Thinking about purchasing a Plasma Cam

[wgoebel78]

I have been loking at purchasing a ne Plasma Cam and setting it up using the Thermal Dynamics Cutmaster 152. I intend on use it for metal art and cutting some parts for a fab shop. I was just wondering what you guys think about your plasma cams. Any faults, ease of setup and operation,customer support, etc. Have any of you purchased any of their art discs and used them? Likes/Dislikes? Just trying to make an educated purchase and don't want to be blind sided by something stupid I never thought about. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Is there anyone located around Houston with one of these that I could come check it out during operation?

[Aksess]

I have 4 of the art discs and would not recommend them for purchase, Way to expensive for what you get. Buy a good set of DXF files instead. I love my table, The hardest thing will be getting the torch height set. I cut some 26" flanges with 16-7/8 holes this past weekend for a job and was able to get them within .010 with a hypotherm 600 and fine cut nozzle. You will love the machine and the software is real easy to use. Good luck with the machine

[wgoebel78]

Thanks for the reply where would you suggest buying the DXF files from? I have seen various ones for sale on E-bay and stuff but just not sure of the quality and don't want to get ripped off.

[Aksess]

I bought a set off e-bay about a year ago, and they are great. Anything as long as it is in dxf or eps format. "Vector format". I am looking for some hvac software now.

[Farmers Machine]

I went to their factory in Colorado. They demonstrated a machine for about an hour for me. Their soft ware seems to be very thought out for a cutting machine and simple to make adjustments in size and placement on the plate to cut. Call the factory to see about importing a DXF file and generating code from that, If you can, then get any good art software like Corel draw or an inexpensive CAD CAM like Bob Cad with the Bob Art Pro and go to town. They also have a division that builds a larger table that is somewhat more heavy duty but can handle a larger cut job with out indexing your plate. Make sure you get it with the digital height control and find out which is the best/easiest plasma unit to interface to their control, you have to sense the voltage to adjust the torch height and as expensive a plasma consumables are the DHC will pay out very quickly.
Good Luck with your new business
The Farmer.

[Farmers Machine]

TO Aksess
Go to Alibre Design.com and down load free version of their solids cad software. They have a sheet metal module that will allow you to draw the part assembly then flatten out to cut the job. This software is a good as Solid Works at 1/5 the price. if you buy the Expert package it comes with a CAM package so you could generate code and export straight to the plasma cam and cut parts. I have spent over $50,000.00 on all different kinds of software and this is by far the best yet.
Good Luck
The Farmer.

[Aksess]

Thank you I will try that.