Tracker CNC & Cutmaster 52 - A Novices Journal

[mazade]

2/2/08 -- Prequel
This is intended to be a journal of our experiences with getting started from scratch into the field of cnc plasma cutting: that goes for plasma cutting in general as well as the operation and nuances of cnc type devices, software, etc. The whole of this setup is intended for personal and business usage.. pretty much it can be said that my dad is coming out of retirement or something like that :P
Some other motivations towards investing in a plasma cutting table setup:
Brother learning auto-body @ UTI automotive school
Sister getting arts degree in metalsmithing, very enthused about the potential with this setup

My dad and self are the individuals handling the majority of whatever is involved in this endeavour: problems, troubleshooting, modifications and everyday use. For what it's worth, the skills & experience had on this end between myself and my dad are kinda as follows:
Much fabrication, construction & welding experience(lots-stick, 1yr-MIG): dad
Lesser amounts of fab & welding work(1yr-stick, 1yr-MIG): me
Computers(time dedication almost failed me from highschool and did fail me from college): me
-involvement in 2D and 3D CAD & modeling + years of being a hack troubleshooter.
Electrical: from basic soldering and repair to speaker systems & circuit boards(few years): me

[mazade]

2/2/08 -- Item Selection
Well I can't say that a whole lot of skill went into this portion of things since we have no experience or skill with any of what we're going into.. specifically...
-Tracker CNC - 2006 Model 4x4 CNC Table w/automatic height control.
We found this available on eBay and came to find out that it was being sold by the manufacturer and had been used as someones display model so it ended up with a mere 2 or so hours of actual usage. We talked with one of the Tracker CNC techs, Justin, who also happened to be the individual overseeing the selling of the table & setup, and got as much information as two novices could practically gather from phone and e-mail conversations with him. All questions and such were answered very well and to the fullest of our expectations/hopes. Oh yeah, one bonus to ordering the TrackerCNC plasma setups in particular, they do include the computer system all preloaded and ready to go; although I could easily throw together a computer system in my sleep for this thing, less potential software bugs, hardware requirements, pieces & parts to worry about for even a little bit doesn't hurt my feelings. Bottom Line: This setup was their poster child and if any one of their pieces of equipment was going to work, it'd be this one. Beyond that it also came with the standard new purchase deals of 2-year warranty and unlimited tech support... well not to mention that it was being eBay'd for a hefty price LESS than a new retail setup from TrackerCNC which also equated to about the same cost of other competing brands CNC table setups which come with no computer system. As of now, we're waiting for the palletized package to arrive in the next few days.
-Thermal Dynamics Cutmaster 52 - Latest generation of Plasma Cutter with a 1/2" reccommended cut and just strong of 1" maximum cut thickness.
This specific brand came as the reccommendation of our helpful TrackerCNC tech. Stating that it packed the best cutting precision & reliability of other brands that we were considering. However, this particular model.. the 52, being that it is the latest generation, the tech said that they have no experience with the latest generation and couldn't exactly reccommend it in particular(this we learned of course came after we purchased it), oh well. Reason being for 'I wouldn't reccommend that model in particular', this generation of plasma cutter(52, 82, 102) is based on an Inverter technology, something totally different from the last generation(51, 81, 101). Not a problem though.. or so we think so far. We just got in the Plasma Cutter yesterday and along with it arrived a machine torch, which we had to order seperately, but at the same time... it's rare that you find anyone selling a plasma cutter AND a machine torch together, and when you do, it costs you just as much as buying both a plasma cutter w/hand torch AND the machine torch.. wierd. For what it's worth, the difference between the hand torch and the machine torch is: hand torch has an angle in it at the head and of course it has the actuation trigger on the hand-hold portion; machine torch is totally straight, quite long, has a toothed section and retainer which locks into the teeth for preliminary hieght adjustment and has no trigger on the body, but works off an electrical triggering mechanism, the computer software. As for the electrical triggering mechanism, it may require an adapter that was never mentioned anywhere and does not come with the plasma cutting machine or the machine torch.. not to mention that as of yet I cannot find any item or part number which would suggest that it is this adapter that the instructions seem to point towards. No major worries, but it is our first hiccup, that I can recall at least.

[mazade]

2/4/08 - Pre-"Fun" with Plasma Torch
Today has been kinda interesting... after our weekend of some time spent with the thermal dynamics cutmaster 52 and not having run it yet but done more of the "lets look at it and poke at it and take it apart and do what we can to even get some basic understanding about this thing".. So anyhow, monday arrives here and we started to search for consumables(electrodes, cutting tips of different amperages, cutting standoffs, cutting deflectors, drag tip guards, starter cartridges, etc.) suppliers. The local do-it-all welding, medical & industrial supply store has quite a selection of consumables for plasma cutters, but only for the hypertherm brand: score 1 point for us genious's on this end.. don't worry, we're still telling ourselves that the latest generation of thermal dynamics torch & setup we have is superior to the offerings of hypertherm. It will likely be the end of the week before we see any of our 30, 40 & 50 amp cutting tips and numerous accessories. Oh yeah, there were 3-4 cutting tips included with the plasma cutting machine when we got it.. but they all turned out to be the exact same amperage tips, so much for a versatile starting selection. Then there was the plug/wiring aspect of getting the cutmaster 52 up and running, it uses some odd head that I had not specifically seen before on a 220V device.. turns out it is a NEMA 6-50 type plug. Well after a while of internet searching and determining if the 10ga, 3-conductor w/ground wire we had would handle the up to 60A load.. and then to determine what was needed to hook it to our 220V range style plugins, a short list was made and thereafter fulfilled at the local Ace hardware.
NEMA 6-50R(for receptacle) & NEMA 10-50P(for plug)
Alright, plug head on one end of 20+ feet of 10Ga wire, receptacle on the other and we have power wherever we might need it.
Oh, some side-type note which I figured is worth mentioning: the case/cover/housing of the Thermal Dynamics cutmaster 52 leaves a few things to be desired. 1) It does not sit flat on a flat surface; ok big deal. 2) While fully assembled and together things seem to be rugged enough.. but when you take it apart and then hope to put it back together the plastic & metal case is quite shifty.. causing the screw holes to disappear more often than not therefore permitting you to take some time trying to get things back into alignment so you can even get the screws back into their intended holes. The plastic end-faces don't seem to be supported themselves when the case cover is removed, which the whole case cover needs to be taken off to even get access to one side of the plasma cutters' innards.
Neither my dad or I are disliking the Thermal Dynamics brand or this plasma cutter itself... but these are just the observations and thoughts so far from our little corner of 'inexperienced-land'.
We did acquire an RTI eliminizer which we're intending on hooking up directly to the back of the cutmaster 52 unit via a short, double-ended pipe nipple. We understand that it's best to hook the air/oil/water filter as close to the unit as possible since the water vapor tends to condense to moisture droplets easier when it is farther away from the air compressor.

[mazade]

2/5/08 - Manual plasma cutting for the very first time.
Ooh, neat stuff. So we got out a large oddly shaped sheet of 1/8" mild steel and went after it with the plasma cutter today. My dad went after it for the first 15-20 mins while I messed with finishing up a bracket meant to secure yesterdays purchase of a RTI Eliminizer to the back of the plasma cutting machine. Anyhow within the 15+ minutes of my dad getting familiar with the plasma cutter and making straight-line cuts using a piece of 1/2" plywood as a straight-edge guide, which worked very well, the cuts started out rather rough with lots of slag on both top and bottom of the cut edges... within 5 minutes of messing with the air pressure, amperage and cut speed the consecutive cuts had substantially less slag showing up. Oh yeah, we have not yet received the other consumables so we were stuck working with a 60A non-drag tip, which is perhaps overkill for the thickness of material we were working on. So, after dad had his fill of messing around.. 'hey you, get over here and give this a try', my turn. Cut number one, I did not know that there was a near 1 second delay between pulling the trigger and the arc forming so I ended up a good 1/2" in to the material before the arc formed, where I stopped moving in the one direction, slid the torch back towards the edge where I started from and reversed direction again to finish the cut. My dad said I moved a good bit faster from start to finish than he ever did... but the cut I made had nearly nothing for slag and the cut surfaces were almost shiny, sheesh that was beginners... well I don't believe in luck and I know that I have no skill when it comes to these kinds of things... alright, it went very well for the first time handling a plasma cutting torch. I made two more straight line cuts, one was requested to be a leading angle cut which worked ok, but I ended up blowing enough sparks towards myself to begin burning the bottom of my jeans, that was kinda neat. The last act of our trial run was semi-ambitious for us beginners, make a cut in the steel using a hole template cut into the plywood. I was given the honors of trying to follow the circle template with the torch head in hand. Well I moved fast... to fast actually and the arc cut through the metal for about 50% of the circumference, so I made a second pass and it finished, the metal disk dropped out without hanging up but the edges were a little funny because of one missed pass and a second pass which didn't help clean things up in most spots. All in all, we were quite satisfied with what we saw and experienced today and are looking forward to getting the appropriately sized tips for cutting 1/8" or thinner material. Considering the dust or atomized metal or whatever it is that ends up clouding the air, my dad is in his head designing a forced air capture hood to duct outdoors to prevent our 28x48 shop from getting to "hazy" inside - he's good at figuring that stuff out. Beyond that, with all the sparks shooting downward, ideas are being passed around about either a water tray or a sand tray that will sit underneath the CNC table and prevent the concrete floor from becoming a dispersed bed of metal flakes, by hopefully catching most of the molten metal spray. Tomorrow the Tracker CNC table should be arriving ^_^

[mazade]

2/7/08 - ... is a virtue
Well we're having to wait for the cnc table setup, it was still on a railcar about 4 hours away this morning and it appears that this evening has made it to its transferrence destination an hour away before tomorrow where we'll pick it up and bring it to our home/shop. Half of the delay is likely due to the weather here in MT, snowy and blizzard-y for the past few days; at our place alone there varies between 8 & 12+ inches of snow.. I've spent a good few hours of plowing our 3/4-mile long driveway too ^_^

[mazade]

2/8/08 - Tuesday... need I say more >_<
*sigh* the joys of being the little guy when it comes to dealing with freight company's. The Tracker setup is only 1 hour away from us and first when we ask about if/when we'll receive it, they tell us that they have the container all packed away in the back of one of their trucks... it was when my dad asked about us going to get it from them directly that their story changed.... all of a sudden they didn't have the package and therefore no you can't come up and get it. o.0
Oh well, tuesday it is then..

[Bigtoy302]

Your going to start a fire if you keep using that plasma with a 10ga cord. For 50amps supply you need at least 6ga.

I was thinking about buying a cutmaster 52 also but I could not find any info on them so I got lucky and found a Hypertherm 1000 used localy.

Ryan

[DISCONNECTED]

He should be fine with 10gauge wire.It is 220v only 25 amps is running through a single strand of that of that 10 gauge wire and 25 amps through the other hot wire for a total of 50 amps. It is only 20 feet so there is really no voltage drop either.Some one right me if I am wrong.

[mazade]

I can understand the concern there.. one of the main reasons for the 10ga wire selection was that my dad had about 30 feet of it sitting around.. Should we ever cut anything that would require 40A+, it would be a rare occurrence. Having looked around at different things, because I was concerned about the wire size myself and the issues it may cause, it seems that the voltage drop over 25ft of 10Ga @ 60A(220V) is just over 1%.

[Bigtoy302]

He should be fine with 10gauge wire.It is 220v only 25 amps is running through a single strand of that of that 10 gauge wire and 25 amps through the other hot wire for a total of 50 amps. It is only 20 feet so there is really no voltage drop either.Some one right me if I am wrong.

My father is a electrician, so i just went off of what he told me when we wired our shop for 220v for my welder and plasma.

[Jcar]

Initially, I was with Bigtoy302 in thinking that 10 ga seemed a little small for a machine that draws 47 amps at 230 volts. My Hypertherm Powermax 1000 draws 44 amps at 230 volts and Hypertherm recommends 8 ga as a minimum. I found a copy of the Cutmaster 52 manual at Thermadyne's website, and sure enough, they recommend 10 ga with a 50 amp breaker. A quick search of the net shows 10 ga copper wire as having a free air current capacity of 50 amps and a cable current capacity of 33 amps. Hmmm.... interesting. I guess it's a matter of how much liability a company is comfortable with.

[millman52]

Initially, I was with Bigtoy302 in thinking that 10 ga seemed a little small for a machine that draws 47 amps at 230 volts. My Hypertherm Powermax 1000 draws 44 amps at 230 volts and Hypertherm recommends 8 ga as a minimum. I found a copy of the Cutmaster 52 manual at Thermadyne's website, and sure enough, they recommend 10 ga with a 50 amp breaker. A quick search of the net shows 10 ga copper wire as having a free air current capacity of 50 amps and a cable current capacity of 33 amps. Hmmm.... interesting. I guess it's a matter of how much liability a company is comfortable with.

Funny this "FREE AIR" thing pops up. I'm not a certified electrician. So double check anything I post here.

A good friend of mine just bought a new Thermal Arc MIG Machine. We were Sizing it up for wire & he pulls out an electricians pocket referance manual.

As I understood the pocket ref. man. 10ga will handle the 50A if it's single strands in wide open spaces (free air) Once you incorporate 2 strands close together with paper around that, & then add a vinyl jacket over that, you have (standard romex wire, house wire). That's no longer free air & the rating drops to the 33A. Same thing if those single strands are inside conduit.

I done what I always do. OVER WIRE!!!!! The welder manual called for 8. We wired with 6. The only time you'll regret it Is when you (1) pay for heavier wire. (2) While you are dealing with the heavier wire hooking things up. After that you'll be so proud that you can feel no heat anywhere along your supply wire even when running wide open on your machine.

Trust me if you starve your machine on primary imput power the least bit your duty cycle will drop off. Duty cycle goes down, heat goes up, safety overheat shuts your plasma cutter down. Frustration level goes up!!!!!!!!

Just my 2 cents.

Neil