@smreish: Thats what i did to regain health and mana :D

I think its more like "drink at least a pint".

Alright friends,

after a long time of not being able to do any real progress (due to lack of time, money, parts....) i am finally able to announce that i got my first real cuts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oygMDIb5Imc&feature=plcp

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAlU1aA9dXM&feature=plcp

My iphone lens is scratched out to the max so the video quality is poor, but i guess you guys can figure out what its all about.

All this was cut without water in the pool, since my first and major concern were RF interferences, which btw. are non existing.

I pretty much got all the components working, but my cabling on the table was connected only to see if everything works. So the weekend project will be to connect everything like its supposed to be connected, to finish the paint job and to finish my groundings, since im still not really feeling 100% sure about possible interferences.

I got one major/minor concern.. All the parts that i prepare in sheetcam, lets say the part is x=100 mm, y=400mm, end up cut out x=400, y=100mm.. and they are upside down, so when i cut lets say text, the side of the sheet that is facing me is mirrored... I didnt really have the time yesterday and today to figure out where the problem is but i suspect its either the thc postprocessor or my motor settings in mach, although mach homes everything correctly.

If someone had the same problem, maybe i could get a tip from him/her for free :-)

Im a little bit afraid to ask, but can i stand i line for a number already ??? ;-)

Greetings from rainy croatia

Dig up the dxf files in here and cut yourself some thin guage logos and paint em white and stickem on and we'll get you a serial number for sure !!!

Can't wait to see MechMate on the side of the yellow fire beast :)

Congrats on your build.

What plasma is that ? Those cuts on 1/2 inch plate look great !!

The easiest way is to re configurate your Mach3 setting, change the X to Y axis & Y to X axis.
To change the motor direction, just swap two wires at its connection to the motor driver.

Hey Ken, thats why i asked, i didnt know which way to go, since i could have swaped this in sheetcam aswell as in mach...

@metalhead: im gonna stick em on after i finish it all, and then come and ask for a number, since im really not yet satisfied with everything.
The power source is an Esab powercut 1500 with the pt21ax cutting torch, i also have the manual cutting torch with 7,5 m cable... I got the machine for 4 years already and it served me really well, the thickest material i have cut with it was 30 mm manualy and it didnt really have any problems, two weeks ago i had some 10mm heat resistant steel to cut ( resistant up to 1200 degrees celzius) and it did a fabulous job, the only thing that i needed to adjust was the compressed air preassure to 7 bar. Didnt yet have the opportunity to cut aluminum, but im gonna go out next week to buy myself some nitrogen and to cut out my beltdrive housings that i will setup on each of my steppers.

Any questions or comments on my build are welcome.

I must admit, now that the journey is coming to an end, that this was the most fun project i ever worked on. In my career so far i have build or participated in the build of some really cool stuff but this one blows it all away. Although i became aware during the built that the mechmate design is for most users overkill for a plasma table i have no doubts at all that the decission to go with this design was the only one correct for me. The learning curve that this build started still doesn't end, and now i can proudly say that i built my own machine, that i know every detail of it, that i can mentain and repair it myself, and most importantly, that i invested in something that is going to make money, with about 30 % of the initial cost of a commercialy available router table.

Thanks everyone for your help, im gonna post some crisp pictures after i finnish the cabling like its supposed to be done.

Congrats!!!
Welcome to the club!!!

One last question, you was worry over insufficient ramp acceleration with direct drive ramp acceleration. Now that you have a running machine, what is your verdict ?

its too soon for a verdict, because i ha only a few cuts on thicker sheets, my worries were concerning thinner sheets, 2mm and beyond, but i guess it shouldnt be a problem...

I also forgot to mention my mate Ivan whithout whos contribution i surely would still cut manualy all my sheets ;)

Alright, so the first orders are already rolling in. Our first job on the mechmate plasma:

http://youtu.be/3RCk3zRBotc

Im gonna buy myself a new camera, so you guys can see some closeups of the cutouts, in the future. Im really satisfied, they are smooth , 90 degrees, and precise....

Still got some finetuning to do, but im gonna keep you up to date

Great to watch people earning money! :)

Wow! Really love the color! Congrats on getting it up and running. :-) Inspiring watching your progress.

@ gerald : Thanks mate, im really happy with the machine, and i already got some ideas on how to improve it even more for plasma cutting purposes... Still didnt have the time to finish the wiring and to make it look as its supposed to look...

@Zouave : Yeah the color is awesome, its supposed to match the ESAB yellow on my plasma

Regarding an early verdict on the functionality of my hardware : I still have some problems setting up my THC ( Torch height controller 301d , Texas microcircuits) im constantly cutting my pieces at about 243 volts, which according to my plasmas manufacturers data sheets is way to high ( im talking about a 4 mm sheet being cut, because im mostly testing on 4mm as i stumbled at a load of scrap sheets in one corner of my shop )... So according to Esabs data sheet concerning the settings of my plasma while cutting with a mechanized torch, the voltage settings on my thc should be set at about 110 volts. When i set it to that setting im diving into my material... Maybe i didnt set up my thc right, im using my plasmas internal voltage divider ( 20:1 ratio according to a pdf i found on the internets ) , but i cant really figure it out because the instructions that came with the torch height controller are missing some instructions...

Another problem that im facing is an unstable arc on thin sheets, 2mm and beyond. Maybe plasma isnt really meant for thin sheets but i guess the real problem is my plasma arc starting cycle combined with my thc. My thc gets an arc ok signal as soon as the plasma begins its arc starting cycle which is combined of a preflow of gas, a pilot arc, the main cutting arc and a postflow of gas, so the problem is on the first cut where the arc ok signal is sent to the electronics as soon as the gas preflow begins. This means , that movement of the axis begins before the torch has fired ( if my pierce delay is set to 0 in sheetcam which i guess should be the setting when working with thin sheets). The torch fires eventually but the movement has already begun so when the cut gets to its end it doesnt connect to the beginning... ( as im writting this im realizing that i maybe should set the pierce delay to a minimum setting in order to get around this problem)

I also get some really strange behavior when trying to cut 0,55 mm zinc coated sheets, although i tried this as an experiment only, and im really not planning to cut zinc coated materials, i guess that the strange behavior is triggered by the zinc messing with the voltage of the arc and sending this mess back to my electronics....

All in all, i got about 5 more days of work. finetuning, learning by doing and so on...

If i only could find 5 days ;-)

Voltage is a combination of amperage and feedrate, it seems you should up your feedrate
for thin sheets its sometimes 5-6m/min depending on the plasma source.
For pierce delay, set it to 1 sec and make a leadin move in sheetcam it should work nice.

Hey thanks danilo for the tip. Any tip for cutting height in combination with different thicknesses of materials? im getting my most know-how out of youtube videos, and it seems to me like they are all cutting their sheets as close as they can cca. 1 mm of distance...

best way to figure out the volts is to get a really flat piece, disable the thc, use IHS to get zero, set Z height at 1.5mm, start the cut at manufacturers recommended feedrate or little below,
record the voltage during the cut. Set the same voltage in the THC and cut :)

I recently started investigating plasma and this info is from my 2-3weeks investigation and some little experience in couple of days cutting.

Gonna try it out first thing tommorow morning...

Thanks mate

Brian,
The temperature of the material makes a differance, I have been known to put thick sheets of metal out in the sun during winter to soak up some heat.
Also air pressure and the grade of material has an effect.
It might help to write these down in the notes of Sheet Cam for each material thickness for reference later.
For each material grade/thickness I create a seperate tool.

Anthony

As it turned out my voltage divider was set incorrectly, so i ended up cutting at the wrong volts setting> height setting... As i said i was cutting at 248 volts sheets that are supposed to be cut at 110 volts... Luckily my mate Ivan droped by today and helped me set the thc up as it is supposed to run.. He s gonna upload a video later of a 100*100mm square cutout of 20 mm mild steel... Crazy sh*t i tell you ;)

Here it is :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xnc5p...ature=youtu.be

The edges look straight :)
Smoke was minimal with the water bad.

Job well done!

Can't wait to see more.

Very sexy cutting, and very precise. No reduction I see, and still so precise.
Very nice machine.
Tell me do you cut aluminium?
If so, I could cut some aluminium plates for spindle mount, and reduction for motors.
You can send me PP with price. I am from Dakovo.
(vec smo se culi preko youtubea)

Very nice! Now that you are up and running, maybe a little preventive maintenance, like some shrink wrap around those motor wires in the shrapnel zone?