Not Far Off now! New Pipe Cutter Accessory!

[Joe Jones]

I have jumped back onto a project to create a functional pipe cutter that will allow ANY PlasmaCam table owner to cut pipe (or tubing) from 1" diameter to 36" diameter without any need for the PlasmaCam pipe cutting attachment or the $998.00 software upgrade.

The 510 tables will cut 36" tubing around the entire circumference at a width of 60". This means you can easily cut designs into the side of an oil drum, for example!

The 4x4 tables will cut 15" diameter tubing around the entire circumference at a width of 48", but they will also be able to cut 36" diameter tubing in sections, cutting 1/3 of the cylinder's surface at a time.

Setup is a breeze. There are no belts or clunky apparatus involved, and you do NOT need to disassemble the table to Frankenstein your gantry into a pipe cutter, only to have to reassemble and square up your table again after the pipe is cut.

There is also no need to purchase a separate gantry tube and carriage assembly. Some people make a stand alone pipe cutting "saw horse" style pipe cutter, with another gantry tube and another carriage assembly ... and another torch (if you can afford it) which is great! Then you only need to swing the table's main wiring harness over to the pipe cutter and get busy cutting pipe.

This design I am finishing up is a 100% bolt-on accessory that can be installed onto a table in a matter of minutes.

The only limitation is the 120" vs. 48" travel of the gantry tube. Even with this accessory on your machine, you will enjoy the full 48" cutting capacity in the X and Y directions of the 4x4 table, and the full 120" of cutting length on the 510 table.

I will begin making the prototype pieces tomorrow. This is really exciting!

Joe

[weldguy]

Sounds awesome, looking forward to some pics or video of your setup

[Joe Jones]

If this works as I hope it will, I will begin to create a kit that one can purchase, which will have almost everything one needs to cut tubing on the stock table. I am designing this for a "shorty" machine torch. However, it may also work with a hand torch. I have to look at what it would require to use a hand torch. They weight more, they are more difficult to align, and there is that $^%& cable to contend with as it leaves the carriage at a right angle.

Joe

[adbuch]

I look forward with great anticipation to seeing this in action.
David

[Joe Jones]

I am taking a short trip to Kansas. So the fabrication of the prototype will be delayed by one week.

Joe

[adbuch]

OK. I will check back in one week.
David

[Joe Jones]

Maybe two! I don't move so fast these days. The drawings are done and I just need to cut the files and bend the components and bolt them together.

Joe

[adbuch]

Maybe two! I don't move so fast these days. The drawings are done and I just need to cut the files and bend the components and bolt them together.

Joe

You still here? You need to get out on the road so you can get back and "Get 'er" done! I will give you 2 weeks max and then I fully expect to see some results. I want to see finished parts and a functional (or at least close to it) machine by the end of the month.

David

[Joe Jones]

I leave early tomorrow morning. I will be back on the 13th and cutting the parts on the 15th.
I would post a photo to show the concept, but I don't want someone to "run with it" and screw it up.

Joe

[adbuch]

I leave early tomorrow morning. I will be back on the 13th and cutting the parts on the 15th.
I would post a photo to show the concept, but I don't want someone to "run with it" and screw it up.

Joe

OK! It has been over a week now, so you should have lots of parts cut. Let's see some photos of your progress.
If all goes well you will have them lining up to buy your kits. Maybe I can become the west coast distributor for your products.
David

[Joe Jones]

Things are coming along .. slowly. I am fighting low energy and the summer Kentucky heat. This zombie apocalypse hoax had made me hugely less active. I do not play The Mask Game. Restrictions are imposed and lifted with the change in temperature, and it is all willy-nilly. People are pulling new "rules" out of their steaming stinking rectums, with ZERO science behind whatever ridiculous nonsense they dream up. Everyone is competing to be more politically correct than their neighbor. I haven't spent a single DIME in any place that requires me to wear a mask.

I am just one guy. Unfortunately, there is no one to hire to help me. Anyone WORTH hiring already has a full time job in construction, or as a mechanic, or whatever. The rest of the lazy %^$#$ just sit around and collect free gu'mint money for NOT working. I am offering $20.00 CASH per hour, and I cannot get anyone to even commit to one single day of REAL WORK.

Yesterday, I saw a family of five parked under a tree in the Wal-Mart parking lot. It was a NICE van ($80K ??), not some 70s rust bucket P.O.S. They had folding chairs out, and they EACH had a 'smart phone' they were all staring it. A nice family outing, eh?

Nope! They had several signs ... "Lost job. Need money. Please help!" It turned my stomach.

There are AT LEAST 20 HELP WANTED signs within 1,000 feet of their shady rest spot. Are they applying for work? Are they offering to EARN money by ... cleaning my windshield, or help me load stuff into my truck from Lowe's, or following me home to pull weeds, or anything?

NOPE! They just sat there on their fat asses expecting people to give them money. These aren't "street people." Dad looked like he could walk into a bank tomorrow to become the manager. Mom looked like she could easily be a Realtor, or any other respectable position that requires someone ABOVE the 'homeless vagrant' category. The teen kids ALL could be making sandwiches at Subway or serving ice cream at Dairy Queen, or washing cars at the dealership ... all places with huge HELP WANTED! signs in the windows, and within walking distance of this poor, destitute family of five.

I give away a LOT of money. I am willing to help anyone who needs help. But I have ZERO compassion for social LEECHES.

It is almost noon. I am headed out to the shop now, to see what I can accomplish with my remaining energy for the day.

Joe

[Joe Jones]

OK! It has been over a week now, so you should have lots of parts cut. Let's see some photos of your progress.
If all goes well you will have them lining up to buy your kits. Maybe I can become the west coast distributor for your products.
David

That was something I had considered. Opening a metal art store in a good location (Nashville? Bowling Green?) , and selling the work of other metal art creators, along with making my own products when time and energy permit. I know many people who do stunning work, but they don't have the means to sell it effectively.

I purchased a retail store on the Square in town, and tried to set up a metal art store. I wanted it to be that place tourists "MUST VISIT" when coming to Franklin, KY. It is the same story. They cannot be in the shop making things AND running a store to sell things at the same time. There just arent enough hours in the day, and in my case ... not enough energy to do both tasks.

I wanted to set up a scenario where PlasmaCam owners and others would ship the stuff to me (on pallets?) and I would sell the items both locally and online for a very modest 10% fee + local taxes. I have met PlasmaCam table owners who have hundreds of beautiful pieces of metal art, but they aren't efficient at selling them.

John A. in Texas rents a large wooden structure at a flea market, and sells out of it on the weekends. Tim M. of Kansas has a magnificent retail store in the front of his building (the best I have seen so far!), but his town only has a population of 5,000, so ... Dave H. of TN. has HUNDREDS (and hundreds?) of beautiful pieces of metal art, all beautifully powder coated. He doesn't generally sell them. He makes them for fun, and to give away, and his home is plastered with metal art that covers nearly every square inch of every wall in his home's interior. I am in AWE of these guys!

Right now, I have several pots on the stove. I am rearranging my entire two shops, to make them more work-friendly. Again, with no help, it is a slow process. Then I am developing the pipe cutter, and now I am diving into powder coating as well. With NO HELP from anyone, I can only do so much per day.

I HOPE to begin selling items again in the late fall, perhaps October??? I might set up the vendor booths again, but then, they too require time and energy to maintain.

I really wish I was 21 again, knowing what I know and having what I have.

Joe

[adbuch]

Excuses, excuses!!! Come on Joe - let's get with the program and start making good on your promise to build your pipe cutter. You don't need "hired help" to run your table and cut prototype parts. If this is all too overwhelming for you, then post your drawings and/or cut files so we can get going on this.
David

[Joe Jones]

I am not making all of the parts. I am buying some parts to Frankenstein together for "proof of concept." Once I have the working model together and cutting the way I want it to, I will look at refining the design for sleek appearance and functionality.

Today, I ran up to Bowling Green looking for specific sprockets and chains to use, to create a track system. In the process of learning what IS and IS NOT available "off the shelf" I made a design change to accommodate the alteration. This both improves the accuracy and reduces the cost, but it means I have to step back and refigure a few things.

I am not an engineer, and I do not play one on TV.

I found what I need but ... I will have to order parts off of the Net, because retail stores seem to only keep one or two of any given item on a shelf. When I walk in and tell them I need 40 of something, I get the blank stare, and they tell me to go online to order them. Why are retail stores even HERE anymore?

Add to this, the apparent need to set my MIG welder up for TIG welding, now that more refined welding may be required. Maybe not. I have to go try to get it done with a MIG welder and .030 wire first.

Joe

[Joe Jones]

Excuses, excuses!!! Come on Joe - let's get with the program and start making good on your promise to build your pipe cutter. You don't need "hired help" to run your table and cut prototype parts. If this is all too overwhelming for you, then post your drawings and/or cut files so we can get going on this.
David

Feel free to send me eight hours of energy every day, so I can make faster progress.

Joe

[adbuch]

I understand. I will check back in 1 year to see how you are coming. Good luck.
David

[Joe Jones]

Gotta let the weather cool down a bit.

Joe

[Joe Jones]

Everything is done except the decision on the final roller set. I will begin with my original plan to have two rollers roll over a set of steel guides, and rely on friction alone to keep them moving in sync with the gantry tube. I have to build it to see how that works out.

Should I run into issues with the tubes sliding rather than rolling, which would prevent the tube being cut from staying in sync with the gantry X movement, then I will change to the second design, that of two tubes with gear sprockets on each end, rolling over a roller chain track that will FORCE them to rotate despite any slag or other interference that may arise.

The other parts are mostly done. I am hoping to have a working model by mid August, all things falling neatly into place. As I return tot he design, I keep adding things that will make it more user friendly, and easier to mount to a PlasmaCam 4x4 or 5x10 table, but also, this design will work on any other CNC plasma table as well, with a simple adapter bracket. I hope to find people in my area with OTHER brands of plasma tables who will let me hook it up to their machines to demonstrate the universal application of the cutter to any table.

August is looking good so far. I don't foresee much more delay in the process.

Joe

[Joe Jones]

I understand. I will check back in 1 year to see how you are coming. Good luck.
David

Aw, Come on, man! It won't take me a year to get this working. Maybe another three weeks? Maybe less?

Joe

[Joe Jones]

Okay. Progress report 08/05/2021

I have THREE designs, or rather, one great design with three variations. I have ordered the materials I need to complete the working model.

Meanwhile back at the ranch ... I have increased the capacity of the cutter. Now the 5x10 version for the Samson 510 table will be able to cut a 48" diameter cylinder in sections, or a 38" diameter tube in one pass The 4x4 versions can cut up to a 15" diameter tube in one pass. NO modifications to the table are required.

The smaller of the two 4x4 designs does not even require a track. You just place it onto the table, insert two lock pins, move the torch and start cutting. A BOSS Manufacturing Magnetic Mount makes this effortless.

NO software upgrade is required for any of my designs. I will make some You Tube videos to show people how to lay out the various cuts using simple DesignEdge software.

As I see this coming together, I am finding more energy to push toward the conclusion.

The REALLY nifty thing about this design is that you can mount a ROUTER to the machine, and route a wooden post or whatever, fully around. This means you can make very ornate designs with twists, and dual opposing hatching and more. Oh, and you can mount a LASER as well A 40 Watt blue laser from eBay will give you amazing results. More on that, later.

Joe

[weldguy]

Man, your getting me very curious and I am looking forward to seeing your creation in action here!

[Joe Jones]

Tell me something. Would you rather have a pipe cutter with a larger diameter capacity, or a pipe cutter that is lighter and faster to set up and remove, but sacrifices diameter capacity?

Joe

[weldguy]

For me Joe a fast set up/tear down with smaller capacity would be preferred and more useful.

[Joe Jones]

PlasmaCam made their pipe cutter with a 13.5” diameter maximum capacity. Of all of the pipe cutters that PlasmaCam has sold, the 20 or 30 people who actually use them don’t seem to complain about not being able to cut a larger diameter tube.

The big complaint about the PlasmaCam pipe cutter is that unless you disassemble your table and reassemble it without the gantry in order to put the pipe cutter assembly together ON your table, then cut your pipe, and then reverse the whole process to put the gantry back into your table and Square everything up again, you will NEVER use it! I have had mine for eight years, and it is still unused for that exact reason. Even when I HAD additional gantry tubes and carriages which I purchased, I never took the time to Frankenstein it together.

The alternative for PlasmaCam owners is to spend somewhere between $1250 and around $3500 to set up a standalone pipe cutter by purchasing a separate gantry assembly which eliminates the need to disassemble your table. This gantry can be set up sawhorse style on a frame on wheels and the rest of the pipe cutter is then made by moving the carriage from the tables gantry to the standalone gantry along with the torch and the cables.

To avoid the irritation of needing to move the carriage from one gantry to the other, some people spend another $1250 to buy a separate carriage and put it on the standalone gantry. Then you have the issue of disconnecting the torch cable from the support arm above the table so you can get the carriage to the standalone gantry in order to cut.

The best solution for the PlasmaCam pipe cutting components seems to be assembling the standalone gantry with its own carriage and its own torch, whether you use a hand torch or a machine torch. With this set up you only need to roll the standalone cutter near your table and move the main harness cables from the table gantry and carriage to the standalone pair, and unplug your tables torch from your plasma machine, then plugging in the accessory torch which is already mounted to the auxiliary carriage. This makes for a nice, albeit clunky standalone pipe cutting assembly.

But believe it or not, PlasmaCam WANTS you to buy an additional controller box ($3,000.00) and another DesignEdge license with the pipe cutting software upgrade ($4,000.00) in order to use that standalone pipe cutter! This is beyond stupid, but in their minds you have assembled another “table" to cut pipe and therefore they are entitled to the massive costs of another controller box and another license and more software upgrade purchases. This is patently ridiculous because you are moving your main cables from your table to the standalone unit and therefore you are disabling your main tables functionality. You still only have one functional machine which you are operating with your one license, but it has just been "reconfigured" into a convenience pipe cutter!

So PlasmaCam discourages setting up a separate pipe cutter because they believe that you are somehow cheating them out of money by not going through the arduous process of disassembling your table in order to cut a piece of pipe and then reassembling your table again.

The nice thing about my pipe cutter assembly is that when it is completed, you will be using your table to cut pipe with absolutely no disassembly of the table. You will still be using the same computer and the same controller. You’ll be using the same DesignEdge license and you as the owner of that license will be operating the table. So Plasmacam won’t have SQUAT to say about it! I am not making a "table." I am making an ACCESSORY!

I will be going out to to my shop a few days this week to continue the process of making the functional model. But I am also in contact with companies like 8020 to see about using their products for the components of the cutter rather than starting from scratch. 8020 would increase the price of the pipe cutter, however you could order most of the components directly from them.

I do not have a machine shop so I will do my best to square everything up and drill the holes correctly etc. to make a quality product. But to be quite honest, it would be better if these components were made with a mill or a machine that can produce more accuracy than I can by hand. It will be accurate ENOUGH to cut pipe, but it may not be as “purdy”

Final note: My "Quick Mount" model allows for cutting pipes of any length, while the other two models limit the pipe length to 58" on the 4x4 and 70" on the 5x10. I don't build long railings, so I don't know just HOW important pipe LENGTH capacity is. My thought is that you can cut a shorter piece on any table and butt weld it to a longer piece of uncut pipe. Do I have that wrong? Would you prefer to be able to lay a 20-foot pipe down just to cut a hole through one end, or a series of holes along the pipe?

Anyway, I am developing all three cutter configurations, so you will have your choice!

Joe

[djreiswig]

I'm building mine to cut 24' lengths of square tubing. I will only be able to cut in an 8' area at one time, but I will be able to index the tubing while leaving the entire length intact. Mine is designed to hold 14" diameter pipe. That is if I ever dig it out and start working on it again.