Need Help! scratch built plasma-how flat is good enough-


Results 1 to 3 of 3

Thread: scratch built plasma-how flat is good enough-

  1. #1
    Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Posts
    29
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default scratch built plasma-how flat is good enough-

    so ive been building my first cnc plasma over the last few weeks. its just a 4x4 with a water table. i finally got the last of my parts machined and assembled them to the frame today. before I started working on the electronic end of things I figured I should do a little q.c. work. which I had done during the assembly process but with a lot of it being welded, I wanted to go over everything. checking how square it was and how parallel the table ran to the gantry all that good stuff. which it turned out fairly well for being welded. which comes to my question. how flat does the table HAVE to be? I'm struggling with this as I prefer to have it perfect. I too realize that perfect is very hard to achieve when welding everything like I have. I'm off by .04 over 4ft. I have the torch set up as a probe with a limit switch that'll detect the work for now. that was all I was going to do until I got around to getting a THC. I wasn't planning on doing that until I see how much use the machine really gets. its going to be a plasma table mainly and have a removable bed that will attach and cover the water table for doubling as a router. I will attach a photo here to just give an idea of what I have going on here. I can make a few cuts here and there to get that .04 down to .015 or better. that will require quite a bit of time tho. so if .04 isn't going to drastically affect cut quality or any other variable, then I may just go with it. I'm not going to be cutting extremely precise parts as youll see from the construction. I also plan to switch to linear rails, again after I see if it gets enough use to justify the investment. now the router table will be more flat than that, as ill be able to add shims if needed and ill have more adjustment there as it wont be permanently fixed to the frame. I'm not experienced in cnc plasma cutting at all so any and all help is greatly appreciated.

    Similar Threads:
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails scratch built plasma-how flat is good enough--20161230_001712-jpg   scratch built plasma-how flat is good enough--20161230_001435-jpg  


  2. #2
    Community Moderator Jim Dawson's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Posts
    5717
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Re: scratch built plasma-how flat is good enough-

    I'd say 0.040 is pretty good for a weldment. Why don't you ''float'' the table in the frame and put adjusting screws at each corner? That way you could align the table to the gantry. For the router table, you will install that, then take a cut on it to align the top with the gantry befor you use it Thus it will be flat..



  3. #3
    Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Posts
    29
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Re: scratch built plasma-how flat is good enough-

    Wish I would have now, but the bottom of the table is seal welded to the outside rails. If the 40 thou isn't going to hurt me by much I'll just roll with it. I doubt I'll be making to many full length cuts anyway. If it does become an issue I'll either resort to your suggestion or break down and buy a thc. Like you said with the router table I can throw it on and face it off and I'm good there. Thank you for your help.



Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  


About CNCzone.com

    We are the largest and most active discussion forum for manufacturing industry. The site is 100% free to join and use, so join today!

Follow us on


Our Brands

scratch built plasma-how flat is good enough-

scratch built plasma-how flat is good enough-