New Member With Practicle CNC Plasma

[krt9751]

im new to the cnc world myself has anyone used lazy cam i think you can get it from mach 3 just a thought i think it's free

[Torchhead]

SheetCAM only comes in one flavor. It comes with dozens of "posts". There are several for MACH including two specifically for plasma and MACH.

LazyCam is part of MACH3. I have not tried it out but from the posts it appears to still be in development.

[FunnyBike Racer]

I got a call with Wayne at Practicle CNC this morning. They are aware of my slow progress( Mostly my fear of anthing with a keyboard)and he assured me that we will get it going. I will call him back Monday at 9;oo am.Ther is alot at stake for everyone. I am not posting to bad talk anyons machines or service. I just want my table cutting out the parts I need for my Bussuness.I appreciate everyones help. I cant, but together we can.
Thanks Jay

[FunnyBike Racer]

Hey guys and girls
I'm drawing a little bit with Bob-Cad, but still having alot of Problems. Im confused
Would any of you With a practicle cnc table be willing to give me your phone number or call me? I just wnt to start cutting out some things out of Vector Art and I am not getting it. Maybe Im just Dumb!!!!
Jay Nickell
307-358-3237
307-358-0779
extremecutandfab@netcommander.com

Thanks and did I forget to say please

[Torchhead]

Dumb....Probably not. Hard headed.....maybe so. There is nothing special about a PCNC table (except problems and issues). Using BobCad for plasma cutting is overkill. The learning curve (as you have found out) is long. If you persist in using BobCad for artwork generation then you will need to seek assistance from other members. Most of the PCNC owners in this plasma section have dumped the Practical (WINCNC) software and PCI controller and gone to MACH3 as the machine controller and use SheetCAM to generate the g-code to feed MACH.

If you want to cut out brackets and simple geometric parts then learn BobCAD and use it as a CAD package. If you want to do decorative cutting using fonts and vector clipart then CorelDraw is the better choice. It can be intimidating to begin with but it's more like drawing naturally. You do everything on-screen and virtually everything is interactive.

In either case you will be light years ahead to Use SheetCAM as your toolpath generator (G-code). It will handle the moves you need for plasma.

[Scott V]

Tom,
You know you hit the nail on the head. I was going to help but sometimes
people have to help themselves first.

Last time,
Get Sheetcam and Corel 9-12-13 whatever then ask for help.

I spent lots of time on the phone helping different people but
they were talking in a format that we both could understand.
file sharing compatibly right down to the code. SheetCam
is a must for that.

Scott

[cut more]

FunnyBike Racer
I have a practicalcnc table, I am using a hypertherm 1000 with the practical thc. I use bobcad. I would be willing to talk & help if I can. I make decorative artsy junk and industrial parts, exhaust flanges brackets, encoder rings.
I will try to call later today.
Cutmore

[sc6chuck9]

Hey folks, we are a small job shop with CNC mills and lathes and a bunch of manual support equiment. What we don't have is a CNC Plasma cutter and after pricing from the big boys, we think we can build one here in our shop with some help. So rather than reinvent the wheel, we thought we'd ask you guys for some help to cut down on mistakes being made. We think we'd like a table that can do work as large as 5' by 10' and maybe cut up to 1" material.We need it to use a plasma or oxy/fuel torch. We have a gas torch in house, just no plasma yet as we're not real sure which one to buy so many offers and promisses you see. If you know of someone who has plans all the more better. We need the pro and cons to drives and everthing else,,,,lol,,,,Thanks for any help ya'll may have,,,,,,

[Weldtutor]

Originally Posted by sc6chuck9 If you know of someone who has plans all the more better. ,,,

Check post #11 of the link below to take you to Mike Laws, plasma table plans you can download.
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16634

The sub-forum related to this one, has various members build logs, & should also provide some ideas for you.