New to Plasmaspider from Louisville, Ky

[Stem502]

Hello. My name is Stem Holder and I work for a fabrication shop in Louisville, Ky called Construction Consulting Services (CCS). We do a lot of structural fabrication (i.e. stairs, walkways, and mezzanines) and also conveyor/conveyor carriers for several companies in the automotive industry. I have been running our machines (water jet, plasma cutter, CNC router and mill) for about 10 years. I started out as the water jet operator/technician, which I still occasionally have a hand in, but for the most part I am now the sole operator of our plasma system. As of now, we are running a Hypertherm Powermax 85 Sync with Mach3 as the controller, the Neuron Lite THC, and SheetCAM for nesting/post-processing on a 5'x10' table that we fabricated ourselves. The bulk of the cutting I do is bolt plates, gussets, and floor plate ranging from 1/8" to 1" thick mild steel. We just stepped up to the Powermax 85 Sync from a Powermax 65 about a month ago. Although I've been doing this for awhile, I still run into some issues occasionally and am always eager to learn something new to be more efficient at what I do. Of all the forums I have scoured, this one seems to have the most knowledgeable and forthright people willing to share their expertise. Thanks for all the help thus far and also in advance for any future input. I appreciate it!

[plasmanewbie]

Welcome Stem and thanks for the pics. I enjoy seeing others equipment, particularly when they are home grown setups. Always interesting to see other peoples design ideas.

[adbuch]

Welcome aboard Stem! That looks like one well built heavy duty table - nicely done. I'm using the Hypertherm Powermax 85 on my table, and you've just got to love those Hypertherm cutters. I like Mach3, and use it on one of my cnc router tables. Thanks for sharing photos of your setup.
David

[acourtjester]

Welcome aboard Stem, Looks like DIY has and is serving you well.

[Stem502]

Thanks...I really like the Hypertherm 85Sync. I've been getting a lot better cut quality than I was getting with the old 65...really nice edge and low dross on 3/4" mild steel plates... but it is also partly due to what I have learned from scouring Plasmaspider. The table has served us well over the last 5 years but it definitely has it's quirks. We are actually looking into purchasing a bigger table (10'x20' I think) with a better travel setup. That's where most of my problems come from now. The rails (which are just regular old 2x2x.25 square tube) have a bit of a warp to them which makes the rack and pinion loose around the middle of the table. Also the gantry and the Z axis rides on those rails on these plastic wheels with bearings...like something you'd see on a Pinewood Derby car. Makes things interesting to say the least. I didn't design it...it's just what I have to work with...lol. Luckily, our tolerances are pretty forgiving.