First Plasma Build - Older presision plasma linear v rail

[nharvey]

Well officially starting my first plasma table build. I pulled the trigger on what i feel like is a deal. its an older model precision plasma 4x8 linear v rail gantry assembly. $1500 with out z axis as i want to install a floating setup for touch and go and torch height control. I have pretty extensive steel fab experience so building the table wont be the challenge, but the electronics is going to be a little daunting. Now that i have the Gantry setup. I need to figure out which Z axis to buy. Hot Rod Fabs z axis looks like it could be a good fit https://www.hotrodfab.com/purchase.html any one have any other recommendation for a floating z axis for touch and go setup. Next to sort out is the electronics. I know the easiest was is to go with a candcnc setup ready to go out of the box with the torch height control. But my problem with buying a run off the shelf setup is that then I don't actually understand how all of the electronics work and if i ever want to upgrade or fix things i would not even know where to start. Does anyone have a good link to an article/video/forum post showing all of the systems/components necessary to properly operate a plasma setup? Or recommendations on a diy setup? Thanks for the input



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[Torchhead]

So, if you buy a box full of separate components and go though the painful process to get it all to work together you will learn two things: How THAT combo works and what you did wrong in the process. It's not just the hardware. It's the software and how it all plays together. Go out and find all of the "kits" (box-o-parts) you find that says they are for plasma. You might even be able to get one with a THC. While you will learn all of the idiosyncrasies of YOUR setup, you won't get any level of support other than yourself. Along the way you will have to teach yourself several different skill sets. A healthy dab of Physics, Electronics, Software, Theory of Plasma and Modern CNC terminology. Maybe that is your goal ( a learning experience versus getting a working table) but its a long road. You need to be a patient person and realize you may have to do some redesign and compromise along the way.

There are build logs of guys that have done their own controllers from parts and pieces . Keep in mind that technology changes, and builds done 3 years ago may not reflect what is best in today’s world. Another point of research is to ask how many of the CandCNC users have needed to upgrade parts or pieces of their controller/software solution. If a design is right the "upgrades" take the form of a newer PC / OS and control software and not things like bigger motors, new divers, a different power supply, etc. Unlike other Product support forums that are closed to non-customers, ours is open to any person interested in CNC and in a geographic area that we sell and support to.

TOMcaudle
www.CandCNC.com
Home of CommandCNC(tm) for LINUX

[nharvey]

So, if you buy a box full of separate components and go though the painful process to get it all to work together you will learn two things: How THAT combo works and what you did wrong in the process. It's not just the hardware. It's the software and how it all plays together. Go out and find all of the "kits" (box-o-parts) you find that says they are for plasma. You might even be able to get one with a THC. While you will learn all of the idiosyncrasies of YOUR setup, you won't get any level of support other than yourself. Along the way you will have to teach yourself several different skill sets. A healthy dab of Physics, Electronics, Software, Theory of Plasma and Modern CNC terminology. Maybe that is your goal ( a learning experience versus getting a working table) but its a long road. You need to be a patient person and realize you may have to do some redesign and compromise along the way.

There are build logs of guys that have done their own controllers from parts and pieces . Keep in mind that technology changes, and builds done 3 years ago may not reflect what is best in today’s world. Another point of research is to ask how many of the CandCNC users have needed to upgrade parts or pieces of their controller/software solution. If a design is right the "upgrades" take the form of a newer PC / OS and control software and not things like bigger motors, new divers, a different power supply, etc. Unlike other Product support forums that are closed to non-customers, ours is open to any person interested in CNC and in a geographic area that we sell and support to.

TOMcaudle
www.CandCNC.com
Home of CommandCNC(tm) for LINUX

Ok Tom so maybe you convinced me to go with a candcnc system. so how does the linux based system work? I was planning on running mach3 on an older xp machine but it looks like the candcnc system runs with a linux based driver. This is going to be confusing to me unless i am misunderstanding how the system works.

[Torchhead]

We moved to LINUX/LINUXCNC over 18 moths ago when it became obvious the A: MACH3 was a dead horse and no longer supported; B: MACH4 was still not finished and has no "hooks" for THC and requires a total rewrite of all our thousands of lines of plugins, screens and macros and, C: Windows 10 is a nasty OS to deal with for use with a CNC machine.

The setup and operation of CommandCNC (with a set of drivers and screens for our hardware in LINUXCNC ) comes on a preloaded PC (included in the price0 . It ships with recovery thumbdrives .There is a GUI configuration tool that lets you do the motor tuning and axis setup. Its no harder than MACH3 especially if you are not provided a working Profile for MACH with the hardware. It's interface is cleaner and the operation is faster, (true real-time miton control) smoother and more accurate. The trajectory planner and CV rules are MUCH better than MACH

Connecting a LINUX PC to a Windows PC or LAN (or via WIFI) is easy and the file structures are the same. In fact a lot of the software applications (like SheetCAM and Inkscape) work equally well on either platform and you can transfer anything from G-Code to the base application files back and forth.

I was not trying to sell you anything but I have been doing this since 2004 and we started out selling board level products and I know the frustration builders face in trying to get different vendors electronics to gee haw with each other and the software. I admire and respect a user that sets out and takes the time to do their own complete build and systems integration but I also know there are a lot that never get there and abandon the project.

Will you be able to pull a system out of the box and cut the same day....probably not, especially if you have never used a CNC plasma before but its puts you a lot further along the learning curve and a much faster rate.

[coxfive]

WE HAVE PURCHASED A 6' GANTRY FROM PP AND WENT WITH THE 12' 3 1/2 SD RAILS THE ONLY PROBLEM WE HAD WAS GETTING THE RAILS TOOK FOREVER , WE ARE A STEEL FAB AND CNC MACHINE SHOP FROM THE 80'S ALL OF THE CandCNC products have been
" excellent " we have had a few glitches but mostly our inexperience with the thc ,and trying to use the wrong tips for thinner metal . and not upgrading to a 105 hypertherm ,we need to cut a lot of 3/4 pl and the 85 is to light for quality cuts.we built our other components, table and frame and powder coated everything except the slats that need grounded and of course we get a lot of rust ,I'm debating the chemical additive for the water table to stop this I'm just not sure the issues with this . (sorry for the capital letters)
FYI there tech support is also excellent as well.
Garry Cox
COLEMAN MACHINE AND WELDING SERVICE SINCE 1983
COLEMAN TEXAS