Hello from Oregon

[oneweldingpapa]

I’ve been on here before but can’t remember if I introduced myself before. I’ve been working metal pretty much all my life in one form or another. Millwright by trade. 40 x 66 shop, run miller welders although I do own a Lincoln 250. Currently rebuilding a WW 2 era Sheldon lathe. Several years back I purchased a 5 axis bladerunner system from CandCNC along with a Hypertherm 85 and am getting ready to build my table. I want to take the one motor and set up a rotary axis for cutting pipe and tubing. Any input on that would be welcome. Once I start building I will post pics as I progress. Water table or exhaust I haven’t decided yet. Cut quality? Which is better? I will have questions I’m sure from some of you that are knowledgeable with the CNC Plasma process and especially those that have built their own tables. I use Solidworks for all my Cad work. Anyway, thanks for letting me lurk around and hope to get acquainted with some in the future. And if anyone is curious I’m not doing this for money or a living. I just dig working with metal. I have no idea where I will go with this other than simply having fun at what I enjoy doing. Consider it an expensive toy for the present lol. My shop is where I unwind and relax. Thanks for reading.

ONEWELDINGPAPA

[acourtjester]

Welcome aboard DIY guys are always welcome that sounds like a great motive for having a table. Having a shop to do as you please are a great place to unwind. Many here have built their own tables

[oneweldingpapa]

Thanks. One thing I should mention here is that I’m leaning towards a table with 20 ft rails and intend to build the rails and table separate of each other. Rails will be I beam on 4 x 4 square tube. Gantry will have two z axis with a plasma and torch setup on one and a router and scribe on the other. There is a table built by a fellow in BC that matches what I’m aiming for accurately. I’ve been in contact with him and want to go up and visit his shop when it suits. Will also eventually include a vacuum table on one end for routing wood, plastics, etc. I’m currently working on the design in solidworks. I’m hoping I can pull as many of the components that I want to use from various places in different or pdf form so I do not have to create them myself. Might sound a little to ambitious but I’ve always thought outside the box. It makes life interesting.

Perry

[steel 35]

You have a interesting project in mind.
I am using the 5 axes bladrunner in a over stuffed shop, set up as a router for a ongoing personal project for a long time and enjoying the heck out of it.
Have acquaintance with production Router doing Aluminum, and it's one heavy beast. Two forklift heavy!
I have very little to add to the wise ones that have given there advise previously.
Keep posting as you build,
Id like to see it coming together from an old broke down Journy Millwright!

[oneweldingpapa]

actually I was wrong on what I have. Its the Plazpac with servos. I suppose I should consider going with Linux but I need to look into that with Tom C. from there. Out of curiosity what size of router are you running? I am leaning towards a 3 HP but am still in the R@D phase of that one. Basically I am wanting to pull ideas from different tables along with my own and create my own table that does what I want. I"ve got loads to learn I know but that's half the fun of it all. You mentioned heavy so a question I have is this. Does anyone fill their frame with concrete to take out vibration? I filled the column of my drill press with concrete and it makes it a totally different machine. I realize with plasma we are talking 10 to 15 k on the cut tolerance but I figure anything I can do to stabilize the process would be worth it. Any thoughts on that one? Thanks for your interest. Later.

Oneweldingpapa

[steel 35]

My Router is a handheld 2 1/4 Hp to fit the mounts I originally purchased but its just a toy.
Going with a water cooled spindal would be a excellent choice.
The tolerence with the plasma is nothing to be concerned with, I have seen mine cut a moving target very nice.
It is however nice to pay attention with the router table, I have mounted a dial indicator in my router to level the table using shims but it still flexes to much at times.
Everything I have looked at on the True router is 1/2"; gussets galore, Rec tube is 12" or so, Huge difference from mine.
6' wide would be nice for the parking you had mentioned and a good place for the rotary, that's the hardest brain twister to set up and fun to watch again mine is a very small 4 jaw toy.
With all you have planed I would not use a water table and drop the bottom of the table in that 1 extra ft for the rotary.
I like my water table but with a router nearby I would not want it close, Have thought about cutting mine off.
Concrete is something to consider if it's straight and true when set up, that may be another challenge.

[oneweldingpapa]

Yes, I have heard all the arguments on whether or not to use a water table. I agree with you that it does not seem very feasible with what I want to do. Ditto on the rotary though. I have drawings for adjustable rollers I could run back and forth on a set of rails. That's another project. I want to offset the gantry rail on one side for the rotary. That way I can work with longer material. I think someone out there has something like what I have in mind but I"ll have to find it.
What I meant with the concrete was filling the legs before capping them off. Maybe not necessary but its a cheap experiment.

Oneweldingpapa

[djreiswig]

LDR has a rotary attachment that uses rails.

I started one like theirs, but haven't worked on it lately.

[oneweldingpapa]

General idea but am wanting to be able to handle like 10 inch round and maybe 6 x 6 or 8 x 8 square tube.

[djreiswig]

I started with a 10" 4 jaw chuck. I think I built it with enough clearance to handle 14" round, but I probably won't ever do anything that big. I'd have to build an adapter to fit it to the chuck.
I have the rails, stands & carriages built, was working on the drive when I got sidetracked. Designed to handle 24' tube, but I can only cut an 8' area at a time beside my table. I just did an extension arm rather than extending my gantry.

[oneweldingpapa]

That's cool. I was wondering how you did your cutting with it set up that way. I would not be trying to build such a robust table but I want a decent size router on it and routers need a solid gantry or they don't work. I thought of building two tables but this way I can rout signs and the like if I want to. I want square capability so I can notch tube for the cross members if I want to build a trailer or trailers. I'm in the middle of a crazy project that I'm behind on but might get around to posting some stuff next week.
Oneweldingpapa

[djreiswig]

Mine is designed to drive from the end opposite the table, but I can flip the drive around and drive from the table end if I want.
You want to keep in mind that heavy things don't change direction very quickly. Fine for routing, but if you don't have good acceleration/deceleration with plasma, you'll have a hard time cutting thin material accurately. That's why a lot of people build their gantries from aluminum.