Plasma, back again

[Robin Hewitt]

My plasma table got put on hold when there were "issues" about what I could and couldn't do in the garage

I now have a unit up on the industrial estate so I can do what I want

It's a 2m by 1m table for the smaller of the two standard sheets. A bit skeletal at the moment, needs boxing in and a lick of paint. I'm thinking to put screw adjustable feet, steel mounting plates glued to the floor so I can pull it square.

The racks are in and the gantry tracks okay, need another spring on the Y axis because the torch carriage can jump the rails at the back.

Pictures shows the frame and the torch carriage wound to the driven end. All fits okay. The gantry is an aluminium box section, it seems rigid enough so I only have to resist twist at one end. It has a driven pinion, an idler on an eccentric and a sprung roller at the bottom. If I can avoid having to tie the other end down it is much easier to remove it.

The position controller board is by the torch. I'm going to add another cpu at the other end of the torch cable. That one simply sends regular reports about torch voltage and whether it's trying to strike an arc. Hopefully I can communicate with twisted pairs but if there's a problem with interference I can use fibre optics.

Next is the guide rail so it tracks in a straight line on the X. Can't wait to see it move under it's own steam