Noob

[Nuff_Said]

Hi All.

Firstly thanks and congratulations to all members on a great forum....

I'm toying with the idea of building a cnc plasma table from weldtutor's plans. Now, whilst the table and frame will be within my limited fabricationabilities, I have serious doubts about being able to hook the whole thing up to do what I want it to do.

So, to start off with - how much tweaking will have to be done to ensure that my CAD widget will be produced on the table, and not some obscure modern work of abstract art.

Secondly (piece of string, I know) how much would it cost, if comapred in capability, specs, etc. to a Torchmate 2.

BTW - I live in South Africa..

[millman52]

Originally Posted by Nuff_Said Hi All. Firstly thanks and congratulations to all members on a great forum.... I'm toying with the idea of building a cnc plasma table from weldtutor's plans. Now, whilst the table and frame will be within my limited fabricationabilities, I have serious doubts about being able to hook the whole thing up to do what I want it to do. So, to start off with - how much tweaking will have to be done to ensure that my CAD widget will be produced on the table, and not some obscure modern work of abstract art. Secondly (piece of string, I know) how much would it cost, if comapred in capability, specs, etc. to a Torchmate 2. BTW - I live in South Africa..

Welcome to CNC Zone. you have come to thr right place to begin your research on your project.

First off there are several ways you can go with your table electronics.

www.CandCNC.com has plazpak kits that are the most plug & play ready of any I know of. That being said, that doesn't mean you can build the table, supply a pc connect the wires & begin cutting pieces. There is quite a learning curve to all the software involved.

Depending on what you are going to be producing you will have to have & know how to use software like Corel Draw, AutoCAD, or other like CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) software to generate a drawing. Then you need to export your drawing to a CAM(Computer Aided Machining) software like Sheetcam to place drawing(s) on a sheet & generate G code that Mach3 or other machine controller softwear uses to control your machine. There are several things that will have to be set up in Mach3 to allow your machine to move the correct distance & in the correct direction.

Now Even with Torchmate You still have to learn similar other software. There may be a bit less tinkering to get their kit to work with their software But you still have to learn it to be able to use the table.

I used the above names of software & hardware companys as examples. I am neither making a recomendation to you that you should or shouldn't use any of them. That's your choice.

Best recommendation I can make to you is do lots of homework before you buy anything. Only you know your abilities & your budget.

I built a 5' X 10' capacity table with THC & pretty much all new parts for around $6000.00 USD. I'm sure it can be done for much less if you shop for some of the items needed used.

[Nuff_Said]

Hi Millman

Thanks for the info. As you mentioned, lots of reading and learning to be done, and I've been looking at posts on this forum, and most of what I need to learn can be found here.

I've started tinkering with Alibre, but nowhere near proficient at this stage.

BTW - I have started build off-road buggies as a hobby, ans also baught some plans for a single seat gyroplane, so mostly my motivation for a plasma table is to cut brackets, plates, etc. These I can at least draw on Alibre already.

Thanks again for the reply

[millman52]

You can download sheetcam & Mach3 as trial versions. Actually they are full versions just limited ot generating or running a limited # of lines of code. The manuals are also avail. as .pdf files. It will be frustrating if you have a machine built & can't run it fo lack of knowledeg of software.