How good is Dynatorch?

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jbartley
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How good is Dynatorch?

Post by jbartley »

I am about to pull the trigger on purchasing a Dynatorch system. I just wanted to get any last minute feed back before I place my order. I have gotten competitive bids from PlasmaCam and Tourchmate, but I keep coming back to Dynatorch.
This will be a full on production machine cutting large quantity orders for metal artwork. I like the idea of the smart servo motors rather than stepper motors. To me, having the motor and the software in sync with each makes more sense than what everyone else is doing. I have paid a visit to them to see this machine in action and was very impressed. Since my visit they have com out with a new servo system that is better. Does anyone have any opinion of this new servo system?

How does the software from Dynatorch match up against something like PlasmaCam (which I have heard good things about)?

Can someone out here give me a real honest answer about Dynatorch compared to other systems out there? Even if you don't own a Dynatorch, maybe give me some reasons why you went for another brand when you were considering your system.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you caveman for wheel and fire.
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Re: How good is Dynatorch?

Post by WSS »

Pm'ed you

WSS
DAP
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Re: How good is Dynatorch?

Post by DAP »

Apparently Dynatorch had some problems with their Animatics motors so they switched to a different brand with more power. I found this message from Dynatorch posted on another forum where they were talking about motor failures.


Dynatorch Reply

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We (Dynatorch) generally try to avoid getting involved on these pages so as to avoid being seen as interfering with free exchange. We do not want to censure or get a "sales talk" only image. We also see that you folks do very well on your own. I do think that if I can find the time to check in more often, perhaps I can drop some useful information your way. The issue on this thread is important and deserves a response.

We have been using Animatics motors since our inception. The unique abilities of these motors has been a cornerstone of our design and low cost. For a long time there were no issues with motors failing unless abused. More recently, it appears that the quality of the motors has fallen away. Animatics has flat refused any warranty for us. We have absorbed all warranty costs for our customers. I have sent motors in for evaluation. We have to pay for every one of these. The reports I have received back are very short and useless. The one listed here is far more detailed than any I got. It was usually "application error". Nothing more. Since we do not know the internals of these motors, we can not diagnose the cause and effect a solution. Nothing has changed on our system design during this time while failures have increased. There was a batch of motors last year that Animatics claimed were assembled with inferior components. These motors WERE warrantied by Animatics. If we found a machine with any of these motors we immediately had the customer return all the motors with serial numbers from that batch rather than wait for inevitable failure.

We have, and will continue to support our customers as always. Animatics has begun sales and promotion of the new Series 5 motors. (old ones are series 4). These are not interchangeable with the earlier versions. All software requires rewriting and no system with series 4 can use a series 5. Since this is the case, we decided to pursue a new drive system to replace Animatics. The new servo system we settled on uses a more standard drive layout with separate drive amps and motors. These are higher torque and have 10,000 count encoders. Servo update rates are 50-100 times faster allowing for greater detail. Sinusoidal ramping also smooths operation. These are 400 watt where the Animatics were 200W. Overall this system does cost more but it can handle bigger machines and has more long term expandability than the old system which Animatics is discontinuing development work on. The new system is more in line with high end industrial machines but is still 25-50% as expensive and our same software interface is used so any user today would not be able to tell the difference in operation.

Thanks to all of you out there for your loyalty. We will always be there for you and must look ahead to improve our products on a continual basis. Standing still is not an option. More new products soon and perhaps I can drop some ideas here to assist your cut quality and operation.
Leon Drake - Engineering
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jbartley
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Re: How good is Dynatorch?

Post by jbartley »

These new motors were introduced in August of this years. Being that they are a recent introduction to the Dynatorch system, I have had a hard time finding anyone with any real world production experience with the new motors. I understand that the new motors are made by Panasonic. On paper, they look to be a big improvement over the smart motors. Are these motors really that much better than the Animatics motors?
jim8014
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Re: How good is Dynatorch?

Post by jim8014 »

We have 5 motors from the old series with very few hours on them, less than 10. Our table was severely damaged in a burglary. We are going with a different servo system with the retrofit. We will take best offer on the motors, also have cables for them.

Thanks a lot.
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Re: How good is Dynatorch?

Post by Roly »

Are you talking about the Animatics SmartMotors model SM2316DT-PLS2?
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