New member

[Plasma-art]

Hello, new member from the Netherlands.
In the process of starting my own business in plasma cutting and fabrication work.
Mainly focusing on in and outdoor furniture and artistic stuff.
Due to some back issues I can no longer work as a full time TIG welder and companies dont like people with disabilities so took the plunge and started building a plasma table.
Been into 3d printing for years and dabbled a bit with a MPCNC so CNC isnt new for me.

This is the latest rendering of the table, cutting area of 1250x550mm, wanted to go a bit bigger but I didnt want to give up my sandblasting cabinet.
Something with garage space is at a premium

I was planning on using SBR16 for linear rails but having a difficult time sourcing them, it is going to be the first priority for an upgrade as soon as I can get a hold of some.
Waiting on some laser cut parts for me to really start building, there is alot missing in the rendering I will fab up during the building.
Sadly I dont have the funds to get a hypertherm powermax 45 yet and am going to use a no name plasma source however with the bench testing I already did it EMI doesnt seem like a major issue.
Did look into financing for a better plasma source and a year of rent for a workshop however decided against putting myself in a bunch of debt early on.

[acourtjester]

Welcome aboard Many member here to answer questions when you have some. Also many files to download to give you some projects, lots in the art category too. You can use the search function for a look around. I sent you a Private Message from this site.

[plasmanewbie]

Welcome! Sounds like your off to a great with a solid plan. No debt is good and I am sure you will make enough with your off brand plasma to upgrade quickly. Best of luck and if you get a chance to show some pics of your build I am sure many would like to see what you create!

[Plasma-art]

Welcome aboard Many member here to answer questions when you have some.

Those questions are definitely going to be asked.
Have been lurking around a bit and I do know alot of stuff already but things like workflow and basic setup are going to rise once I get cutting.

Welcome! Sounds like your off to a great with a solid plan. No debt is good and I am sure you will make enough with your off brand plasma to upgrade quickly. Best of luck and if you get a chance to show some pics of your build I am sure many would like to see what you create!

Considering the price people are paying for very simple items like house numbers from cor-tensteel that hypertherm is probably going to be purchased pretty quick.
I already have some stuff I am letting another company cut that ony does business with companies, there are not alot of businesses that deal with private orders around here, grabbing a nice percentage on that.

This is the point I am at now, frame is just tacked together, final welding will be done at the end on a flat welding table at a local company, i can just come in on a Saturday and use the table and welder when I want.
Also got an intel atom 1.6ghz with 2gb of ram and 2 parallel ports installed and ready to go.
Using nema23's, td6600 and 2 36v 9 amp psu's.

[acourtjester]

I see you have a very good start, using the wire ferrules keeps things neat with the screw terminals on the modules. If you have heat shrink tubing you can bundle the wire groups between the modules that helps to keep the rats nest of wire down.

[Plasma-art]

Of course I am using wire ferrules, I love the things.
I used tyraps and cable spiral wrap to bundle them in the end, it's all buttoned up for now and pretty much ready to go.
only waiting on a 12v 5 amp psu, accidentally ordered a 5v 12 amp but that will find a use.
Still need to add a custom BOB for more inputs and I am sure I am going to add a lot more electronics before calling it finished.
At that point I can size up a electronics cabinet to fit everything in with a bunch of din rails and terminal blocks to make it all pretty and clean.
Maybe the MESA boards will be in stock again at that point so I can go to ethernet instead of parallel port.

When that BOB is finished I'll throw the schematics, Bill of materials and gerber files on the forum.
Requires SMD soldering but its doable by hand.
Total of 13 inputs and 4 outputs if configured as input port, all fully optical isolated.

[adbuch]

Welcome to the forum! I will look forward to following your progress with your build.
David

[plasmanewbie]

Thanks for the pics, looks great! I love clean wiring

[Plasma-art]

I love clean wiring

that wiring is going to be as neat as can be.
if i go through the trouble of designing this that should say enough right?

I will look forward to following your progress with your build.
David

waiting on laser cut parts to really start building, need my carriage plates so i can weld them up and start figuring out belt routing, endstops, cablechain and lenghts.
was planning on just roughing them out by hand but was hit with a small order fee for cutting and bending the watertable so threw these in and am not paying anything extra.

[acourtjester]

Great thing about DIY is planning to help with cost and construction timing. I would say your heavy into 3-D model rendering the old saying a picture is worth a 1000 words.

[Plasma-art]

Yes it helps enormously with visualizing how the end product is going to look like.
"Free" tools like KICAD and fusion make it easy to do and part databases like mcmaster integrated into it are the icing on the cake.
Must admit I am fully self taught when it comes to cad but pretty much consider myself a beginner.
Currently trying to learn how to go from photo to dxf in gimp and inkscape and its frustrating but know I am going to figure it out eventually.

[acourtjester]

I use Inkscape for most of my art type work, if you go to the Inkscape section here there are post showing names of great tutorials by others to help.
Also there are many Q and A here for topics that are helpful with videos and screen shots.