Last week I was all set to get a PlasmaCam... Then a friend told me about CNCZone.com.

Whew.....!

I've got it narrowed down to the Dynatorch, Practical, or Torchmate.
I like the Dynatorch but want to also have the option to router. They say the gantry is made for a plasma not a router.
I like the Torchmate, but it has steppers not servos... just how big of a deal is this for a hobbyist like me?
I like the Practiacal but haven't recieved my price quote yet...

I'm planning on placing the order this week...

I've gone back about 5 pages in this topic and have found some great info, just wondering if you guys can give me anything lastly to push me towards one company.

OK... I have it narrowed down to the Practial CNC with servos and DTHC, and the Dynatorch. The DT is about 1100.00 cheaper, and I can get free training if I pick it up in KY. But the Practical can accept a router and the DT can't. I'm sure I could "put" a router on it, but will the software be able to handle it?

Any opinions on either...

I own a practical table, I would not consider another table from them unless it had linear rails, and servos. I can rout plastic or wood no problem but light aluminum is another story. The v- groove wheels need to be re-adjusted frequently.

I would recommend looking at the dyna cnc table good for routering and plasma cutting.

I have a practical (pcnc) table, and if i were to do it again.. i would go with a dyna table (dynamic plastic/dyna cnc-- not dynatorch)
All the "little things" you don't see or know about now, but will find you have to have later on, are already on the dynacnc.
do the reasearch now, it gets expensive after the fact when you have a pile o' parts sitting in the corner of the shop.
if you still want a pcnc table, i'll sell you mine, never used and half the price of new.....

I've actually gone towards the Practical table now... I will be using it mostly for plasma not routering, just wanted to have the option available to me.

Greenindustries.... are you serious about selling your PCNC table? Let me know ASAP!

Call me if you are 715-386-5337
Steve

The big reasons I didn't like the DynaCNC was Tech support that wasn't free, 6-8 weeks build time, and it was the most expensive of the four I liked.

Other than that... it seemed comparable to Practical, Dynatorch, and Torchmate.

Well I went and ordered up a Practical table. Going to pick it up next Monday. Getting a Thermal D 151 to cut with.

Scratch,
Good luck with your table. What guides did you order the square rails or the standard v wheels? Did you get the servo option or the stepper? I purchased my Practical table last year about this time. When you get yours would you be willing to take some pictures & post them?
I offer any help or tips I can give you.

Tip #1 go through the whole cd of assy instructions from practical before starting assy. of your table.

Hey Scratch,
Sorry about the delay, I don't have the time to look on here all that often with so much work to do....
I see that you went with the PCNC....best of luck !
If you do enough research, you can find out where this brand of machine lacks. spend some time on here looking through the past posts, as well as the yahoo sites (there are several there)
It will save you some time and $ if you go with sheetcam, mach 3, and candc's thc, that's what almost everybody ends up with in the long run (including myself) you'll have about another $1500 to $2000 into it, but it's kinda like death and taxes......
"G"

I went with the Servos, but didn't know abything about the rails and if there was an option. That's ok though since I'm broke now anyways....
I'll post pics when I get it home. I'm leaving on Sunday to pick it up from Practical, and and am getting trained on it from them on Monday. I'm picking it up assembled so I know I wont put it together with the gantry underneath the table or something.

I know everybody has their opinion on which table is best, and I did alot of research (I thought...) on them to figure out my choice. I'm hoping it's all in what you want and how you use it. You'll always find somebody who loves and hates every different type of product. Kinda like the Ford vs. Chevy debate.

Personally I'm a Jeep guy...

Hi. This is my first time asking for information since I joined.
I am also looking at purchasing from Practical CNC. I visited their shop in February and they were quite helpful. Scratch I would really like to hear what you think when you return from picking up and getting your machine. I would like some feedback on the software side of the machine. I have been using AutoCad for the past 15+ years. I have downloaded the demos from BobCad and WinCNC. I would be grateful for any input.

Thanks.

Just got back from there last night. REALLY nice people. very helpful. havent had a chance to do anything but unload it yet though. will post pics tonight or tomorrow. Still catching up on my other forums new posts.....

I know certain people like certain tables, and it seems that one of the common topics on this forum has been "which CNC talbe should I get" so here's why I bought my Practical table.
This is my opinion on what little I know about CNC tables so far.

People can build their own table, and I'm guessing you just want a sturdy, square table, that's accurate, and powerful enough to use a router with. (if routering is wanted)
Also you want speed, realiability and software that's easy to use. That's about it right...
OK now you could build a great table, by making it sturdy and square, put servo motors on it. put software that is easy to use and has a tech support number for it that you could call for free. I'm talkling for the software, you built the table so call yourself for TS. and as long as it was speedy and reliable, you'd be set right? There's always the little goodies like tool height switches and air and water misters that can be added to any table easily.

Again... I don't know much about CNC tables yet...

But if you wanted to BUY one, you'd want to get the most of the above qualities built in. As far as sturdyness and squareness goes. You could always reinforce any table you get. Make a SUB-frame out of steel if you had to.

Upgrade to servos for speed and strenth.

get some easy to use software that has free tech support for it and you'd be set.

I bought from Practical because:

I figured I could always beef up the table very easily. If I had to (which I don't think I do)
I upgraded to servos.
against some peoples judgement, I got their ATHC.
but one of the biggest reasons, was the free unlimited tech support on their software and the table itself.

The one negative thing I saw, was at their shop, they were making their own parts for the machine, on one of their tables. They had a BIG router, not a normal one, it was just a big fat motor routering out parts of aluminum. This was so big and heavy that they put on a tall heavy duty bridge instead of the normal bridge that came with the table.
This lead me to think that it was not built to handle alot of router use. But the I thought about how big that motor was and that I could see just about any table needing some modifiction to handle that type of weight.

Again... I know little about the CNC world yet. Just giving my opinions on it right now.

Also... does anybody know if I can get the Thermal Dynamics 151 to get as fine a cut as the Hypertherm. PCNC says the Hypertherm kerf width is 55 thou. Haven't got a hold of TD yet. Haven't bought yet, but want the TD.

Soory about the length... here's my table...

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y126/Scratchthejeepguy/485.jpg

Hummmmm. I know they offer 90 days FREE tech support at DynaCNC. I used it for FREE for the first 90 Days. You can get the rest of the year for just $495.00 unlimited tech support which adds up to about .23 cents per hour for the rest of the 9 months. Pretty cheap if you ask me. I don't know if you will work for .23 cents an hour but I would not. Considering the Superior Quality of the tech support I received from DynaCNC I would pay 5 times that much to get help if I needed it.

I also understand that the tech support is for the software support. If you have a machine problem it is considered warranty and they take the tech support call for 18 months for FREE!!!!!!! if you have any problems.

I guess you will get your free support from PCNC. Good luck. From what I have read and heard the support costs nothing and you get nothing. The story almost always stands true. " You get what you pay for" and zero means zero.

Please write us in about 3 months after you start running your PCNC machine and let us know if you are still wagging your tail about PCNC.

After 8 months of use of my DynaCNC table. I still LOVE IT and the support has been excelent!!!!

Sid

Scratch,
Congratulations on your new table! I see Practical has added more bracing to their tables since I bought mine a year ago. That should help strengthen eveything up for your table. I can not tell from the back side of your table if you have the v-guide wheels or the linear rails. If you have the linear rails, I hope they will stay adjusted for you, mine need adjusting more often than I would like.
I have practical's ATHC and use it almost every day. Mine works but I have never used any other one to compare it to so I don't have any thing to compare to.
If you are going to do plasma cutting in your nice shop DO NOT DO IT WITHOUT SOME KIND OF DUST COLLECTION! The kids toys & everything else will be black. I put sheet metal around the bottom of my table, hooked up a dust collector to the bottom & blank with cardboard around where you are not cutting.

Welcome Scratch to the fun of cnc where you are only limited by your imagination, and your wallet!

I'm not saying DynaCNC is better or anything, just saying it was MY choice. Isaw recently there were a couple guys were asking the same questions I was and wanted to throw my opinions out there. I talked to 2 different people with PCNC and they've both used them for over 2 years with no complaints. I'm sure with ANY table, you will find good luck and bad luck. just sharing my .02


I just unloaded it off the trailer into the garage. It will be going in my pole barn. Pouring cement on Monday which leads me to another question. I have 4 rooms planned for the pole barn.

a 17X12 office
a 17X12 tool room (storage of drills and stuff)
a 20X29 shop
a 20X29 paintbooth/wash area

(I've had this layout planned before I thought of the whole CNC idea BTW)

My question is would I want to section off a room just for the CNC table?
maybe a 17 by 10 area...? I could make my paint booth and tool room a little smaller and squeeze that in. Or do I just put it in the corner of the shop and use a cutain system (flame retardent) ir something.
Either way, a ventilation system will be easy to do in any room. Just wondering what you guys thought?

Scratch,
I have my plasma/router in a 20x24 garage. I started off cutting with no ventillation, I now have a 2hp delta dust collector hooked to my table.(1100 cfm rated). I would suggest sectioning off the area for your cnc if at all possible. The plasma is loud, the router is loud, the air compressor is loud = wear ear muffs or plugs!! I have plasma dust everywhere & on everything even in my toolbox. Somehow filter the air going into your computer too. The plasma dust is conductive & computers do not like a layer of conductive dust inside them, at least mine did not(new motherboad).
my .02

What you probably were not aware of is that the ATHC is not integrated in with the software and is a challenge to use and get consistant cuts. If all you want is to play with plasma it will probably work for you. You could have saved a lot of money and just let some of the PCNC owners know you would like to buy a ATHC and you would have a garage full for less than you paid. Had you actually done research and asked questions on the correct lists I don't think you would have made the decision you did.

After all you had several PCNC owners tell you not to do it, but that did not factor into your decision so it would appear you had already made up your mind.

I think it was more about the fact you could get it right away and drive up and pick it up. I understand the urge when you have money to spend and you want something immediate. Sometimes it's hard to wait when you want it NOW!

One thing that is curious is the fact that most other vendors are backordered on tables since they are built to order. No other mfg has units setting on the floor. The fact you were able to motor up and pick one up means they either aren't selling many or some poor guy isn't going to get the table he ordered several weeks ago when he thinks he is.

Did your free training include how to setup and use the ATHC with a plasma torch. Did you actually learn enough to generate some of your own art and get it to cut out correctly?

As far as their "free unlimited tech support" I have not heard of anybody that considers it worth more than that. One thread on a list was about the lack of tech support.

Also make sure any software you get is licensed to you and you can register it.

If you need help on the control software (aka WINCNC) and their proprietary driver card, the only place you can get it is from PCNC so you will get to test the unlimited free support.

I'm sure their nice people but they have recently had a staff turnover and the people that should know the technical stuff are gone.

Perhaps they have turned over a new leaf and have started to improve their quality control and business practices. Perhaps they will call and offer to help a long list of dissatisfied customers.........naw, probably not.