NEW BUILD / Dynatorch Upgrade

[morvaman]

nice work.

[magma-joe]

Thanks Morvaman,

WSS, my plan is to use the V rail with spring loaded cam followers underneath on both the master and slave sides. The V wheels on the slave side will be a floating design so as to correct for the V rails not being perfectly parallel with each other. I will redesign the two motor hinge plates that span the 3" width of the gantry ends and mount on the top and bottom of the existing gantry ends.

I am not sure when Dynatorch incorporated the cam follower design underneath. My single motor x axis used a spring loaded cross shaft which help hold the gantry down.

My existing rail mounts that the gantry rides on are a floating style. I will just remount them on the outside of the table and below the table surface. Everything else will remain the same including the water table. I have included a couple of pics I took of the cam follower design from another Dynatorch table I looked at recently.This will give an idea for those who are following along.

[WSS]

magma-joe,
How is the build going? I hope you are so busy you can't find the time to work on it (LOL)! Having a floating slave side should work good with the V-rails on both sides. It would make alignment less critical. I have spent some time at the link you posted awhile back for the victory machines, they have some clever designs. The page about the water table pros and cons sold me. I like there head set-ups as well. They must have a linear bearing that holds both directions (up and down) to be able to drill? That requires a lot of down pressure. Will you do something similar, a dual-V design perhaps?

I will purchase the we-cim and arbor image tomorrow. I had a friend/customer come by today with a piece of cardboard cut into the shape he needed and asked if I could do it. I of course said "yes". So I better do it. I spoke with Gary today (whittlock eng.) and learned a bunch. He said if the item is to big to scan, then take a picture of it with a flat lens, turn it to B&W and import it. I guess it would be important to know the X and Y dimensions to scale it correctly. But he sounded confident. I know you have good luck with it. I like the idea of template to cut file. I do get some DXF files, but it is usually a paper tracing or the actual part. Was the training worth the trip to DT?

Cheers!
WSS

[magma-joe]

WSS, The build is coming along. I will have some more pics in the next couple of days. My gantry will be just like yours, with 2 linear rails mounted on top. The Victory people do make one serious plasma machine. I have looked at their pictures many times looking for ideas.

As for your question about the We-cim / Arbor Image software training. It is professional grade software and there is alot to learn about both. The We-cim video on the Dynatorch website

http://www.dynatorch.com/UserManual.htm

covers a good portion of the onsite training session. However at the training session you get many application specific questions from the people attending, plus more in depth training in the production type features like nesting, part in part nesting, cad drawing, remanant sheets, chain cutting, etc. I would study the video in depth and then depending on your skill level make a decision whether to go for training. Dynatorch does have a very nice training facility where they manufacture their machines.

Arbor Image offers some training videos on their website. It's funny that you mention the Cutting Shop software today. I had a customer come in with a template of a suspension part they needed 4 of. Here are some pics of the conversion.

[WSS]

THANK-YOU for the info! That is really cool the way it works. I downloaded the file transferred it to my PC and it worked great. Very well done too. I think we will try to do the pilgrimage to Peducah in the near future. Gary said it is a two day class on thurs and fri. I will probably go for three and do a wed training on the table itself. We have to head to Greensboro NC soon, so we will probably do a stop off in KY while were on that side.

Good news that you have made some progress on your gantry. I look forward to the pics. I assume you will be able to run your table close to the end of the retro and be down for just a short time?

What happened to Edwardo? I hope it isn't a case of mistaken identity for him! Somehow I thought he would be home cutting stuff by now.

[magma-joe]

WSS, If you do make it to Paducha you won't regret it. In addition to learning the machine and software you get an opportunity to meet the people who make up the Dynatorch operation. Plus the training is FREE!

I thought we would hear from Edwardo by now also? From everything they show on the news about Mexico it must be a interesting place to work to say the least........

[Edwardo]

Hi guys

Made it home 2 nights ago with the same number of holes in my body as when i left, working down there is the same as anywhere else, if you look for trouble you'll find it, i try to fly under the radar and mind my own business and in the almost 3 years ive worked there i havent had a problem, once the people relise you are of no threat they accept you into there communities and homes, i guess the trick is trying NOT to be in the wrong place at the wrong time... anyways i've been trying to shake the cob webs outta my head and cleaning up my garage getting ready to spark up... You guys are really moving along on your projects, your workmanship is professional to say the least... Trick questions for everyone, say you want to cut up a 4x8 sheet into gussets, half the sheet is 4" gussets, the other half is 6" gussets, how many can you make of each, how many peirces and how many inches of cutting for the entire sheet...? would you draw the 2 different size gussets then nest them on the sheet?
I drew it up in corel 3x this morning and ran it through sheetcam and into the DT program.... Hint: according to the DT program i will take 27.64 minutes to cut the entire 1/8th - 4x8 sheet @ 115 ipm...
I havent cut it yet but i had inquired 6 months ago about making gussets for a company, at the time they said no thanks but then contacted me just recently for more info on them, so i had to draw it up, i wasnt sure how to go about it but i wanted the least amount of peirces, the minimum amount of inches cutting with the minimum amount of waste...another hint, there is zero waste.... lol
I know you guys are busy and may not have time for this, so i'll post my results and how i did it tommorow just the same...

EDD

[WSS]

Edwardo,
That makes complete sense! Treat people with respect and the rest will follow. I did keep an eye out for you on the news though (lol).

HEADLINE: Core drilling supervisor has sample taken, news at 10.

On these gussets, are they right triangles (to shorts and a long) with no curves? If so, will you remove the web and make one cut for two pieces?

WSS

[Edwardo]

WSS

Thanks for keeping a eye out for me on the news....lol

yes all right angle gussets, a 4x4 square cut diagonally from corner to corner..
I look real hard at We-Cim and almost bought it, i watched the video and the part with the deer where you can take a photo and manipulate it with different shades of black interested me, but the price ( i think was 1700 ) at the time was alittle steep.. im having good luck with corel draw, its a big program with no doubt alot of things i will never use, but as time goes on i am using things i didnt think i ever would, once you have the basics figured out then you can try some other things and experiment... its taken me awhile to learn corel with being away alot, i seem to have to relearn what i learnt the last time home, but its coming along... it has a trace portion in it but i never had any luck with tracing bitmaps with it and usually just do it manually with the bezier tool, it takes longer but the results are better.
I made a couple of address signs for guys, they gave me the rough size and shape of the boulder they want to mount the sign to, so i drew up the boulder and colored it grey, then added the metal cut outs to it in black, everything was to scale and i email it to them to show them what it would look like for there approval... they were impressed with that and it didnt take long to do it as i already had the sign drawing done and just had to add it to the boulder... they just were'nt sure how big the sign should be on the boulder and 1 guy asked for his to be alittle larger, so about one click on the mouse i resized his sign and charged him a extra 25 bucks and he was happy.
I may have posted these pics before, i can't remember... but it shows the bitmap i used to make the cut out using the bezier tool, i did it more for practise than anything, for some reason the pic makes the edges look rough, but they are actually smooth... note the left eye brow, this was also one of the first cuts i made in aluminum and was messing around with my settings and crashed the torched... but i recovered and it gives it character...lol

EDD

[Edwardo]

Ok heres my results, peirces @ 1.....3178.3 inches cutting......128 @ 6" gussets.... 288 @ 4" gussets.....115 ipm... 27.6 minutes cutting time.

I had seen a grid option in corel and thought id give it a try, i set the grid at
4" squares and used the bezier tool to zig zag up the first colum, this would cut out every second gusset, at the top of the colum it would cut straight back across the sheet cutting off the remain gussets, and continue across the sheet to mid point, there i switched to a 6" grid and continued the same way, i may have to turn off the thc as i will be cutting right to the edge and over the corner edges of other gussets already cut out to prevent the torch from diving though, i havent cut it yet, so it may not go as planned, draw for show and cut for dough....
Joe after seeing the parts you cut out i may have to have another look at we-cim... nice job...

I had planned on cutting as soon as i got home, but my wife had plans on me finishing the reno i started last time, happy wife happy life i was told not to long ago so im working on the reno again...

EDD

[magma-joe]

Edwardo, thanks for the compliment on the cut outs. Although $1800.00 sounds like alot for the We-cim / Cutting shop software it really is a deal. It is a package of 2 different programs from 2 different companies. I looked on the Arbor Image site and the Cutting shop software sells for $1195 alone.

The WE-cim package comes standard with all the Dynatorch Master Series machines. It is professional grade software oriented torward businesses and production. When I was shopping for a CAD CAM 3 axis software for my mill I was shocked to find that it sells anywhere from $3000 to $20,000 and many companies charge a yearly "maintenance fee". That made me really appreciate the We-cim price.

Here is an update on the gantry build.

I finished drilling and mounting the 6 x 6 angle plates for the gantry ends. I have included a pic of the one of the gantry end plates I just finished milling. The end plates will be bolted to the angle and then additional gussets will run from top to bottom.

I will attach the piece of 1 1/2" x 3" aluminum extrusion on the bottom of the plate. All the factory Dynatorch hardware will bolt directly on with the exception of the motor pivot brackets. I will fab a new set of these for each side. I wanted to keep the dual drop as simple as possible and use as much as possible of the original Dynatorch hardware.

[WSS]

magma-joe,
Very nice! Great detail and looks strong.

Our we-cim was on the porch (UPS) when we got home today.

WSS