.

Pacific welding.. yes, I found a product made by Miller Welding that is made specifically for plasma tables for rust control. Nothing to vaporize into carcinogens etc, so I'm looking forward to getting it. Thing is, it's only available in 100 Lb drums. It's going to take about 20 lbs to do the initial treatment to the volume I have, and the rest is for maintenance. Check it out here: http://weldingsupplies.dynaflux.com/ite ... nt/360-100

Cost about $200 for the drum, but I figure it's all I'll ever need to buy! I'll shoot some video tomorrow & post it up. BTW, got those 2 discs for you... need to figure out a time to get together!


Mike

[JJsCustomDesigns]

Man, you hammered that out in no time. Awesome job on the table!

[Oldsarge]

Man, you hammered that out in no time. Awesome job on the table!

Thanks! I've been working over the build in my head for so long it almost built itself, but man was that some hard weeks! Still have a ways to go, but I'm in the home stretch! A few hours finishing the wiring in the 1250, add the slats, and start dialing it in... Hopefully by the end of the week!


Oldsarge

[Oldsarge]

Morning! Posting a video, and have a question.... When first starting everything the directions from CandCNC has you go into the router profile to test the motors... Really it's just to let you jog everything to test that it's all hooked up right & working. I'm assuming it's just that it's that profile and the fact that I haven't done any motor tuning yet, but the gantry moves at 98 inches per minute, really slow. I'm hoping that it's the profile... Any thoughts? Time to start reading!

http://youtu.be/X3igLPcFq3M

Oldsarge

[JJsCustomDesigns]

Press SHFT key along with an arrow key. Thatll make it move rapid. I watched your vid... bump up your FeedRate on the lower right hand side of the screen. Im sure youll have to fine tune your motor setup. But that should get your gantry moving around a little bit faster.

[plain ol Bill]

Did ya faint when you pressed an arrow key and something actually happened?? I remember the feeling when something actually moved on mine - man it was great! You are so close now to being done now Mike. A little motor tuning and various tweaking and you will be whacking out parts. I have told a lot of guys this and it is so true "Having a CNC plasma cutter changes the way you work".

[Oldsarge]

When I heard the motors move I was so excited! I put so many hours into the build and was so tired that I just sat there like a kid on Christmas jogging the gantry all over the place!

Tomorrow night I'm going to try to finish all the wiring and button everything up. Lots of learning to do on the software now. I have some training videos on Mach and Sheetcam that I need to watch then it's on to cutting!

Talking to you & others I think I've decided to just make a simple slat system.... I can always add something to it later once I get everything up & cutting. I do have one pesky seep at the front edge of the table I need to chase down, so when I get the preservative in I'll drain the table down and take care of that.... There's an electronics store over in Mottman and I think they may have the microswitches I need for my limit switches, so I'll visit them tomorrow as well.

Can't wait to post a video of my first cuts!

[plain ol Bill]

ERI is the place - electronics resources inc. Really nice place to find good stuff and knowledgable folks too. When you want to give me a shout and I will come in and help some with Sheetcam. I love that program! I can show you a few things that might help you when getting started.

[Oldsarge]

That's the place! Got 3 really nice roller microswitches today and a few sticks of 1/8 x 3 bar for slats. Came up with an awesome plan for the slats so I'll post more on tgat later. Headed for the shop in a few minutes to finish my wiring!

Mike

[Oldsarge]

Ran the wiring for all the limit/home switches last night, as well as wiring the digital current probe and wiring everything back to the DTHC port. Ran the wiring into the control box then realized I didn't have enough spade connectors to hook everything up Aaaaaarghh! Back to the electronics store today..... want to get some smaller connectors for the microswitches,

Once I got all modules connected I loaded the correct profile for Mach, and Bazinga! The gantry moves like a scalded cat now! I'll finish all the wiring and hookup of the limit switches tonight, then it's just a matter of setting up the slats. I have an Evolution Rage metal chop saw that takes a 1/8" kerf when cutting, so I picked up 2 sticks of 1 1/2" square tube with 1/8" wall. I'll measure out 3" spacing, and cut kerfs the length of the tube and tack those to the sides of the water pan. Then it's just a matter of pushing the slats into the notched square tube. A little more motor tuning, then it's off to school on the software!

Oldsarge

[Oldsarge]

Started working on the breakaway torch mount after work today. Should have no problems getting it finished tomorrow. Have a bunch of comp time, so I'm off tomorrow, and will be in the shop all day Saturday too! I picked up the drum of water treatment today, so I'll be adding that this weekend as well. Camera pics, but I'll try to get some good ones tomorrow.... The mounting plates are some 3" x 4" pieces of aluminum left over from the first attempt at my Y rail bearing mounts. I made a carrier plate welded to a piece of 5/8" round rod so I could chuck them in the lathe.

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I'm also planning to order a tethered switch for the torch mount. When the torch breaks loose, it will pull the tether ring out and that will kill the torch and motion. Will also be adding a line so that when the torch breaks away & kills everything that it won't fall down into the water, but that's something I can add later. There's so many homes and limits built into the Dragon cut that it'll be easy to do...

Planning to spend the day Saturday tuning motors, and seeing if I can figure out how to load a file & cut it. I'm sure I'm going to have a bunch of questions, but I'll try to work through as much as I can.

Oldsarge

[Oldsarge]

Had a pretty productive day... spent most of it on the breakaway torch mount, and I'm very happy with the results. Tomorrow I'll do the slat system, the water treatment, then it's time to start dialing everything in. Tie up loose wires, clean up the shop & start cutting! Here's some pics and a video of the torch mount in action....

http://youtu.be/YAptoQWHLWk

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This is a link to the magnets I used for the mount: http://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=D82B-N52

I buy a lot of magnets from them, they are very useful in the shop for misc. tasks. Tomorrow I should be close to the end of the build, then it's on to tuning & dialing everything in... have my fingers crossed that the learning curve isn't too steep!

Night all!


Oldsarge

[JJsCustomDesigns]

Your build is great. I cant wait to start my bigger table build. The extra time you took to keep your build thread up to date is greatly appreciated.

Cant wait to see it cutting some steel.

[Oldsarge]

Your build is great. I cant wait to start my bigger table build. The extra time you took to keep your build thread up to date is greatly appreciated.

Cant wait to see it cutting some steel.

Thanks! I hope I've posted some info that some will find useful.... This was a hard build, but I'm glad I took it on. Bill came over today and gave me a few pointers on SheetCam today, and I wish I could say I remember it all! Clicked on the "Fire Torch" icon, and guess what? The torch fired!!!! That was an awesome feeling!

My son helped me do some tuning on the movement of the motors, and I have all axis within .001 or so of movement. Now I just have to figure out how to configure all the stuff in Mach to make everything move the way it's supposed to. Time to hit the books tomorrow!

I added the rust inhibitor today as well, so I'll report back on that after a few days or so to see how it works.....

Oldsarge

[Oldsarge]

Well, 54 days since I started the build in earnest. It's been a real eye-opening experience, and I'm continuing to learn as I go. Pretty much worked on the table every day after work until 8 or 9 at night, and every weekend 14 or so hours Saturdays and half days on Sundays. This afternoon, after chasing gremlins for almost a week, I loaded a small file and cut it from beginning to end, and it looked pretty nice. I think I can safely say the table build part is completed, and now it's just a matter of figuring out the dark art of matching material to all the variables that affect cut height, speed, thc, consumables etc....

I'd like to thank everybody who offered their help with the build.... This is a great forum, and the folks who hang out here are some of the most talented people I've met in any forum I've been to.... The willingness to help others is really great. I hope that soon I may be able to contribute something back!

Bought 6 sheets of 11 gauge today 3' x 12' for $50 a sheet.... i hope that by the time I work through that much steel that I have all the bugs worked ouot and am making some nice projects. Thanks again!

Oldsarge

[Oldsarge]

This will probably be my last post in this thread.... I have the machine cutting pretty good. A little more tuning, and I'll be dialed in. Here's a video of the table cutting... Sorry for the quality, I was really tired today. Here's some things I've cut so far:

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And here's the video of the table cutting:

http://youtu.be/h7O5o0kJ62k

Thanks again for all the help, and I'll see you on the forum!

Oldsarge

[muzza]

Congratulations Mike on a job well done, looks fantastic and works too, that's the bonus of lots of planning. Also thanks for taking the time to share your journey with us.
Murray

[Capstone]

Hey, new to the forum. stumbled upon your videos first and then followed you to Spider Plasma. You're a great example for a DIY'er to follow.

Really appreciate all your posts, they've been a big help and I am very impressed with the decisions you made on design; so I am planning to mimic the basic concepts on a roll-away 5x5 table.

On your table/rail setup, I did have just a couple of questions if you don't mind and hopefully these questions are not repeats and can help someone else besides me.

Which 90' Angle Track-roller Rails did you actually use on the "Y" axis?
Were they hardened? What height? 5/8"? 7/8"? Did you have them made/buy them locally?

You mentioned a "K2 Z-axis" in your video, can I assume you purchased the VELOX CNC Plasma Float Head - 4.5" Z axis. Linear Z - K2 CNC Specs? Did you go with length did you get? 4.5" or longer?

Lastly, I imagine you've had a good amount of time to use your table, what if anything, would you do anything different at this stage with the gantry or water table design?