Training videos on plasma

[HomeMadeCnc]

Hello All,
I'm at the stage where I'm putting the plasma torch into the cnc machine. Is there any videos out there that explains things nice and clear? I'm running Mach3 with plasma cam but have had little time to do the propper looking around.

Thanks for the help,
Tim

[Torchhead]

MACH3 and PlasmaCAM??? Those two don't play well together (at all). Do you mean another CAM program?

[HomeMadeCnc]

Sorry, its SheetCam. I found a few videos on youtube, hoping theres a good list of them somewhere.

Thanks for your time Torchhead,
Tim

[Torchhead]

SheetCAM is not very hard to learn. There are some tutorials that come with it. I can normally teach a person that has basic computer skills to use SheetCAM to turn out good code in less than 4 hours.

The whole concept of SheetCAM can be summerized as:
1. Setup the material in Options
2. Import DXF as a new Part
3 Select contours and "group" them in named layers.
4. Pick each layer and setup a toolpath "Process" for that layer using a defined tool
5. If you want more than one of the same part, Duplicate and move (nest) on the sheet
6. If you have more than one part to cut, import it and do steps 3- 5 on that part
7. If you want to change the order of the process list just drag it up/down the list.
8. Select the correct post processor for your Controller/table
9. Select/deselect the parts you want to cut in one file (in the process list)
10. Post process using the Big P.

There are of course other more complex moves. If routing you can cut the same contour (group of contours) multiple times using different tools or even feedrates. You can cut it first as multiple passes of a roughing tool, then clean up the contours with a full depth smaller bit, etc.

With plasma you need to add in the lead-ins when you define the process for a given Group (layer). The best to use are Arc and perpendicular. You set the kerf offset and the piercing height in the tool table. Setup different tools for different tips. You can override most of the tool parameters when you build the process.

There, you have the first hour of training free (:-)

TOM CAUDLE
www.CandCNC.com

[HomeMadeCnc]

Thanks for hour of power Tom.

Tim