Multi-headed plasma needs syncro of the piercing with independant plasma units and THC adjust for each head. We did a conceptional design for a four headed one but the customer thought the NRE fee (engineering expense) as too high. I have helped build a two headed machine (one plasma one oxy) and the two heads were mounted opposite each other on the same carriage on the gantry. I think things move too fast for magnets be the primary holding feature. Some of the break-away heads use super strong magnets but there are locator pins to give it a pivot point.
From a cost standpoint it's about as economical to have a RASP setup (Redundant Array of Small Plasmas). That is, several smaller tables working independantly!
One operator can easily run two or three tables. |