Basic Cutting Table Design
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Basic Cutting Table Design
Upgraded my old hf machine to a 45xp.
Next step to design, build a cutting table. The gantry will be later.
Looking for suggestions please.
4’x4’ 1000lbs static load. Probably aluminum construction (gotta work on my tig skills).
Wet, dry, or hybrid?
Size of slats? Strait or bent?
Height? Used for manual cutting at first and a bit once the cnc is set up.
Next step to design, build a cutting table. The gantry will be later.
Looking for suggestions please.
4’x4’ 1000lbs static load. Probably aluminum construction (gotta work on my tig skills).
Wet, dry, or hybrid?
Size of slats? Strait or bent?
Height? Used for manual cutting at first and a bit once the cnc is set up.
- acourtjester
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Re: Basic Cutting Table Design
I go for wet and bent, about 4.5" deep slat top about 3.5"
DIY 4X4 Plasma/Router Table
Hypertherm PM65 Machine Torch
Drag Knife and Scribe
Miller Mig welder
13" metal lathe
Small Mill
Everlast PowerTig 255 EXT
Hypertherm PM65 Machine Torch
Drag Knife and Scribe
Miller Mig welder
13" metal lathe
Small Mill
Everlast PowerTig 255 EXT
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Re: Basic Cutting Table Design
I prefer dry bed with an exhaust fan and bowed or bent slats for sure, I shear my slats to 3" tall.
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Re: Basic Cutting Table Design
What’s the advantage to a tall slat vs something 1” tall, durability?
Would 1/4” hardware cloth (screen) under the slats be useful to catch parts?
I’ll make the bed/tray removable so I can play with different solutions.
Would 1/4” hardware cloth (screen) under the slats be useful to catch parts?
I’ll make the bed/tray removable so I can play with different solutions.
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Re: Basic Cutting Table Design
If you are cutting thicker materials a 1" slat could get burnt pretty near right through, I have deeeeep gouges out of my 3" tall slats that would have burned away a 1" tall slat with my little Powermax 65. I wouldn;t go any shorther than 3"
Anything that catches parts will fill up with crap. I built a "ramp" under my cut deck so when parts and slag drop it slides down the ramp and onto the floor at my feet. Easily pick up the parts and sweep up after each use. Otherwise crap will collect under the deck until you can't stand it anymore and it takes you a full day to clean it out.
Anything that catches parts will fill up with crap. I built a "ramp" under my cut deck so when parts and slag drop it slides down the ramp and onto the floor at my feet. Easily pick up the parts and sweep up after each use. Otherwise crap will collect under the deck until you can't stand it anymore and it takes you a full day to clean it out.
- acourtjester
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Re: Basic Cutting Table Design
I use 1.5" slates on my water table and they last a long time, some guys use a magnet on a stick to pick up parts in a water table too.. Good thing here many members many very good ideas, seems to be what each likes and uses for their setups.
DIY 4X4 Plasma/Router Table
Hypertherm PM65 Machine Torch
Drag Knife and Scribe
Miller Mig welder
13" metal lathe
Small Mill
Everlast PowerTig 255 EXT
Hypertherm PM65 Machine Torch
Drag Knife and Scribe
Miller Mig welder
13" metal lathe
Small Mill
Everlast PowerTig 255 EXT
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- 1 Star Member
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- Joined: Fri Aug 16, 2019 7:46 pm
Re: Basic Cutting Table Design
Next Question(s)
How deep should the water be for a 45 Amp machine?
How high should the top of the slats be above the water?
Right now I’m leaning towards a water table with a duct above the water line in case I want to drain it and run it dry.
Thanks for the help
How deep should the water be for a 45 Amp machine?
How high should the top of the slats be above the water?
Right now I’m leaning towards a water table with a duct above the water line in case I want to drain it and run it dry.
Thanks for the help
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Re: Basic Cutting Table Design
I am using a water tray in conjunction with a draft system to evacuate any residual smoke. My water tray is well below the cutting grates, as opposed to some of the designs that use the top of the water level just below the material being cut. My water tray is 4" deep with a diamond mesh screen mounted about 2" above the bottom of the tray. This is handy to catch smaller parts. I have been using my system for almost 4 years and it works great for me.
David
Click to see photos of build.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/h8LHufi6frttfGNQA
David
Click to see photos of build.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/h8LHufi6frttfGNQA
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Re: Basic Cutting Table Design
Design done, material ordered. 52 x 52 x 32h, 48 x 48 cutting area. 1/4" hardware cloth under the slats, 30g tank.
Main structure is 1 x 2 x .125 6061-T6.
Main structure is 1 x 2 x .125 6061-T6.
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Re: Basic Cutting Table Design
That's a really nice design! What cad program did you use to model it? I will look forward to seeing photos of your progress as you build it.
David
David
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Re: Basic Cutting Table Design
I’m ex Navy. Solidworks sells us a non-commercial license for $20 a year.
I have NX at work but for personal projects I like to stay current with SW.
Starting the gantry now, will post pictures as I go.
I have NX at work but for personal projects I like to stay current with SW.
Starting the gantry now, will post pictures as I go.
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Re: Basic Cutting Table Design
Thanks for the reply. I am an occasional user of SolidWorks 2016 - what is NX and how does it differ from SolidWorks?
David
David
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Re: Basic Cutting Table Design
NX was called Unigraphics, high end pain in the butt CAD program. Good for designing jet engines, cars and such.
SW is a lot more user friendly mid level program great for machine design and such.
Lot of good people here that help out. I've gotten a lot from the forum.
But I'm going to stop adding to this forum. I don't like that they put parts of my posts behind a pay wall.
Someone was having trouble designing a fire pit. I made a quick spreadsheet that would calculate the trapezoids needed.
When I posted it it couldn't be seen unless you are a paying member.
I get that they need to make money and paying to exchange cut files makes sense.
But I think asking for money for people to get ideas and help is wrong.
Be over at LinuxCNC, plasma & laser category.
SW is a lot more user friendly mid level program great for machine design and such.
Lot of good people here that help out. I've gotten a lot from the forum.
But I'm going to stop adding to this forum. I don't like that they put parts of my posts behind a pay wall.
Someone was having trouble designing a fire pit. I made a quick spreadsheet that would calculate the trapezoids needed.
When I posted it it couldn't be seen unless you are a paying member.
I get that they need to make money and paying to exchange cut files makes sense.
But I think asking for money for people to get ideas and help is wrong.
Be over at LinuxCNC, plasma & laser category.
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Re: Basic Cutting Table Design
I don't mind contributing $20 annually to help keep this forum up and running. The wealth of information I have gained here is in my estimation well worth the minimal contribution.manac wrote: ↑Mon Nov 02, 2020 3:04 pm
Lot of good people here that help out. I've gotten a lot from the forum.
But I'm going to stop adding to this forum. I don't like that they put parts of my posts behind a pay wall.
Someone was having trouble designing a fire pit. I made a quick spreadsheet that would calculate the trapezoids needed.
When I posted it it couldn't be seen unless you are a paying member.
I get that they need to make money and paying to exchange cut files makes sense.
But I think asking for money for people to get ideas and help is wrong.
Be over at LinuxCNC, plasma & laser category.
David
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Re: Basic Cutting Table Design
Manic,
I would urge you to reconsider. Google Drive and Google Photos are both free services where you could post any spread sheets, photos, or other information you wish to share with either paying or non-paying members. Simply type the link to your spread sheet or photo album into the text in the body of your post and the non-paying member could "cut and paste" to view the information you have contributed. For example:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/h8LHufi6frttfGNQA
The non-paying (or paying) member can cut and paste the link for access to the photos.
David
I would urge you to reconsider. Google Drive and Google Photos are both free services where you could post any spread sheets, photos, or other information you wish to share with either paying or non-paying members. Simply type the link to your spread sheet or photo album into the text in the body of your post and the non-paying member could "cut and paste" to view the information you have contributed. For example:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/h8LHufi6frttfGNQA
The non-paying (or paying) member can cut and paste the link for access to the photos.
David
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To gain download access for DXF, SVG & other files Click Here
- acourtjester
- 6 Star Elite Contributing Member
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- Joined: Sat Jun 02, 2012 6:04 pm
- Location: Pensacola, Fla
Re: Basic Cutting Table Design
I also use the Google Drive, 15 G free storage and $2. a month for 100G storage. Mine looks like a hard drive with folder for whatever I want to to store, just drag and drop transfer from my hard drive to the Google drive. I can share any of it to another by clicking on share, this way I can either do a transfer to only one (via their email address {non-Yahoo} ) or a link for anybody using it to download the info. Here is an example of a open transfer to anybody
DIY 4X4 Plasma/Router Table
Hypertherm PM65 Machine Torch
Drag Knife and Scribe
Miller Mig welder
13" metal lathe
Small Mill
Everlast PowerTig 255 EXT
Hypertherm PM65 Machine Torch
Drag Knife and Scribe
Miller Mig welder
13" metal lathe
Small Mill
Everlast PowerTig 255 EXT
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- 1 Star Member
- Posts: 19
- Joined: Fri Aug 16, 2019 7:46 pm
Re: Basic Cutting Table Design
It's not the $20 to the support the board that bothers me.
I could very well seeing spending the $20 when I have my machine up and running and need cut files.
It's that they take my post of an idea or help and charge for it.
Again it's not the exchanging of cut file, but the idea that if I try to help someone out with a problem that people have to pay for that.
Google drive is a good solution but that is not in the spirit of what they are trying to do on the board.
I'll still check in, the LinuxCNC forum references this board all the time.
- djreiswig
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Re: Basic Cutting Table Design
They're not charging people for your help. They're asking people to pay a small fee to pay for the overhead of running this site. I'm not sure what it costs to run a site like this, but I think $20 a year is pretty reasonable to have access to a place where I can share ideas with people all over the world. The non-contributing members have access to a wealth of knowledge and can freely share their ideas, they just don't have the privilege to access the shared files on the site.
I'm sure there are other sites that fund their overhead with more aggressive advertising and don't charge a fee. I don't really have an issue with the $20. JMHO.
I'm sure there are other sites that fund their overhead with more aggressive advertising and don't charge a fee. I don't really have an issue with the $20. JMHO.
2014 Bulltear (StarLab) 4x8
C&CNC EtherCut
Mach3, SheetCam, Draftsight
Hypertherm PM65
Oxy/Acetylene Flame Torch
Pneumatic Plate Marker, Ohmic, 10 inch Rotary Chuck (in progress)
C&CNC EtherCut
Mach3, SheetCam, Draftsight
Hypertherm PM65
Oxy/Acetylene Flame Torch
Pneumatic Plate Marker, Ohmic, 10 inch Rotary Chuck (in progress)
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- 6 Star Elite Contributing Member
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- 1 Star Member
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Re: Basic Cutting Table Design
Spent a few days working on the table.
Now I need to finish the design for the gantry.
Now I need to finish the design for the gantry.
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