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New Build - Hypertherm 65, iplasma 4x8 table, CandCNC

Desert Fabworks

Plastic
Joined
Aug 3, 2012
Location
Arizona
We are starting a new build and were are going to document it from start to finish.

Its going to consist of a 4x8 iplasma table from Precision Plasma
Water table using GreenCut fluid
Hypertherm Powermax 65 cutter
Dragon Cut electronics package from CandCNC

Were using Corel Draw x6, SheetCam and Mach3
We are also going to be featuring and demoing products from Cascade Metal Designs and Steel F/X

We are going to upload updates as often as we can we also have a website dedicated to the build that you can follow:

Check it out: Desert Fabworks CNC Plasma Build
 

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Hmmm, first post, spamming your ass off for a commercial venture, advertising. Bad form noob, prepare for thread lock, if not out right bootage.
 
Dunno if it is because I'm doing the same thing with a Koike-Aronson table and a Hypertherm 45 or if it is the fact that he's not actively trying to sell something.
I vote to let him continue, it could be interesting and informative. I need some real info on the CandCNC THC.

Might put a background or about us link on your page.
 
That plasma rail you using looks like it is supported only on the ends. What happens when the tubing starts to tweak from thermal expansion? Are you really going to go from linear profile rail to running bearings on square tube? Seems like your going in the wrong direction.:confused: Why didnt you just modify your table you already had and your website has a billion confusing links it looks like it was a theme put together by someone on too much coffee. I do like your choice in plasma the little Hypertherms are decent units even though they are almost half the size they used to be.

Oh and the spam is pretty funny..
 
Ya I can agree and see you point on the Linear rail. I may be taking a couple steps back on that but worst case I can slap down some linear track and keep going. I think its going to be OK based on the tests and info I have the accuracy is as good or better than what I have going now. The square tube is pretty heavy gauge ground stainless steel. I dont see the heat making it up to them and affecting them at all Especially with a water table. I did build the website while from 1am to 6am because we were so busy in the shop. If you have any ideas on making it less confusing I'm listening.
 
Did not get very far this weekend. Hit some snags when we un crated the frame and found some parts missing. Great customer service got a call back on Sunday from the owner and a fedex tracking number.

Also had a few problems with installing and getting the electronics package working. I though that I was computer tech savvy but this is kicking my butt, I'm sure its something simple. Nothing that a beer and a steak and some sleep cant fix.

Here are some pics for this weekend.

I also put up a quick video showing our old machine that were replacing

VIDEOS
 

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The pan was delivered from the fab shop today. Forming 5 x 10 sheets of 1/8 was a little out of my capabilities.

Though I was going to go crazy today chasing my tail trying to get Mach and my controllers set up. Turned out that the serial port header on the Motherboard was bad.

Switched to a USB to serial converter and so far everything is working Great. I have heard horror stories about the usb to serial so not sure if I will keep it or get a pci serial card.

Need to weld in the slat supports and the plumbing connections so I can drain the table.

Got to love all of the bumps in the road on a project like this.
 

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Desert, you need to edit your location as "United States" is not good enough. We need state or at least region (like Northeast, USA) at minimum. Otherwise you do risk ban as the requirement for such was clearly stated when you filled in the registration.
 
I have fixed that multiple times. I think something is wrong with the forum page that handles that. It is 6 miles long and just repeats the info over and over. I will try again.

Desert, you need to edit your location as "United States" is not good enough. We need state or at least region (like Northeast, USA) at minimum. Otherwise you do risk ban as the requirement for such was clearly stated when you filled in the registration.
 
I did a bunch of work getting the water pan set. Precision Plasma the manufacture of the table provided plans for fabricating the water table. I modified the plans a little.

I went with 1/8 plate formed into a pan using their dimensions to fit the table. Their plans included an integrated slat holder that was plasma cut in to the plate then a 120 degree bend used to form a lip. No one in my area could plasma cut a sheet over 4 x 8 nor could they bend a 120 bend on top of the 180 bend. So I opted to use their alternate design.

I used 1.5 x 1.5 angle welded along the edge with 3/16 gaps.

They specified 3.5 in 1/8 flat stock for the supports. 3.5 inch flat stock is crazy expensive at almost $40 a stick and i needed 10 for the table. I opted for 2.5 in which was a quarter of the price.

To make this work I added a 1/2 support to raise the slats up off the floor of the pan and help with fluid flow. I also opted to have the slats sit 1/2 below the rim of the pan.

I will fill the table 2.5 inches deep and have 1/2 gap between the fluid and the part being cut. I think this will workout ok but its the first time I have done this so we will see.

Their design did not call for a center support rib but I added one and it made a big difference.

The slats slip in nice and easy but lock in once in place and I do not get any movement.

Yes the steel in the drawing is brand new, my steel supplier delivered some very rusty stock and they did not have enough. I hate cleaning brand new things!

I put more photos on the build website than I could post here: I did a bunch of work getting the water pan set. Precision Plasma the manufacture of the table provided plans for fabricating the water table. I modified the plans a little.

I went with 1/8 plate formed into a pan using their dimensions to fit the table. Their plans included an integrated slat holder that was plasma cut in to the plate then a 120 degree bend used to form a lip. No one in my area could plasma cut a sheet over 4 x 8 nor could they bend a 120 bend on top of the 180 bend. So I opted to use their alternate design.

I used 1.5 x 1.5 angle welded along the edge with 3/16 gaps.

They specified 3.5 in 1/8 flat stock for the supports. 3.5 inch flat stock is crazy expensive at almost $40 a stick and i needed 10 for the table. I opted for 2.5 in which was a quarter of the price.

To make this work I added a 1/2 support to raise the slats up off the floor of the pan and help with fluid flow. I also opted to have the slats sit 1/2 below the rim of the pan.

I will fill the table 2.5 inches deep and have 1/2 gap between the fluid and the part being cut. I think this will workout ok but its the first time I have done this so we will see.

Their design did not call for a center support rib but I added one and it made a big difference.

The slats slip in nice and easy but lock in once in place and I do not get any movement.

Yes the steel in the drawing is brand new, my steel supplier delivered some very rusty stock and they did not have enough. I hate cleaning brand new things!

I put more photos on the build website than I could post here: http://cncplasmabuild.com/

More updates coming soon!
 

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It has been way too hot and humid to work lately. So much for a dry heat here in Arizona.

I got the plasma table built / set up. One of the very nice things about getting a kit form table like we did is how easy it is to set up. The table is the iplasma series from Precision Plasma.

It was very easy to set up and with 2-3 three people could be completed in under 2 hours. Taking pictures and documenting the process slowed us down a bit. That is really nice to be able to have a 4 x 8 table up and ready in that amount of time with only simple hand tools.

The entire frame came powder coated blue. The bends were all uniform and no tool marks showed through the powder coat. The welds on the trolleys and the gantry's were all tig'ed.

The water pan Should drop right in I hope!.

If I was not doing the water pan I could throw some slats in the pre cut holders and hook up the electronics and be cutting.

I have a few more things to build though before I'm cutting. Here are some of the pics. I could not fit all of them here so the rest are on the build site:
Desert Fabworks CNC Plasma Build
 

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Got a little more done. I got the stepper motors installed and the torch ran through the cable carriers and switched over to the mini machine torch and got rid of the large gear rack collar.

I fabricated up a cart / rack to hold the 55 gallon drums that will be my sump system for the table liquid. Still having a lot of different thought about how that's going to work. I really want to pressurize the barrels to move the fluid up the table and let it drain back but a little worried that the cap is going to pop off and I will loose it all on the floor. It should only take about 5 psi to move the fluid up but we will see.

At least the rack for the barrels is solid and fits perfect between and under the rails so that I can move it out for service and changes in the future. I have a small shop and have almost everything on wheels.

I'm going to start working on a cart that will hold the plasma cutter, computer, and electronics controller unit.

If any one has tried a sump system like this before I would love to hear your thoughts.
 

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With the help of 5 friends I got the water table lifted into place in the plasma table base. It fit! Very excited about that.

I plan on welding in the drain bungs and plumbing my sump system this week finally.

I made a little progress on the rolling cart that will hold my computer, plasma cutter and my Dragon Cut electronics box and an UPS system. I have to fab up the slide out drawer that will hold the keyboard and mouse and install the gas strut shocks that will raise the lid that will hold the monitor.

I looked at a bunch of other peoples photos of how they set up their electronics and almost settled on using a pre-built rolling tool cart but decided to go fully custom so that this unit would slide under the table when not in use and hold everything in one place.

The idea is to store this under the table and when I go to use it, slide it out from under the table. The lid with the monitor will fold up into a vertical position with the help of some gas struts and it will have a slide out drawer / tray for the keyboard and mouse.

Pull up a rolling stool and I will be all set. I'm big on keeping my wires and cables under control. I hope to make this setup as clean as possible. As soon as I can get everything set and tested I will send it all out to powder coat.

Getting close to being done!!
 

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IMG_1565.jpgIMG_1564.jpgIMG_1563.jpgIMG_1566.jpgIMG_1569.jpgIts been tough getting work done on this project lately. 72+ hours a week at the day job does not leave much fabrication time lately.

I did make some progress on my computer cart. I both hate and enjoy the custom fabrication and all the bolt it on try it take it apart and repeat a thousand times.

I got the gas struts installed for the flip up monitor panel. It works great! I have changed struts many times which is easy but figuring out the mounting points and the the load vs the leverage and finding a strut that is not designed for what you want to do and making it work took a bit.

I was going to enclose the cart more and put panels on the sides but I figure that since the norm temp in the shop is about 110 I had better leave is open for some ventilation.

I need to mount the Dragon cut box so that it sits up off the floor and figure out how I want to mount the emergency stop button and it should be ready for powder coat.

I have been dreading the plumbing set up for the tanks and the water pan so I have not done anything with that in a bit. Maybe I will work on that next.

Thanks for all of the ideas and pictures you all have been sending!
 
I think it will stand up just fine. While my last plasma machine had very few pieces that were powder coated and near the Arc I dont think it would have made a difference. Good quality exterior powder coats are designed to have a high resistance to UV rays. I have numerous powder coated pieces that have been out in the AZ sun for 5 + years and look as great as the day they were done. With this new machine most of the parts are powder coated and will be close to the arc. But the distance between the work and the arc is pretty small which limits the transmission. Also since this will be a water table and the cutting fluid in the table has a green tint to it, it should limit / reduce UV transmission to the pan of the table. While I expect that the powder coat on the interior surface of the water pan will experience some very harsh conditions, the powder coat was mainly for the exterior and bottom of the pan to ensure I never have a rust problem. But like most of this build its all an experiment and I will see how things go as soon as I get cutting.
 
I took all the advice that I got and put an 8 foot 5/8 Copper Grounding rod in just outside of the wall where the Plasma Machine Sits. It was not fun you would have though I was putting the rod through pure concrete.

I ran individual grounding cables using 4 Gauge Copper stranded wire from the table work lead / slats, the gantry, the table, the computer, and plasma cutter. I kept the ground cables as short as possible. Having not used a ground at all on the last plasma system and not having problems I don't expect to have any problems on this one with all of the grounds.

I added a few items to my computer cart including a back panel and bar to use for mounting an running cable and a support bar to mount the Dragon Cut system box on.

In the photos the Green cable are the grounding runs.
 

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I finished my table sump and drain system. I have been worried that this would work during the entire build. I had people tell me it wont, but I'm happy to report that it does work and it was fairly inexpensive to build.

Most has been documented in my earlier posts. The only thing that I would change at this point is to use larger diameter pipe and tubing. The table takes about 10-15 minutes to fill or drain. Not what you would consider fast, but I really did not need fast. By the time I get ready to cut and get everything set up its an easy 10 minutes. I don't plan on draining or filling on a daily basis so I think it will be fine.

One of the other things I did that is both good and bad is that I welded the drain bung on the top side of the bottom of the pan. This caused it to sit 3/16 above the bottom of the pan. The intention was to help limit the amount of crud that drains back into the sump system. I think it will help cut down on debris flowing back into the sump. But is does not allow the system to drain completely. It leaves about 8 gallons in the pan. Which is not bad and if I was going to clean it out that would be coming out with a shop vac anyway.

I found that it only took about 5 psi to create some great fountains during the fill. I did not have a pressure gauge on the system the first time I tried it. but added one to keep an eye on the pressure in the drums. I installed shut offs in several places in the system to allow for maintenance and to deal with a problem should it come up.

I let everything set under pressure and full of water over night to check for leaks and problems. It passed so everything has been sent out to powder coat.

Cant wait almost time to start cutting.

I tried to upload photos but the system is not letting me. I will have to try again later.
 
IMG_1676.jpgIMG_1681.jpgIMG_1688.jpgStill waiting for everything to come back from the Powder Coater its taking much longer than expected so I took the time to upgrade my air delivery system. I have a 4.5 hp compressor with two 80 gallon tanks. From there is runs through a hose and into a 25 foot coil in a tube I can fill with ice to chill the tube and the air during long run times and hot humid weather.

It then goes into the primary oil and water separator. Then into the first 3405-60 Coalescing air filter. It then runs into the shop. In the shop it goes through a second water separator and through a regulator and into the second 3405-60 Coalescing air filter. From there its off to the tools and the plasma unit.

This should provide me with all of the clean dry air that I will ever need. Maybe in the future I will invest in an air dryer but for now this is an inexpensive and effective option for me now.
 
Its been a bit since I have posted on the build. I was in a standstill waiting for the pan and other parts to come back from Powder Coating. There Back! I can see the light at the end of this build.

I think I only have a couple more posts in this build!

So I got everything back from Powder coating. I installed all of the components in my computer cart, set up the sump drums and hooked everything back up to the table. I had the pan powder coated. Little expensive but looks great.
when I had the pan powder coated I had them tape off the groves in the center of the table that holds the slats. The center support is my grounding back bone. This is where I have my grounding connection from the plasma machine and my earth ground hooked up to.

I also painted the slats, Ya I know they are a consumable and are going to get torn up and its not necessary ect. So before you kill me in the comments over it I know. It was mainly for looks. I did a couple of things to make sure there were not going to be any problems. I did not paint the top edge, bottom edge, ends, or a small section in the center where it contacts the grounding ridge. I checked every slat and made sure I had the lowest possible resistance, and continuity. Not that I will need it but I installed an secondary ground lead that attaches to the primary ground and is a 10 ft cable with a clamp that I can connect directly to the work piece.

I got everything in place checked level, checked square for the table and squared the torch head. I was amazed that I did not have to adjust the torch head it was perfectly square on all four sides. Precision plasma did a good job on the torch mount.

I powered everything up and started running the torch around the table. Everything worked great. All of the home and limit switches worked just as they should. That is where I stopped. I did not fire the torch or cut anything. I have a few more things that I want to configure and some settings to tweak. Heading off to the SEMA show next week so it will have to wait a bit. It does look good though.

I could not fit all the pictures here but there are lots and more info on the build website at: Desert Fabworks CNC Plasma Build
 

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