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All of this talk of water jet cutters and occasionally lasers led me
to this website.



Apparently you're supposed to buy your own plasma torch, but in any
case, it's a very spartan design of an xy table with a little bit of
z. They claim accuracy of 0.0005 in the xy, making me curious how they
built the actuators and bearings. Getting both ends to move together
on the first axis seems an issue -- maybe a rod with rack and pinion
at both ends would work if you could get rid of the backlash.

Notice that almost all the structural elements are bent sheet metal
and the cable holder saves a bunch of expense from using a flexible
wiring channel.

A small handheld plasma torch is a bit expensive at $1500, but it's
way cheaper than a laser.

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@..., "Dennis Schmitz"
<denschmitz@...> wrote:

All of this talk of water jet cutters and occasionally lasers led me
to this website.



Apparently you're supposed to buy your own plasma torch, but in any
case, it's a very spartan design of an xy table with a little bit of
z. They claim accuracy of 0.0005 in the xy, making me curious how they
built the actuators and bearings. Getting both ends to move together
on the first axis seems an issue -- maybe a rod with rack and pinion
at both ends would work if you could get rid of the backlash.

Notice that almost all the structural elements are bent sheet metal
and the cable holder saves a bunch of expense from using a flexible
wiring channel.

A small handheld plasma torch is a bit expensive at $1500, but it's
way cheaper than a laser.

Dennis, come over to the CNCManualPlasmaCutting group and post that
same question. All plasma guys over there. We talk about the actual
accuracy of the plasma cutting process itself and about specific
brands of tables and plasma cutters.

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@..., "Dennis Schmitz"
<denschmitz@...> wrote:

All of this talk of water jet cutters and occasionally lasers led

me

to this website.



Apparently you're supposed to buy your own plasma torch, but in any
case, it's a very spartan design of an xy table with a little bit

of

z. They claim accuracy of 0.0005 in the xy, making me curious how

they

built the actuators and bearings. Getting both ends to move

together

on the first axis seems an issue -- maybe a rod with rack and

pinion

at both ends would work if you could get rid of the backlash.

Notice that almost all the structural elements are bent sheet metal
and the cable holder saves a bunch of expense from using a flexible
wiring channel.

A small handheld plasma torch is a bit expensive at $1500, but it's
way cheaper than a laser.

Yeah, you can build it to do 0.0005" but the problem is that the
torch won't hold that( repeat it) as the tip wears out prety fast.
It's dificult to get a large machine built out of square tubes
strait all the way withing that 0.0005".
The positioning carriages should not be part of the cutting table.
the one I've built has step motors and rack and pinion, and a long
shaft across the table driving both sides of the table.

Fogassa.,

Dennis Schmitz wrote:

All of this talk of water jet cutters and occasionally lasers led me
to this website.



Apparently you're supposed to buy your own plasma torch, but in any
case, it's a very spartan design of an xy table with a little bit of
z. They claim accuracy of 0.0005 in the xy, making me curious how they
built the actuators and bearings.

This is the classic confusion between resolution and accuracy. There's no WAY
they can provide ACCURACY of .0005" in a machine that size. It would be
VERY expensive to provide such accuracy in a coordinate measuring machine
that size, if built of granite and air bearings, and kept in a temperature-controlled
room. OH, but wait! They DO NOT claim such accuracy. The specs say "resolution",
and that is perfectly reasonable.

I would guess an initial accuracy over the whole work envelope of .1" at best, as I'm
sure they do the minimal amount of calibration. They probably use a square to
set the orthogonality of the axes, and that is ALL.

I'm pretty sure the linear actuation is rack and pinion, and the axis looks like
bearings roll along steel channels.

Jon

I would guess an initial accuracy over the whole work envelope of

.1" at

best, as I'm
sure they do the minimal amount of calibration. They probably use a
square to
set the orthogonality of the axes, and that is ALL.

One would expect a final test to be a pen plotter.

a large square drawn, then rotated 90 deg, would show squareness
pretty well.

But, As you implied, alignment at the factory only needs to be
superficial. the breaking down, then boxing and reassembly would be
well past any factory calibration.

I wonder how much the sell for ?

Dave

I wonder how much they sell for ?

Dave

I did a little searching by Google and the only pricing info I found was a
posting by someone on a (non-PlasmaCAM) forum somewhere. He said they're
'about $10,000'. May, or may not, be accurate. I found NO independent
reviews of the thing at all! Not one! Maybe someone else has?

One fellow on a forum said they're not nearly as robust as they appear
in the purty pictures on the PlasmaCAM site, for what that's worth.

The fact there's no pricing info on their site is a red flag, to me. I
like companies who are up-front with such things. If they're not, they're
usually hiding something, in my experience. In this case, I'll bet it's
the lack of value for $$ spent. Something you're not supposed to realize
until after the dotted-line has been signed and the thing is in your
possession.

One's supposed to watch their video and send them 10-large (or whatever).
Basically sight unseen. They discourage contact with present owners,
provide no references at all, and you -can't- actually see and touch
the machine at the 'factory' before purchase. Gee, I wonder why?? :)

They're clever marketers tho, I'll give them that. The whole thing
is so slick, and sleazy-feeling, it really turns me off. I wouldn't
send them 10-cents.

Ron Yost

Ron Yost wrote:

I wonder how much they sell for ?

Dave

I did a little searching by Google and the only pricing info I found was a
posting by someone on a (non-PlasmaCAM) forum somewhere. He said they're 'about $10,000'. May, or may not, be accurate. I found NO independent
reviews of the thing at all! Not one! Maybe someone else has?

One fellow on a forum said they're not nearly as robust as they appear
in the purty pictures on the PlasmaCAM site, for what that's worth.

This is not a great surprise. As best as I can tell, he has the rack mounted inside
a steel channel, and some kind of carriage rolls either slong the inside of outside
of the channel. Since plasma is a horribly dirty process, this seems like a pretty
good design from the standpoint of resisting contamination. But, you can't expect
great accuracy from structural steel components. And, since there is no scheme
to prevent racking of the bridge axis, that is going to put some stresses on the
thing that may accelerate wear.

$10K just seems a bit high for a basic X-Y table with a little Z travel.

The fact there's no pricing info on their site is a red flag, to me. I
like companies who are up-front with such things. If they're not, they're
usually hiding something, in my experience. In this case, I'll bet it's
the lack of value for $$ spent. Something you're not supposed to realize until after the dotted-line has been signed and the thing is in your
possession.

One's supposed to watch their video and send them 10-large (or whatever). Basically sight unseen. They discourage contact with present owners, provide no references at all, and you -can't- actually see and touch
the machine at the 'factory' before purchase. Gee, I wonder why?? :)

No posted price is not a great concern to me - yes they want you to call, not too
unusual. If all the rest of the previous paragraph is true, then that DOES raise a
red flag, for sure. Might be time to do some Google searches on the trade name to
see if anyone has posted from their experience.

Jon

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@..., Jon Elson <elson@...> wrote:

Ron Yost wrote:

I wonder how much they sell for ?

Dave

I did a little searching by Google and the only pricing info I

found was a

posting by someone on a (non-PlasmaCAM) forum somewhere. He said

they're

'about $10,000'. May, or may not, be accurate. I found NO

independent

reviews of the thing at all! Not one! Maybe someone else has?

One fellow on a forum said they're not nearly as robust as they

appear

in the purty pictures on the PlasmaCAM site, for what that's

worth.

This is not a great surprise. As best as I can tell, he has the

rack

mounted inside
a steel channel, and some kind of carriage rolls either slong the

inside

of outside
of the channel. Since plasma is a horribly dirty process, this

seems

like a pretty
good design from the standpoint of resisting contamination. But,

you

can't expect
great accuracy from structural steel components. And, since there

is no

scheme
to prevent racking of the bridge axis, that is going to put some
stresses on the
thing that may accelerate wear.

$10K just seems a bit high for a basic X-Y table with a little Z

travel.

The fact there's no pricing info on their site is a red flag, to

me. I

like companies who are up-front with such things. If they're not,

they're

usually hiding something, in my experience. In this case, I'll

bet it's

the lack of value for $$ spent. Something you're not supposed to

realize

until after the dotted-line has been signed and the thing is in

your

possession.

One's supposed to watch their video and send them 10-large (or

whatever).

Basically sight unseen. They discourage contact with present

owners,

provide no references at all, and you -can't- actually see and

touch

the machine at the 'factory' before purchase. Gee, I wonder

why?? :)

No posted price is not a great concern to me - yes they want you

to

call, not too
unusual. If all the rest of the previous paragraph is true, then

that

DOES raise a
red flag, for sure. Might be time to do some Google searches on

the

trade name to
see if anyone has posted from their experience.

Jon

The PlasmaCAM solution is for the person that wants nothing to do
but turn on the machine and start cutting. There is nothing DIY
about it. They are expert marketers and they have a software
interface that is their primary selling point. If you watch the
video, the software is so good you can almost just "think" about a
part and it will cut it. They show importing a bitmap and clicking
a few buttons and cutting out a part. In real life the reports are
that it's not quite that easy and reviews are mixed. It will import
DXF so you are back to the basic CAM toolpath functions. It's the
software that attracts their customers since it appears to solve the
issue of: fear of computers and software.

Their machine is totally proprietary and works ONLY with their
software and controller. If something breaks you have to get the
part from them.

Four years ago they were one of the few ready-to-run low cost plasma
CNC machines out there, but there are now several other mfgs of mid
range tables built using various approaches and some with more open
designs that lend themselves to selecting the best mix of CAD CAM
and Control.

Since this list is for people interested in building/modifying their
own CNC machines the further discussion of specific brands/pricing
would better be moved to the Plasma specific lists.

What is a valid topic of discussion is the specific design of a
commercial machine and how it could be utilized by the DIY builder.
All of us have looked at other designs or commercial machines to get
ideas. PCAM and others inspired my initial plasma table design but
there is no substitute for experience!

Tom Caudle