Anyone have one or have any input about them? We are looking at buying one for about the price range this is in.

Any input or recomendations?

http://www.trackercnc.com/

The best support imaginable comes from Ken at Tracker. My situation is a bit different than most because I had a unit that just was not satisfactory. Ken at Tracker put me on the right road to correct all my problems. I cannot praise Ken and Tracker highly enough.
If this was e-bay they would get a rating of AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA++++++++++++++++++++++++

never set a pace you can't maintain
Tom at Accufab LLC

Thanks for the reply Traveler. We are also looking at Plasmacam, shopbot, and others.

Anyone else got any feedback.

We will be using it to cut wire mesh. Anyone with some plasma experience see any porblem with this? Mesh sizes vary from .20 square opening to 5 inch square openings. The 5 inch mesh has about .200 dia wire.

Will the openings be a problem for the torch? Do they cut air?

I think the pilot arc may time out on th 5 inch stuff, but finer stuff should work fine.

Can you program it to shut off in between wire? Or maybe program it to rapid between wires?

That would probably be difficult. You would need to overlay the the sheet on the profile when you make the toolpath. Then you would need to zero the machine and have the sheet indexed on the table perfectly.

So it would be possable? What kind of Plasma table are you using? Know anything about Tracker?

I don't have one yet... but I've been around them and used them. I plan on building one in the new year.

I have cut a lot of perforated and expanded metal on my plasma machine- but nothing as big as a 5" mesh. Expanded up to 2" openings that I have cut has worked quite well, in fact I think aside from a really big shear, it is one of the best ways to cut things like this.
I think the variables would be in the plasma power supply, not the cutting machine. the cutting machine will trace your part, you just need to make sure your power supply doesnt turn itself off. I do know interupted cuts like this make for heavy consumable use. So figure on going thru a lot of tips and electrodes.
Even with the big, .250 wire size, I think a shear is the best for rectangles. Of course, you are talking one big shear, and you have increased blade wear due to the interupted cut.
I dont know if there is a really great way to cut mesh like this, but the plasma machine should work. One trick might be to use sacrifical backing plates, so the machine was always cutting- a piece of 1/4" plate that you just tossed out when it got too cut up. It would last quite a while though, as the slag would tend to weld the cuts back together. Since the machine was always reading a cut happening, it wouldnt time out between mesh openings. You would need to have a good auto height system to climb up when it came to the wires, though.

I haven't cut anythng with a five in mesh but if it were repetitive cut it would not be too hard to rapid travel between the mesh and make the extra time worthwhile. I use auto cad and what I would do is after the drawing was made, draw a five inch grid over the drawing with an offset of perhaps 3/8" cut at each grid to drawing intersection. When choosing the cuts order just choos the 3/8" sections.That would allow rapid travel between cuts and would save consumables. The cut lines would look like a series of dashes. Got you completely confused? e-mail me your drawing and I'll set up like I'm discribing.
Never set a pace you can't maintain

Well we have ordered a Tracker. Should be here in a couple of weeks. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks for the help.

Well we got the machine about a week ago. First impression is that its a nice machine for the money. It could use alittle easier instruction on leveling and squaring it but so far it works great for our application.

Started cutting mesh on it right away. It produces very round circles and the sizes are right on.

One question. We are using the hypertherm torch because of the holes in the mesh. We got hte Powermax 1000 unit. It says it can cut up to a inch think. I figured we would have to turn the amps down on some of the material we cut. Useing mesh with like a .125 wire diameter as an example. I started with the powersupply set at 30 amps and it wouldn't cut through the wire. We ended up turning it all the way up to 60 for everything we are cutting. I am guessing that the pilot arc it has does not kick into the real acr fast enough to get through this in time. It seems that by the time the real arc kicks in its halfway through the wire. Slowed the feed down some and it helped. Am I on the right track here? Is the pilot arc weaker than the cutting arc?

I doubt that the pilot arc is different from the cutting arc. My thought is that it needs that short amount of time for preheat. As you found, slowing the travel should solve the problem. I too have had little sucess with reduced amps, I sloved that problem by not sweating the small stuff, crank it up! I believe that it takes a given number of btu's to preheat and if you have fast travel and low amps it just can't catch up to pierce. I believe if it makes a difference that you are not doing a constant cut and repeatedly have the condition of new therefore cold metal.

never set a pace that you can't maintain

We were looking very seriously at the DynaCNC and then we got the info on the TrackerCNC which is very impressive for the same money. The Tracker CNC has a much more explicit DVD and we're more comfortable with the ease of use from design and scanning to cutting with the Tracker. Any comments or advice? Thanks much. Norm

Norm, I have nothing but the best from Tracker. Their support is the best in the business. I have been using their stuff for about 4 years, oops, time flies perhaps it has been 5 years, anyway, they really give you your moneys worth

We were looking very seriously at the DynaCNC and then we got the info on the TrackerCNC which is very impressive for the same money. The Tracker CNC has a much more explicit DVD and we're more comfortable with the ease of use from design and scanning to cutting with the Tracker. Any comments or advice? Thanks much. Norm

Forget the cd and try to find somebody to demo both machines. Putting down that much money, two plane tickets to their factorys will tell you much
more then the internet will.

Carl,
my internet friend has a tracker and he likes it. He flew back to the
factory before he bought too. Dave Cress of Dyna-Cnc came by my
little shop and he is a serious person as far as making his tables
as best as they can be. I also really like the idea of Mach 3 and
CandCNC THC on his tables. Make up your own mind by looking
and using both.

Scott

At the risk of being accused of being a shill ( I sell THC controls to several OEM's and DYNACNC uses a custom version of one of my designs) I would urge you to look past the hype. There are just too many statements on the Tracker site that make me uncomfortable. (like calling stepper motors AC) and the positioning of direct drive as a "feature". Their wonderful THC does not appear to have a way to readout the tip volts while cutting or a way to preset the volts to match different material and tips. The bearing and rails are functional but no match for precision slides and recirculating bearings like others use. Their upper cutting speed of 198 IPM is puzzling. Most torch tables I see have 300 to 400 CUTTING speeds for steppers and up to 800 IPM for servos. There are circumstances where < 200 IPM will not be fast enough. Since their rapids are faster than their cutting speeds I can only speculate that their Windows based software limits the top speed or they are using LR type stepper drives. With direct coupled steppers and Rack and pinion you can easily get 400 IPM speeds with modern chopper drives. We have a home built table that I have seen do 26IPS (over 1200 IPM) with steppers If you don't know what to look for and what the technical answers are then it's hard to make a comparison from a DVD or photos. I could mock up an F16 and splice in some video but you might not want to buy one if your intent is to have something that will fly at MACH 2 and pull 9g's.

Before you write that check know in your heart you have done the research and asked the right questions. Factor out what I say as being biased but at least go join some independant user groups like the CNCMANUALPLASMACUTTING Yahoo Group and get some opinions from other Torchheads. Get educated BEFORE you buy.

If you don't think I know of what I speak, check out my commercial steel cutting site at www.FourhillsDesigns.com. I cut steel every day and teach classes on how to make money using CNC to do it.

Well, we did our research and read several reviews and comments from others in newsgroups and ordered the TrackerCNC today. DynaCNC came close, but the Tracker actually came out better and their software reviewed very well.

Thanks for everyone's comments and help.

Norm

Could you be so kind as to point us to those reviews and newsgroups? I would like to understand what I missed in reading the Mfg's own website and videos.

I guess Norm ordered his table and got too busy to give us the information he used to do a profoundly quick review (24hrs or less). I was interested to know what people use as the deciding criteria for one table over another. Was it price, a specific feature, proximity of the factory or what? Oh well.

i was wondering how much the tracker systems are, any info would be appreciated. thanks

Well, thank you for the slam Torchhead. I actually don't have the time to review this website on a daily basis...too many irons in the fire. If you want to check on newsgroups and websites with the appropriate information you simply add the keys words to any search engine and sit back in amazement as the results appear before your very eyes! www.webcrawler.com

Tracker must be too busy to respond to my request for quote.

Actually I used Google and tried to find a review of the software and or the review of the machine and THC, and the only hits were back to various links to the Tracker site. I also searched the usual plasma and CNC user groups for comments and info. Most of that lead back to your two posts on this list. I can't figure out if the tables are built in Livingston Texas or Canada (or both). I kept searching the site about information on their "240W AC Motors" but the details are for standard stepper motors. Steppers can be made to approximate an AC motor by microstepping and current shaping but they are not the same as a motor that uses true AC (AC Servo). Maybe I am missing something and I was looking for information that when past the marketing hype.

Since I design and sell controls for retro fit I often get asked "can I use your controls with X machine". If I understand the genetics of the machine I can respond and give correct answers.

I was also interested in seeing what criteria buyers use to evaluate a machine. I don't build machines (except for my own use), but I work with a lot of people that do. It was evident in your posts that you found specifics that were significant since the decision was rapid so you must have found compelling information beyond what I was able to uncover. Maybe I just used the wrong search engine.

What you find in this industry/hobby is that the majority of the group is friendly and helpful and likes things to be told to them straight forward without all the sugar. If you are a actual end user and made the posts as informational to the group then you should not take my post as a slam, and I apologize if it came across as that. It was simply asking for more detail. OTOH if you are a Tracker employee or owner or vendor and posted to use stealth advertising then the group needs to know that too.

It would appear from the timing of your posts and the fact you have never posted prior to that you were not looking for advice or feedback from the list and that makes me curious.

I do support for CNC and THC systems on a daily basis (CandCNCSupport Yahoo Groups) and most of the questions I answer end up on how to use the machine (i.e. how do I use the plasma, what tips, what tip volts, etc) so I have come to the conclusion that many of the users have never cut with plasma before and really don't know what features or functions are important. The purpose of this list and others is to help impart those facts.

It would appear from the Tracker info that their primary drawing tool is CorelDraw (my favorite too) and many of the "features" like bitmap to vector conversion are actually Corel tools. I actually train users on CorelDraw and have been using it since ver 3.

I'm working with CorelDraw right now learning it before the machine arrives. I haven't read enough of what I need to know yet to be even functional with it, but I'm currently trying to take a scanned object, that we already make and cut out with a gas torch, and trace it out and bring it to a working object in CorelDraw. I work better with TurboCAD, but need to convert to CorelDraw.

There are three ways to get a bitmap into a vector cutting program (which all CNC is).

1. Use a an "autotrace" tool like the Corel Trace that comes with CorelDraw. There are others as well (Google "bitmap to vector tools"). For some things they work okay but be prepare for lots of cleanup. Low resolution bitmaps result in saw toothed ragged lines. On complex photos the results are laughable and virtually worthless. Anybody that advertises you can scan something and just take it over and cut it are blowing smoke. It's great for marketing but it don't work that way except for the cleanest and simplest shapes.

2. Import the bitmap into CorelDraw and use the vector drawing tools to hand trace over the parts of the bitmap. With a human behind the process you get exactly what you want and there is no clean up required.

3. For shapes that are mostly geometric you can sit down in Corel and draw them to scale to the nearest 3 or 4 decimal places. for things like brackets, plates and other stuff to draw it in vectors to begin with is the best approach. Dirty little secret: CorelDraw is a pretty good CAD drawing system if you learn the tools.

You can use Corel to setup your sheet and nest the objects using the interactive move and rotate tools and just send the whole file over. The Tracker Software may let you move and rotate as well. It's primary job is to do toolpath generation with lead-ins and cut directions/order and put in the right moves for the plasma process. It needs to be able to pierce at one height, then move rapidly down and start the cut process at a lower height. Things like pierce delay are best handled by using an "Arc Good" signal from the plasma that signals when the arc is valid before releasing the software for movement. Setting a hard pierce delay doesn't work too well becasue most torches do no fire instantly and the time varies depending on if the purge air is still active.


You need to understand that a bitmap is nothing but thousands of individual dots of varying intensity and color and each dot has its own positional relationship. Vectors are mathmatical representations of data points with a straight line having a beginning XY and ending XY number. Two totally different systems and not easy to convert from thousands of dots to solid lines.

We have over 2000 files for plasma designs we have developed over the past 4 years. All of them are hand traced or drawn from scratch (or a combo). Things like text are best done in the native Corel environment.

Thanks so much for the help, I'll try them. Now it's my turn... Google is really not that good of a search engine since it is a 'pay to play' engine where listing are in order of highest payer down. (that's how it keeps it's stocvker holders happy) Try www.webcrawler.com which uses several search engines each time it draws on it's population for results.

Thanks again, Norm

Google is also a crawler. just thought I would jump in with that one lol

Tracker got back to me with a quote over the phone, here's the scoop:

4 X 4 plasma table complete with PC and slats $14,155.00
151 plasma cutter $ 4,195.00
Oxy-fuel option $ 2,500.00
Freight $ 875.00

Total: $21,725.00

Selling points were aluminum rails that the rollers ride on get bedded in, true plug and play complete machine, oxy-fuel is complete less tanks, offer on-site set-up and training, 24/7 support, phone is transferred to cell when shop closed. 4 X 4 table can be expanded at later date to 4 X 8 with an extension kit.

I asked for a written quote via email, it's been a few days now, nothing showed up.

For similar dollars you could get a machine with REAL linear bearings, True servo motors, a digital THC with presets and +- 1 volt tracking, floating head auto surface sensing, rapids and cutting speeds to > 500 IPM, and many other features that experience has shown to be important.

It appears that Tracker has put more into their marketing and web site than engineering. Many of the product "features" and claims are thin. Any site that calls simple steppers "240W AC motors" either doesn't understand motors, or is blatantly trying to deceive the buyer. Their single knob THC will end up being a source of frustration for any commercial shop. If you want a cheap THC with twist knobs for setup buy the THC300 from Campbell Designs.

I questioned their controller software since it appears the cutting speed limitiation on their table may be a product of the controller software since direct coupled steppers on a rack and pinion drive with any modern motor drive can turn out speeds of 400 to 500 IPM. Everything their proprietary software can be easily dupliated using low cost readly available (supported) tools like MACH3, CorelDraw and SheetCAM (159.00) if you go with an open system.

It's good they have 24/7 support but let's be honest here: Lifetime support is only as good as THEIR "lifetime" and if you need parts or repair on their machine (including the control PC) you better hope their "lifetime" is a long and prosperous one!

I have numersous examples of one vendor that has "unlimited" support. What you get is some dude in the shipping dept that can almost spell electronics, telling you to do things that are not only incorrect but dangerous! So you can get all of the unlimited BAD support you want (:-o

This industry amazes me. People/companies will plunk down $15,000+ cash on products they have never seen operate, from companies they have never heard about, based on some web photos and technical double-speak.

I know it's confusing. There is a lot to know and it's easy to succumb to marketing and "rumor" research like: "My brother-in-law knows a guy at work that has an XYZ table and he LOVES it". Actually, what the guy really said is that he would "love to get his hands on the guy that sold him that hunk of junk" but things get lost in translation.

So much for my vent. I'll go back to other projects.

Torchhead Your input is very valuable. I appreciate hearing that you don't like the Tracker system. Anyone that feel so strongly against Tracker must have negative personal experience with them. I, on the other hand, have had, through personal experience very positive experiences with them. I guess no one can please everyone, although they try.

Our 4 X 8 Tracker table was shipped Thursday and due here Tuesday. Can't wait as we have a lot to get done before the first weekend in October's exhibition in Louisville.

Traveler: It's not about personal experience it's about things to look at on a plasma table from an engineering and design perspective. While good support and a friendly helpful company goes a long way, in the end it's about the product. Nothing can compensate for a poor design (and no, I did not say the Tracker was a poor design...I just pointed out things that from experience count, when your objective is to turn out production with minimal downtime and operator input).

When I read things about a product that are wrong from a technical standpoint and see obvious major differences and I point those out, it is ususally at the request of another post.

If you are happy with your table and the support then that has to go into the "pro's" column. It's a fact that most buyers of high ticket items are happy with their purchase because it's a decision *they* made and that it's positive to feel that it was the correct one. Only if the product is a real dog do we start to see things like "I made a mistake..." or " this thing really sucks". Just human nature.

I don't have ANY personal experience (having not bought any machine from any vendor) with Tracker or any other assembled table vendor other than having seen numerous designs and help their owners get them running. Honestly, until the original post I had never heard of Tracker and I developed my observations based on their information. I do have 36 years of experience in electronics, metalworking, CNC, computers, software, systems integration and other related fields. Add 4+ years of building and running plasma and router type machines for my decorative products business and I at least can offer some level of advise from experience.

I get a lot of off-line requests for help and I try to do what I can. I love the hobby and I am lucky in that I have found a way to both work with the equipment to make things (for a profit) and to design and sell electronics to persons that like the do the same.

We should all understand that everything expressed on these lists are just that person's opinion.

OK, we got our table about 10 days ago. Got it assembled and squared and tested. At one point, in the manual, you have to stop and call in. That is the time that Tracker guides you through routine testing of the table and all went very well with the help of Justin. We got a floor in it and our exhaust system installed and practiced some basic CAD work on CorelDraw and then to the Tracker cutting software. The Tracker designed cutting software is extremely easy to work with. All of the editing, nesting, adding lead in's, reversing cuts, etc. Very 'plug n play'.

I am still learning CorelDraw and that is the only problem. I got all the help I needed from Steve, Justin and Ken (through several of my frustrated phone calls), but ran out of time and sent five of my designs to them and Ken transposed by mistakes into workable pieces in about one hour and had them back to me. Great help and support to date.

I couldn't ask for better support than the three of them at Tracker. The machine works very well and cuts great, precise work. We're just getting our settings down as far as wattage, speed and correct tips for the gauge steel that we are working with on the different pieces.

Congrats! Let's see some pics!

Tracker got back to me with a quote over the phone, here's the scoop:

4 X 4 plasma table complete with PC and slats $14,155.00
151 plasma cutter $ 4,195.00
Oxy-fuel option $ 2,500.00
Freight $ 875.00

Total: $21,725.00

Selling points were aluminum rails that the rollers ride on get bedded in, true plug and play complete machine, oxy-fuel is complete less tanks, offer on-site set-up and training, 24/7 support, phone is transferred to cell when shop closed. 4 X 4 table can be expanded at later date to 4 X 8 with an extension kit.

I asked for a written quote via email, it's been a few days now, nothing showed up.

!!!THAT IS THE RIPOFF OF THE YEAR!!! There is no way that 4 x 4 toy is worth $21,725.00! Wait till you see the mess plasma cutting makes then you will wish those aluminum rails were harded tool steel!

We recieved our tracker machine a few weeks ago, a 4X8 with a cutmaster 101...

The packaging and shipping crate was very well done. No damage and everything arrived as planned. After several claims for damaged machinery from frieght companies, it was nice to see that they take care in shipping thier product.

Assembly was just as they said, easy and trouble free. about two hours and it was ready to power up.

We use all DXF files here so the corel draw stuff was pretty usless for us. Its like learning to speak a different language....not a bad idea, but a waste of time at this point.

Anyway, it is my opinion that the machine is very capable of doing what we need, and more importantly make us money.

I am sure there is a better machine out there, or better this and that but this machine is a great tool.

The only thing I dont like is the lack of true nesting. I can deal with it, but it would be nice to have.

Anyway, we are in so. cal and use our machine every day. If you want to see one run, we would be more than happy to show it off.

And lastly, NO we are not affiliated with Tracker, NO they are not giving me anything to do this.

We've had ours up and running for about 5 months now. We're very satisfied with it and it serves us well. We started with a down draft exhaust until we found it too hard on the exhaust motors (we get our exhaust motors and squirrel cage fans free when we retrieve them from old home furnaces at our local hating companies bone pile). We now have a very satisfying overhead hood in place.

We cut everything from 14 ga. ornamental to 10 ga. pieces for my business making powered OCDC chutes for commercial lawn mowers to one inch pieces cut for my parrner's skid steer backhoe fabrication business. We have the Thermal Dynamics 151 with a machine head ordered with the table. I design on CorelDraw 12 and simply save it in .plt format which goes directly into the Tracker cutting software where I join segments (weld), edit the process to correlate the cutting order and ad lead ins. Save them once and use them time and time again as needed.

As mentioned earlier about the nesting. It does not do as well as some other programs I have seen, but it does nest fairly well with little waste. I also nest by hand so we can get a full set of pieces for two skid steer grapple buckets out of one 4 X 8 sheet of 1/2 inch steel. The manual nesting is no big deal as I make the file up once and it it used time after time. Plus it keeps me out of the crack houses.

Over all it serves our needs and we slowly learn more and more uses for our table.

Could i ask you how much your machine cost?

I just bought a used TRACKER 4 x 8 cnc machine ( on EBAY ). When I finally put the unit together ( it was first bought as a build it kit ) I could not get it to work properly so I called TRACKER and they told me that since I did not buy it from them that there was no free tech support and there would be a charge which I agreed to. Justin helped me on the phone and within half an hour I got the machine working.The machine works very well,as I am new to operating a cnc unit I have a lot to learn. I personally have nothing but praise for the guys at TRACKER.
PS: I am using a cutmaster 101 plasma cutter with a machine torch.I just wanted to put my 2 cents worth in to this article.

Hi there - I'm absolutely new to this and have a few questions.
I fell in love with all the lovely farm gate and ranch signs that the western states and provinces seem to have a-plenty, so I'm very seriously looking into getting into this line of work.

My current job ended September 27th and on the 28th I went to visit my local welder that had a plasma cutter and I loved it! I have absolutely no experience with this type of machinery but I want to do this. My next visit was to my local plasma cutter salesman and he can get me a Miller 375.

As for tables, well the Canadian dollar is doing very well right now, but as you know, technical support and high shipping costs are very important! So I came across the Tracker and was told by the sales rep in London Ontario about the new 4x4 Nitro. The price was $9995 CDN. The quote I got from PlasmaCam was 8950 US and Torchmate was 7ish plus a the height controller (sorry don't know all the proper names for the parts of the machine or table yet!).

So if anyone wants to tell me I shouldn't do this please go ahead :) I know that at the age of 48 and being a woman, starting something new like this is usually frowned upon. But I just feel that this is something that I can make a living at and I would appreciate any input regarding a table that I could get that isn't shipped from the US. Are there any other hobby type tables in Eastern Canada?

thanks,
MetalMomma

Tracker's tables are really well built, very solid. Justin in there tech support department was very helpfull during setup and very willing to help and solve all my problems. I really love the automatic torch height control and the 3 year warranty that comes with the machine.

After doing all of my research prior to buying a tracker unit, it seems like all the other tables were a la carte when tracker gave you everything built in. Software is decent, could be better but was good for what I needed to do.

CNC Plasma Cutting Tables (http://www.trackercnc.com) - Tracker CNC Website