To who ever e-mailed me about a plasma table-

[Scott V]

Sorry I deleted your e-mail and thought I could answer here. When I got here I noticed no posts.

Anyway your questions were -
Did I receive my Practical CNC table yet and what do I think of Torchmate.

1. I have not received my table yet but it's being shipped.

2. I e-mailed Torchmate and I liked the response I got from them but when I started to add up the total cost for their kit it was higher then a complete package from Joe of Practical CNC. I also like the fact he has a 1-800 phone #

A side note on Plasmacam, when I talked to them it seemed like they really did not want to answer my questions until I got closer to buying one. That sent red flags flying. Customer service is the not there strong point. ( IMO ) Most of this is a gut feeling. Which over the years have made me make the right choice when buying equiptment. Like this stuff.

[whiteriver]

Not plasma related but had to comment on your shop. Nice tast in tools. I love the little thermal arc tig unit. I use one evey day. I like it so much I stoped using my lincoln squarewave 275 and even sold it. Dont do aluminum so don't need AC.
Had a oppertunity a while back to pick up a slightly used Esab 7/8" cap plasma with a 2 year warrenty for $1500. Now i'm wishing I would have jumped on it.

Donny

[Apples]

Thanks for your reply scott.

Yeah umm, what size plasma table have you ordered from practical cnc? When you were talking about torchmate did u mean the torchmate no 2 or the standard no 1.

Apples

[Scott V]

I bought a 5x10 table. We were looking at the Torchmate 2 with arc voltage control which is what we (great girlfriend) bought from Practical CNC.

Scott

[jlawren6]

Scott V,

Just wondered if you received your table from Practical CNC yet and, if so, what your impressions of it were so far? I'm interested in this table, but would like to see some independent reviews of it before I spend that much money. Any info you could pass along would be most appreciated.

Thanks.

[Scott V]

jlawren6,
I have received my table and it's pretty nice. The torch height control was dead so they are sending a new one. I just have not had time to run the thing much. Maybe two holes or so. I need to study the software before I get up to speed. I also need to build a venting setup. I am ordering some upgrades that should help the software. BobArt is the first one with more to follow. Like auto lead in/out,auto nesting etc. I would wait till they get that included in there package. They also use two different controllers WinCnc is what I have and the other is flashcut. I have no idea which is better or even if that matters.

The instructions could be better for a rookie like me but I am getting better at figuring this thing out.

They have answered every question I have asked. Overall I am happy but I can't give you much detail on how it is going to work.

[jlawren6]

Scott,

Thanks for the feedback. That helps out and increases my confidence in them a little bit. I first came across PracticalCNC on ebay and was a little scared off by there sales pitch. Seemed like too much "pie in the sky" sales talk and not enough hard data. Same for their website. I guess the Engineer in me wants to see specifications and know that some testing has gone on behind those numbers to verify them. It also seems like everyone is building and selling their own CNC routers these days. You just never know for sure what's backing the performance up.

With your comments and the answers I gotten from PracticalCNC to some of my questions so far, it appears the machine is worth investigating further. Hopefully they have sold one in my area that I can see in action or, if not, I might make the trip to MI to see one at their facility.

Thanks again for the reply. Please post some more updates as you get time.

Jon

[Johnuk]

Originally Posted by whiteriver Not plasma related but had to comment on your shop. Nice tast in tools. I love the little thermal arc tig unit. I use one evey day. I like it so much I stoped using my lincoln squarewave 275 and even sold it. Donny

That is a seriously evil welding setup!

I used to own a Thermal Arc as well. It wouldn't run at home, since it was three phase, so I used it in a workshop were I worked making custom gates and railings. For the 125 so something pounds I paid for it in an auction, it was an absolutely incredible welder. 400 amps of super smooth DC output! It literally vapourised 3 - 4mm stainless steel rods.

I particularly liked the Hot Start function. The guy I worked for was a bit of a cheeky one when it came to paying for anything. In a 'great deal' he bought four packs of everyday steel welding rods. It wasn't until it came to welding with them that we discovered they would glue themselves to the work every single time they were struck on a normal stick set. The Thermal Arc made them a breeze to work with.

It's just a shame about the colour scheme Thermal Arc use. Sure, it's how it performs that really counts, but the horrible purple and black colours make it look cheap, dated and tacky. I bet they could massively improve their sales by just redesigning the molds for the cases!

[Scott V]

Here is a link to a yahoo site about the Practical cnc table. Some good info there, if people are buying that machine or just interested.


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/practicalcnc/



As far as color, I never have been into it. The blue looks right but sometimes you can get burned that way.

Here is my downsized setup. I still have other yellow ones in the background, but these two or three are something else. This is the second major upgrade from the last picture. I will post the both of them. In fact I still have the Mauve ones but I just do not need them now.

[Johnuk]

Originally Posted by Scott V Here is a link to a yahoo site about the Practical cnc table. Some good info there, if people are buying that machine or just interested. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/practicalcnc/ As far as color, I never have been into it. The blue looks right but sometimes you can get burned that way. Here is my downsized setup. I still have other yellow ones in the background, but these two or three are something else. This is the second major upgrade from the last picture. I will post the both of them. In fact I still have the Mauve ones but I just do not need them now.

Damn... I mean just... Damn... Can I come and live at your house?

What do you think of the ESAB machines compared to Thermal Arc? Have you ever tried Miller, Hypertherm, Thermal Dynamics or Lincoln? If so, what are they like comparably?

ESAB seem much more active here in Europe than the other manufacturers. I'd be interested to hear what they're like to deal with and what they're equipment is like, as I live in England. Hypertherm say they're the world leader in plasma cutting, but ESAB seem to be the ones supplying ship yards with half mile gantry tables.

[svenakela]

Yellow they must be! :-)
I'm ashamed to tell I bought a non-yellow unit to my home garage. Oh man oh man, my family and friends gives me salty comments every single time we chat... ;-)
Even though it's working pretty well, it can't beat a yellow.

--Sven

[Scott V]

I have owned Miller,Lincoln,Still own Thermal Dynamics.
I never owned a Hyperthem but is quality stuff.

The esab in the picture is a step beyond the Thermal-arc although the Thermal is still a great little unit. It's kind of like the Thermal-arc ac/dc inverter in the picture is way beyond any of the esab ac/dc inverters. Miller inverter are some of the top ones out too. It's a apples and oranges type of deal on most of them.


Here is one or two for Sven. I tried this new esab out at the welding store and she welds nice. I also have or had these esabs.

Sven,
you get ribbed over here for buying Esabs instead on Miller or Lincoln.
Thats ok by me as long as I have the better unit!!

This last picture is of a nice Lincoln machine. It had to go down the road to help with the Plasma table purchase.

From now on I promise no more welding machines, and just cnc table stuff.