mach 3 controler vs. others?

[dozer50bmg]

my company sends alot of parts out to be laser cut. some of which only have a +/-.015 tolerance. the range from 1/8 th inch to 3/8 with alot at a 1/4 inch. probably 100 differnet parts with runs in the neighborhood of100-1000 parts. there are bolt holes usualy about .400 in diameter. there is not too much that have delicate features but edge quality is important and secondary rework operations (sanding, grinding, drilling) should be avoided at all cost.

[duraflap]

Two questions
If I read this all right, Mach 3 does a good job of Torch Height Control? I use Mach for my cnc router and love it!!
Now I'm interested in a cnc plasma and have been looking at Plasma cam, TorchMate and Tracker.
Any feed back on the three machines?
Dennis

[Torchhead]

PlasmaCAM does not use MACH and their controller ONLY works with their software. They have their own THC.

Torchmate uses Flashcut. Will not work with MACH. Only THC solution is to buy the stand-alone THC box they sell for 2499.00

Don't know much about Tracker but it appears they have their own analog THC similar to the THC300 from Campbell (a knob sets the height and there are no presets). I don't think they use MACH (have their own software).

Tracker uses a direct connected stepper which is touted as a "feature" (no belts to break/replace). Direct connection to a pinion gives you amazing speeds (which can't be used) and sacrifices torque and resolution. Best resolution (which has to be better than accuracy) is .015 with a 1" pinion. A simple belt reduction trades the speed you can't use for torque and resolution you can. Belts do wear out but last hundreds of hours and are easy to replace.

Some other plasma tables to consider:

www.plasmaroute.com
www.EZ-router.com