OT: CNC Router/Plasma Table

So I've started on and been busy building my CNC Table...

The wooden base table and wooden gantry transitions are 'mock-ups' that will later be replaced with parts made from aluminum (gantry transitions), and welded steel (base table structure)... It will have slide in material bases that are also of welded steel, one to hold the MDF sacrifice board for routing, and another to hold the steel slats for Plasma.. will probably build an additional slide in bed that will be a vacuum hold down for routing smaller stuff...

A water tray will be built underneath for catching hot slag during plasma cutting, with a storage shelf under that...

Once the mock up is done and the top end operating, I will use it in it's current location to mill the aluminum for the gantry transitions while the steel table is being built out in the shop, where it will find a permanent home until I can build a dedicated building for it... (probably along side a dedicated brew shed..:rockin

It's a lot of work, but I'm really excited and can't wait to see it come alive.... (It's not cheap either)

WOW, that's all I can say to this post. Good luck and I will be watching this one for sure.

Awesome build, and being a Parker employee real happy to see the selection of Parker products in this build.

dang your bedrooms gonna get pretty smokey when you fire up the plasma cutter

CABeerMaker said:

Awesome build, and being a Parker employee real happy to see the selection of Parker products in this build.

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Parker Products?

doctorsbro said:

dang your bedrooms gonna get pretty smokey when you fire up the plasma cutter

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It's the party room, and it won't be seeing any plasma duty in here ... The shop is a real mess.. It has been used for storage for about 8 years.. And now I gotta clean it out... waiting for the 'real' spring to appear so I can continue on that mission...

I was once renting a house in redondo beach many many years ago, and I rebuilt a chevy 350 in the kitchen.. so I guess your comment isn't totally out of character........ LOL

SWEET! Someday I will own one of these, too. Someday...

Picked up the rest of my bolts order today, so I can start using the proper ones in the proper places (replacing all the ones that are the wrong length).. The 4" CRS arrived also, so I can get to finishing the Z carriage .. All I need is the info from the motor supplier about dimensions, or the motor itself.. which ever arrives first...

Yuri_Rage said:

SWEET! Someday I will own one of these, too. Someday...

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I said that for at least ten years!

Beautiful!

I always craved a CNC plasma cutter/milling machine. Your thread prompted me to do a search about it.
Are these the instructions you're following?

http://buildyourcnc.com/default.aspx

Not following any instructions.. Just did research, chose products and doing my own thing....

Mine will be nothing like that.. It's rack and pinion based (dual drive on the X axis), large format (4' x 8' material up to 12" thick), fast (1200+ IPM rapids), medium weight (about 1100-1300 lbs), powerful (eventually a water cooled spindle in the neighborhood of 4-5 hp), and intended for light commercial/short run manufacturing...

Was looking at the MechMate for a long time (much beefier), which is similar cost.. but much more work.. and as such much more 'time'... I needed to get this up and running in a fairly short time span...

If using this table as a dual use table becomes too much hassle though, I'll probably build a mechmate down the road some for the router stuff and relegate this one to plasma only..

But I think I've figured out how to use this one for both and make the switching back and forth bearable... (sawdust and sparks do not mix well)...

But once this one is up and running, it has to start making me enough money before I can justify going 'any' farther... I'm in no position to just willy nilly take on a bunch of expensive hobbies...

Inodoro.. If you're looking for an inexpensive entry level hobby DIY table that you can make without much investment (other than a couple weekends), and then upgrade bit by bit later..

check out the Solsylva plans....

Hmmm...with those specs, even making it yourself, that's gonna cost you a pretty penny. Luckily, my needs are a lot more modest.

What are you planning to use for electronics and software?

r8rphan said:

Inodoro.. If you're looking for an inexpensive entry level hobby DIY table that you can make without much investment (other than a couple weekends), and then upgrade bit by bit later..

check out the Solsylva plans....

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Thank you. I will.

Inodoro_Pereyra said:

Hmmm...with those specs, even making it yourself, that's gonna cost you a pretty penny. Luckily, my needs are a lot more modest.

What are you planning to use for electronics and software?

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Mach 3 for the machine control.. Initially stuff from vectric for the CAM side, and I have quite a bit of older 3D and other vector based graphic software from when I was into modeling and animation that will work just fine for now for the CAD side..

Steppers (different for each axis) 900-1240 inch ounce NEMA 34 (totaling 2480 on the X axis) , 1400 w switching power supply, gecko drives, etc...... at this time anyways.. I may reduce things slightly.. but not much...

The table looks like it will initially come in around $4500-4800 The single most expensive part is the dang plasma cutter.. Decent plasma cutters with machine heads have an entry cost around $3500 and go up from there... So that will put the machine in it's dual use format around $8K-9K...

I have a customer who is helping me finance part of it ( some here and some there over a few months), and will let me work it off later... (they got tired of watching me struggle in this economy)... I've done quite a bit of work for them the last three years and we've all come to trust each other... My 'hope' is that I can get the thing to start paying for itself enough over the first several months to pay for the plasma upgrade...

but everything is subject to change as I go..

Yep. Definitely out of my price range...

You probably already know this, but just in case you don't, living in Cali, you can have a major potential customer base for your CNC plasma cutter if you offer your services among custom cars and motorcycle shops. Those guys are always looking for a fast way to make brackets and a lot of other flat stuff.

Just about every hobby, interest, or industry I've ever been involved in is a potential market...

Things like that I have to be careful with though... Doing one offs of their design is one thing, but if I were to manufacture something for 'risky' endeavors, there are potential liability issues ... not that I have any assets anyways....

Yeah. A few years ago, a friend was warning me about the possible liabilities of making one off parts on my lathe.
I said, "hey, they can pick me up by the ankles and shake me. If anything falls off my pockets, it's theirs."

An update or two on my CNC build.. Starting to assemble the Rack and Pinion drives, and mount/adjust the motors... Hoping to have it under power in about 3weeks.. then start on the steel base, the aluminum gantry transitions, and start tuning it and making stuff... Shooting for sometime in June...

Again, the wood parts are just for mockup purposes.. The base will be made of heavy gauge steel, and the gantry supports of 3/4" machined aluminum...

Will be continuing to install the R&P stuff and assembling the Z carriage, etc. over the next week or so, while I wait for all the power supply and drivers and what not...

More Progress:

All three axis are complete and ready for power...

Just gotta put the power supply together and fab up a router mount, then I can power it up and start learning the software while I build the steel base out in the shop.....

Damn it R8rphan, you're making me suffer...!

Anyway, it's starting to look really good. How long you think it'll take you to finish it?:rockin:

Inodoro_Pereyra said:

Damn it R8rphan, you're making me suffer...!

Anyway, it's starting to look really good. How long you think it'll take you to finish it?:rockin:

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Finish? I'm not sure that is possible ...

But I hope to have it come to life within two to three weeks, and then I have to fab up a dust collection system, learn the software, clean out the shop, build a steel base, get the Super PID router speed controller, take it all apart and put it back together out in the shop, this time paying very close attention to tolerances, build the replaceable material beds (as well as the cart for moving, storing, installing and removing them), etc..

In any event, sometime between mid june and mid july, I'm hoping to start using it for the many 'projects' I have lined up...

Once this thing starts producing income, I'm hoping to be able to buy the plasma cutter, then I have to build the mount for 'that' as well as the material bed for that, the water tub, exhaust system, etc...

Ordered the router mount today, and received the Power supply, cables, BOB, limit switches, etc. today.. After the first, when I have some more moola, I can buy the four stepper divers, and make this baby start moving around under it's own power..

I'm surprised you didn't build more out of 80/20 extruded. I would worry about how tight your tolerances could be with some of the parts not being made of aluminum. Then again, I'm not well studied in this area, just saw my dad build his and asked him why he made some of the decisions he did.

What do you mean by "not being made of aluminum"?

You do realize now that we know you have this, you have to make custom cut parts for everyone of the forum that wants them. Free.

I have been looking at building a Joe's 4x4 type machine for a while now. I am really interested to see how this goes for you. so far, it looks fantastic.

Joshua

timbudtwo said:

You do realize now that we know you have this, you have to make custom cut parts for everyone of the forum that wants them. Free.

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Just leave off the last word, and I'm all ears!

mforsman said:

I'm surprised you didn't build more out of 80/20 extruded. I would worry about how tight your tolerances could be with some of the parts not being made of aluminum. Then again, I'm not well studied in this area, just saw my dad build his and asked him why he made some of the decisions he did.

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I assume you are talking about my plans for the base?

A) 80/20 aluminum frame is expensive.. about 250% the cost of steel..

B) it's not good to have a plasma cutter pointed at it (the slag gets pretty hot)..

C) It's light, and steel is heavy, and 'mass' is important when all this weight does rapid changes in direction, not to mention all the forces and vibration from the cutting heads, etc...

D) Aluminum is hard/expensive to weld... And I want the table base braced and welded...

The 80/20 rail supports on all three axis will hold the tolerances... That being said, it will take time to tune it and dial it all in and adjust it when it's up and running in the shop.. But all tables require that...

timbudtwo said:

You do realize now that we know you have this, you have to make custom cut parts for everyone of the forum that wants them. Free.

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r8rphan said:

Just leave off the last word, and I'm all ears!

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Then what would be the fun on that???

Inodoro_Pereyra said:

Then what would be the fun on that???

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Depends who is determining the meaning of the word 'fun'...

Getting paid and Counting money is fun, no?

r8rphan said:

Counting money is fun, no?

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NOOOOOO!!! Counting money is dangerous! Money has bacteria, and all kinds of nasties...!

We're just lookin' out for ya...

More progress...

Getting close to putting power on this beast and making it start moving on it's own...

Spent probably 26-30 hours working on it this weekend.. Got the power supply built and fired her up! She moves, she works hard, she does what I tell her, she makes me stuff, she's the perfect woman!

I'm so sore.. Had to hand drill 251 1/4" holes for ventilation.. (you can tell it's by hand by how some of the rows wander a bit..)... burned up 3 brand new 3" hole saws, 2 hardened cobra bits, several 1/4 carbide drill bits...

Stainless Steel is 'hard' stuff!

Anyways, I haven't actually cut anything yet, but I've made some designs in the software and then had the machine go through the motions without a bit in the router...

First task is to build a dust collection boot, and cyclone dust separator for this thing... ordered some bits for cutting aluminum and plastic, and once I get the router speed control unit from australia, I can use the table to cut the pieces to replace it's gantry end supports which are now furniture grade plywood...

Anyways, here's some more pictures... broke 3 taps trying to drill out and tap the heat sink for these motor drives and the BOB.. The fins on the bottom were a problem for the taps...

It's not the prettiest work I ever did.. but it works.. and will look fine once the filters are installed and it's mounted on a wall in the shop..

Congratulations!

It does feel good when you throw the switch and nothing blows up...doesn't it?:rockin:

r8rphan said:

IT'S ALIVE!!!!
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Where's the video? Sheesh, how lazy...j/k

That is an awesome project. Congrats on the initial test run.

First cuts!!

used the router with a v bit to drill 1/2" countersinks for hold down screws into a 4x8 sheet of Particle Board.. Laid it all out in Cut 2D, then carved a logo with the included fonts..

Gonna need to make an effective dust boot 'PRONTO'.. This is inside the house.. and I have to do all I can to keep the dust under control until it's ready to go into the shop...

So now that I have a sacrifice board, next to deal with the dust.. and then to surface the sacrifice board.. and then on to some 'fun'...

The_Dog_42 said:

Where's the video? Sheesh, how lazy...j/k

That is an awesome project. Congrats on the initial test run.

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NO mo mo-knee left for videos.. I won't be eating much for a while... LOL

Very cool.

Nice! Looks like you have it running well, and the wiring is VERY tidy!

Yuri_Rage said:

Nice! Looks like you have it running well, and the wiring is VERY tidy!

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First kid on the block to have one!

Before you know it, I'll be a mash paddle and tap handle making fool!

That's an upgrade from my current pay grade as just a plain ole fool..