Have you thought about doing downdraft rather than water? Typically a bit bulkier, but I think it suits a hybrid system a bit better, not having water to deal with.
I'd like to build my first CNC with the following features/capabilities:
* Able to cut a full sheet of 4x8' plywood
* Two spindles, one for wood and one for plasma cutter
* Removeable water tray similar to the CNC Router Parts design
* Works well with Fusion360 CAM
* Option to add a compartmentalized vacuum hold down table in the future
Doesn't need to be particularly high speed.
Any proven designs out there that could serve as a starting point for a system like this?
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Have you thought about doing downdraft rather than water? Typically a bit bulkier, but I think it suits a hybrid system a bit better, not having water to deal with.
If space isn't a big issue, consider attaching an arm to the Z axis that reaches over horizontally to an adjacent plasma cutting table that can be fitted with a water tray. The plasma cutter doesn't have any resistance to deal with, so rigidity isn't as important as with routing. And you wouldn't have to dismount your vacuum table every time you wanted to cut metal.
On the other hand, although some people don't seem to have a problem with it, I'd be disinclined to do woodworking in the same space as plasma cutting, which tends to spray bits of burned metal everywhere, contaminating the wood and possibly starting fires if they land in piles of wood dust. It seems like an operation best conducted in a separate shed of it's own.
[FONT=Verdana]Andrew Werby[/FONT]
[URL="http://www.computersculpture.com/"]Website[/URL]
Ryan,
I use a large table with a 125A Hypotherm on a daily basis...
So... I am very familiar with the mess that a reasonably powerful plasma can generate.
As to it's comparability with a wood working table?.... how can I explain?..
errrm.
What do you get if you take the letter "F" out of the word; "Way" ?