which plasma system cnc

[marcmnrsports]

hi everyone been browsing this forum for a little while and found lots of usefull info. im based in the uk and i am looking at buying a cnc plasma cutting machine, we make sportscars and have many brackets, sheet alloy, sheet plastics cut for our cars im looking at getting something so we can do all this ourselves, for space i was looking at a 4 x 4 table as through indexing you can cut 8 x 4 sheets which is the biggest we need to cut, but have seen some reports this is time consuming and not very accurate, at the moment i an considering either a tm2 bolt together in 8x4 or 4x4 or a plasmacam 4 x4 system, so far ive been in touch with 2 copanies and torchmate seem to be very efficient and helpfull plasma cam the opposite, i really would prefer a bolt together kit as my time is better spent making our cars than making a table etc
what are peoples opinions on the best systems to buy ???
with torchmate you can get a plasma tube dutting attachment which would be very usefull for our chassis manufacture instead of our belt type tube notcher, im looking to buy in the next two weeks so any input is much appreatiated initially looking to buy the table and plasma setup inc torch height control then in a couple of months time the tube cutting and roting systems ( as i dont like the idea of learning to use all three in one go )

many thanks

marc
www.mnrltd.co.uk

[buz]

I am the owner of a metal fab business in the USA. www.metalmagicinc.net I did a lot of research before deciding to buy a Torchmate. Money was a big concern for me at the time so I built my own table. My shop is a 40' X 50' shop so room was also a concern. I decided that a 5' X 10' machine would be the biggest I would ever need. Wrong. I have since had many requests for a larger size. For cost efficiency a larger machine is the way to go. The machine cuts so fast that the cost of running it is in the transfer of material. Therefore larger tables are less expensive to run. As for Torchmates comparison to Plasma cam; I have a friend who bought a smaller Plasma cam. His machine is by far lighter than mine, he wastes a lot of time indexing and the tech support is free for only a short time then you are charged by the minute. I have had my machine for over 3 years now and Torchmate is still free and very supportive. I have had computer crash’s that took out all my programming and recently they again walked me right through any trouble I had. I believe there programming is better and is user friendly. I do custom cutting of parts for local manufacturing shops as well as my metal are and have many repeat customers.

[massajamesb]

I am waiting for Torchhead to chime in on this one, but since he hasn't, I will give my input.
Plasmacam is a proprietary setup, meaning you can only get parts from them, nothing else will work.
You can't just call up carr mcmaster and get a new servo to replace theirs, in other words. You are stuck with limited service and limited parts.
Another thing is how complicated servos are in comparison to steppers. If you are not familiar with servos, do a search on them. A lot more complicated than steppers. Not that they are bad, they have their place. IMO, a stepper is just a lot easier to troubleshoot or replace in the event of a failure or problem.
Torchmate is not proprietary in that they use normal off-the-shelf steppers, and Flashcutcnc drives and software. You have options on where to get parts, in other words.

I look at it in another way as well. Plasmacam has a lot of flash and glam in their catalog and video, trying to hype up their table as an "industrial" table for the masses, just point, click, cut. It is a lot of marketing hype. There are a couple of nice things about their software, but overall, I will pass.

Torchmate, on the other hand seems to be very up front and honest. Their table is not a miracle worker, there is a little work involved in making parts.They don't try to pass it off as some miracle worker machine.
They (customer service) were nice and helpful to me when I called a year or so ago, when I first looked into cnc. Plasmacam was the first I saw, and then found Torchmate, as well as Dynacnc, Dynatorch, and a couple others.
I wanted to save a buck, and I like hands on stuff, so I built my own (which has now been rebuilt twice, because I can't leave well enough alone.) and am still very happy with the outcome. This is not the route for everyone, I understand. If I had the money, knowing what I know now, I would be flipping a coin between Torchmate and Dynacnc.

[marcmnrsports]

thankyou, you have sort of confirmed my thought re plasmacam, the others im still waiting for contact from are dyna cnc and practical cnc also ez router, at this early stage torchmates response to my queries and their communication is excellent
any thoughts on the others i have mentioned

many thanks

marc

[massajamesb]

I have no personal experience with Practical, though I did look into their machine. I have not heard much good about their tables on here. I have found most people who have purchased one wound up trashing most of their drive and electrical components.
The person you really need to speak with is Torchhead on here, he supplies Dynacnc with their torch height controls. I haven't yet heard one person complain about dynacnc, or candcnc's thc. Tom (Torchhead) is a very knowledgeable guy, and extremely helpful. He has a Yahoo group for his products. Check him out at
www.candcnc.com
I am not very familiar with ez router, though. Sorry I can't be more help on that one.

[marcmnrsports]

ok thanks for your help
makes it a bit clearer now, seems to me its torchmate, ez router, or dyna cnc, so far dyna cnc have not responded to an emails yet, ez router are coming back to me with some options and prices , torchmate have given me all the information i need to make a decision.

any more advice / guidance is greatly recieved

cheers

marc

[massajamesb]

If you go Torchmate, are you going with the model 3 or 2?
didn't know if you were building your own table or???
I think you will be happy with either one, Dyna or torchmate. For the money, I think both machines are a good value.
For a little heads up on the dynacnc, you should also look at
www.sheetcam.com which is a great and easy to use cam program, corresponds perfectly with Dynacnc's controller Mach 3
www.artofcnc.com
Both are great for plasma cutting, and have wonderful customer service, each has a yahoo group for any questions you might have. I suggest checking those out before hand.
Torchmate uses Flashcutcnc, which I am not as familiar with.
Hope I haven't confused you, hope I have helped!
I just hope someone else chimes in to help guide you on your decision.
-massa

[marcmnrsports]

great i will have a look now thanks, i havent got the time to build a table, so looking for a plug and play system so we can hit the ground running, im looking at the tm 2 with upgarded gear rack in bolt together form, i would be buying everything from one company to keep things simple if i have a problem. i must admit i have been really impressed with torchmate so far in their efficiency

thanks again

marc

[Graybeard]

I do not recommend that anyone buy a product from Practical CNC. The unit I got is pure junk. I've had to replace virtually all of the electronics. I use the products of CandCNC (Tom - Torchhead). Outstanding products and great service. You might want to look at the EZ Router produced just down the road from CandC. Simple, sold construction, available in kit form, and available in router or plasma versions. I don't have any direct knowledge of EZ, but like the looks of their machine.

[massajamesb]

Thank God, someone besides me posted, ran out of good advice (if mine is any good at all, anyway). I was wondering, what kind of trouble did you have? If you don't wish to say publicly, I understand, just trying to get a better understanding of them. I just figured it was hard to mess up a stepper run machine.

[Graybeard]

My machine is a servo machine. The first problem I had was a runaway on the Z axis; it drove my new powermax machine torch straight though a piece of steel. That blew a drive. The problem was either caused by the mnotor or by the torch height control. In any case the THC never worked for me. After a series of runaways (replaced four Rutex drivers - three servo motors.) I finally bought an MP-1000 ATHC from CandCNC. It works like a charm. I then had another problem with the Practical controller, at which point the Practical owner told me that I had voided my warranty by replacing their THC (which didn't work) with one from CandCNC (which did work.). After nearly five months of hassle with Practical, I bought a new controller from CandCNC. It works great. I've finally got a system that works the way I want it to work. I did have one small accuracy problem - traced to my Magoo vision. I set the kerf in SheetCAM at .0039 instead of .039. Surprising how much steel I screwed up because of one tiny zero.

Right now I am designing a cnc router table and will try to run it with the Practical controller, if the damned thing is usable; no THC needed in this application.

[massajamesb]

Wow. Drove your torch through a piece of steel? Crazy. Sounds like you have a winner on your hands now. No more piercing the metal with the torch instead of the arc for you, huh?