Newbie

[jimmib]

Hi All. I am wondering if anyone has experince with the Torchmate and Plasmacam cutting systems. Or if there are any other machines comparible to this price range.
Thanks, Jim

[massajamesb]

Hello Welcome to CncZone. Good to have you here.
If you look around the Cnc plasma forum and build log, you can find several topics dealing with those machines, as well as many other machines in that market and price range.
Good luck!

[jimmib]

Thanks, I just found some posts on the same topic. Seems there are a few to choose from.
Jim

[DISCONNECTED]

Jimmib,
I Will Give You Some Advice,buy The Biggest Table You Can Afford At Least A 4x8.i Almost Bought A 4x4 Table And Good Thing I Didn't Because My First Job Took Up Almost A 4x8 Sheet.
I Have A Dynacnc Table,pretty Happy So Far,although I Do Not Have Anything To Compare It With.if You Can See Someones Table In Person Do It.i Have Not Heard Anything Good About Plasmacam And Do Not Be Fooled By Their Dvd.it Is Not That Easy.there Is Alot To Learn About Cnc Plasma .as Far As Tables Go Check Out Tracker Cnc,ez Router,dynacnc,dynatorch.i Do Not Think You Could Go Wrong With Any Of These Machines.i Never Heard Anything Bad About Tracker Cnc.

[jimmib]

Thanks for your input. I see now that plasmacam is probably not the way to go. I need to do quite a bit more research.
Jim

[blackhollowmfg]

Jim,

I was going to go with Plasmacam at first. They are about a three hour drive from me, so that sparked my looking. After two phone calls to them with questions, the attitude I received with my less than informative response IMMEDIATELY shut them out of the running.

After doing a lot of searching, I came to the conclusion that Torchmate was the right chice for me. Besides being able to build a table for the first time in my price range, EVERY time I called or emailed, no matter how small or newbie the question was, I ALWAYS got a friendly reply and/or answer. I have been dealing with Joe in sales, top notch guy in my book!

The way they put the kit together made it very easy to build. They could do a little better job with including some better close-up pictures in their instructions, but I was still able to build my 4x8 Torchmate 1 with little to no problems. I highly recommend talking to them. Not saying that some of the others listed above should be dismissed, but I am very pleased with Torchmate.

One example of my experience with them: The way they have you build the carriage, and with the brackets and cam follower bearings they provide, there was a little rocking back and forth on opposing corners due to the way they locate the cam followers. I emailed Joe an up-close picture of mine and made the suggestion that if they were to add two more brackets with extra cam followers in two locations (and I marked the pic with arrows), the carriage would be rock solid and eliminate any possibility of rocking. Within two hours of my email to Joe, he had forwarded the email to the president of the company, and he though it was a good idea and told Joe to send me the brackets and cam followers, whatever I needed to make it like I thought it should be. AT NO CHARGE!

I probably could have saved a lot of money buy building my own design or using plans and pictures from this board, and getting parts from eBay and other internet resources. But for my first time, I have learned alot from building the TM1 kit, and already have ideas in my head for my next table. I now know the principals of how these things work, and think I could do my own.

Based off of my experiences with them, I highly recommend giving Joe at Torchmate a call. Tell him Bob from Black Hollow Fab sent you.

[jimmib]

Thanks Bob, I will take your advice and call Joe at Torchmate.
Jim

[Athensjack]

Currenty in the market for two machines and after researching the web I have also decided on the Torchmate 2 machine. My next decision is kit or complete? Any suggestions??? Thanks.

[blackhollowmfg]

The question would be your time frame. I have been working on mine when I can, for right at a month now, and I wasn't in a hurry to get it done. If you have plenty of time, go with the kit and save some money. But, if you need it up and running soon, I would get the complete table. I have had a blast building mine!!!

[jimmib]

Does it seem to make much difference on the single X axis drive versus dual? Does anyone have a comparison on this?
Jim

[massajamesb]

Well, you will generate more torque, have a bit faster rapid speeds,etc. with a dual driven X axis.
My machine is driven by one motor on X, and has a cross shaft driving the other side, but it is a 425 ozin motor. At high speed direction changes, the gantry may still rack a little. My gantry is not as light as theirs is, though.

My suggestion? Call Torchmate, or contact them on here. See if their DIY kit will allow you to add an additional motor down the line if you think you need it. I think your machine will run fine with one motor, there are a lot of other builders using just one motor on X.
I don't know that you will need the additional motor as much as you might just need one of their larger motors. That is merely my opinion.

[blackhollowmfg]

To quote TM's website regarding the motors used on the TM1 (same kit I bought):

Motors are 135 oz. in., and use a 3.4:1 reduction via timing pulleys and belts. This results in 459 oz. in. of usable power.

I too am running one motor, with an additional gear rack on the opposite side and a jack shaft to drive it.