Langmuir XR

[tstturner]

Hello everyone. New to cnc plasma but lots of experience with cnc routing. Looking to learn as much as possible here and share any knowledge I may have.

I use Solidworks for modeling and creating DXFs and Aspire for artwork and post processing. Sheetcam will be new to me but seems fairly straightforward.

Look forward to being part of the conversation

[adbuch]

Welcome aboard! What kind of plasma cutting setup do you have, or are you still shopping? With your other cad/cam background - this will certainly give you a "leg up" with your cnc plasma cutting. There are a few on this forum who actually use VCarve Pro for their cad/cam and this seems to work well for them. I expect that Sheetcam will be the preferred route to take for you. You can use the search function to find specific topics of interest, and I would highly recommend becoming a paying member ($20 per year) for the additional benefits offered. Good luck and happy cutting!
David

[acourtjester]

Welcome abroad I have done lots of routing and plasma activities on my table, SheetCam will do both types of actions. Main difference is routing you are working below the surface of the material and Plasma is just above it. You can do both 2-D and 2.5-D with sheetcam but no 3-d unless you buy the addon optional package. There is a great free software package for routing and engraving called F-Engrave, and another fair priced package called EstlCam. You having Aspire you really don't need other packages for routing. Show some of what you have done to inspire others you can post them in the "Project and Picture Gallery" section.

[tstturner]

Welcome aboard! What kind of plasma cutting setup do you have, or are you still shopping? With your other cad/cam background - this will certainly give you a "leg up" with your cnc plasma cutting. There are a few on this forum who actually use VCarve Pro for their cad/cam and this seems to work well for them. I expect that Sheetcam will be the preferred route to take for you. You can use the search function to find specific topics of interest, and I would highly recommend becoming a paying member ($20 per year) for the additional benefits offered. Good luck and happy cutting!
David

I pre-ordered a Langmuir XR 4X8 table. I am probably going to get an AVID CNC 5x10 router in the spring. I have experience with Vision routers; kinda small though (only a 25x50 table). Don't want to make the mistake that I should have gone bigger.

Thanks for the advice about sheetcam. I didn't know if Aspire has a post processor for Langmuir.

[tstturner]

Welcome abroad I have done lots of routing and plasma activities on my table, SheetCam will do both types of actions. Main difference is routing you are working below the surface of the material and Plasma is just above it. You can do both 2-D and 2.5-D with sheetcam but no 3-d unless you buy the addon optional package. There is a great free software package for routing and engraving called F-Engrave, and another fair priced package called EstlCam. You having Aspire you really don't need other packages for routing. Show some of what you have done to inspire others you can post them in the "Project and Picture Gallery" section.

I'll go throw some of my projects in there so you all can see. Most of the stuff I do is conceptualized in solidworks or aspire prior to building.

[acourtjester]

Little show and tell never hurts.

[adbuch]

Welcome aboard! What kind of plasma cutting setup do you have, or are you still shopping? With your other cad/cam background - this will certainly give you a "leg up" with your cnc plasma cutting. There are a few on this forum who actually use VCarve Pro for their cad/cam and this seems to work well for them. I expect that Sheetcam will be the preferred route to take for you. You can use the search function to find specific topics of interest, and I would highly recommend becoming a paying member ($20 per year) for the additional benefits offered. Good luck and happy cutting!
David

I pre-ordered a Langmuir XR 4X8 table. I am probably going to get an AVID CNC 5x10 router in the spring. I have experience with Vision routers; kinda small though (only a 25x50 table). Don't want to make the mistake that I should have gone bigger.

Thanks for the advice about sheetcam. I didn't know if Aspire has a post processor for Langmuir.

Yes - bigger is usually better as long as you have room in your garage/shop. I like the Avid machines and own two of them - Pro4848 and Pro2448. I do mostly smaller projects and really don't have the space for anything larger. One of the beauties of the Avid is that the are easily expandable in size. The Pro4848 can be expanded in length in 4 ft. increments - 4x8, 4x12, etc. The current Avid Pro series ship with Mach4, which I have not used. One of mine is running Mach3, and the other Centroid Acorn CNC12. One of the benefits of using Mach3 is that it is compatible with the Sheetcam Scanything auto-tracing software/hardware. This is great - the whole package including camera/lamp/software is under $200 and allows for very accurate auto-tracing of cardboard patterns, physical objects, and so-on. I use my Pro4848 for wood routing and auto-tracing, and the Pro2448 for machining small aluminum parts.

I do use Aspire, and I don't think it has any post processors for cnc plasma cutting - although they make it very easy to modify their post processors to create one. There is one member here who has created a post processor for cnc plasma cutting with his Vectric software. I seem to recall he is using VCarve Pro and he does have some demonstration videos on Youtube.

David

[adbuch]

Here are a few pictures of my Avid cnc routers and plasma table. I would have bought two of the 4x4 Avid tables, but I just couldn't fit the second 4x4 in the shop.
David

[tstturner]

Welcome aboard! What kind of plasma cutting setup do you have, or are you still shopping? With your other cad/cam background - this will certainly give you a "leg up" with your cnc plasma cutting. There are a few on this forum who actually use VCarve Pro for their cad/cam and this seems to work well for them. I expect that Sheetcam will be the preferred route to take for you. You can use the search function to find specific topics of interest, and I would highly recommend becoming a paying member ($20 per year) for the additional benefits offered. Good luck and happy cutting!
David

I pre-ordered a Langmuir XR 4X8 table. I am probably going to get an AVID CNC 5x10 router in the spring. I have experience with Vision routers; kinda small though (only a 25x50 table). Don't want to make the mistake that I should have gone bigger.

Thanks for the advice about sheetcam. I didn't know if Aspire has a post processor for Langmuir.

Yes - bigger is usually better as long as you have room in your garage/shop. I like the Avid machines and own two of them - Pro4848 and Pro2448. I do mostly smaller projects and really don't have the space for anything larger. One of the beauties of the Avid is that the are easily expandable in size. The Pro4848 can be expanded in length in 4 ft. increments - 4x8, 4x12, etc. The current Avid Pro series ship with Mach4, which I have not used. One of mine is running Mach3, and the other Centroid Acorn CNC12. One of the benefits of using Mach3 is that it is compatible with the Sheetcam Scanything auto-tracing software/hardware. This is great - the whole package including camera/lamp/software is under $200 and allows for very accurate auto-tracing of cardboard patterns, physical objects, and so-on. I use my Pro4848 for wood routing and auto-tracing, and the Pro2448 for machining small aluminum parts.

I do use Aspire, and I don't think it has any post processors for cnc plasma cutting - although they make it very easy to modify their post processors to create one. There is one member here who has created a post processor for cnc plasma cutting with his Vectric software. I seem to recall he is using VCarve Pro and he does have some demonstration videos on Youtube.

David

I really do like that Avid is expandable. I live in PA and up here, much like everywhere I would imagine, is live edge crazy. I want the ability to flatten 10 ft slabs and make some custom tables like mine. Wood and metal together are really cool in my opinion.

Thanks for the advice on the AVID.

[acourtjester]

I bet that takes some time for flatten that table top on a CNC router table. There are similar tables that they have use colored epoxy where you have the clear.

[tstturner]

I bet that takes some time for flatten that table top on a CNC router table. There are similar tables that they have use colored epoxy where you have the clear.

These slabs were flattened on a manual gang router flattening jig. With a CNC with a large 4 in cutter, probably 30 min a side... The wife chose to do glass instead of resin and I think it turned out awesome.

[acourtjester]

The table is awesome I was just pointing out a different appearance of other tables that were posted on YouTube. Not to say yours is bad.

[tstturner]

The table is awesome I was just pointing out a different appearance of other tables that were posted on YouTube. Not to say yours is bad.

Thanks! The wife had the grand design!

[adbuch]

I pre-ordered a Langmuir XR 4X8 table. I am probably going to get an AVID CNC 5x10 router in the spring. I have experience with Vision routers; kinda small though (only a 25x50 table). Don't want to make the mistake that I should have gone bigger.

Thanks for the advice about sheetcam. I didn't know if Aspire has a post processor for Langmuir.

Frank Howarth has some great videos showing his Avid 4x8 router build (formerly CNC Router Parts).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY8v0j6uEJc

He's also got a good one showing how he expanded it to 4x12.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygND7TFziF8

And adding a vertical spoil board. Lots of good ideas here!
David

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_uDhn77Qaw

[acourtjester]

Nest stuff, I watched a video sometime back where a guy used his table with the angled section to make what he called a cloud bowl. And oddly enough it was the same guy. He does great videos too, great to see when you set your mind free the things you can do. Ideas become plans and plans become things, and you get a big smile on your face.