15m Industrial Plasma Cutter

Thank you Rod, and sorry i forgot to mention that you do need at least 30A at 100%, as Rod mentioned. It would also help if it has current regulation, that way you can fine tune the best cutting at the fastest rate.
On a 15m machine every second counts, so some design ideas mentioned here will save you a lot of time and nerves later when using the machine.

So it sounds like the XP45 would be an ideal machine.
To control current via RS485, make sure you have a PC with a serial port for a RS-232 to RS485 adapter. I've not played with RS45 but somewhere on this forum I read the USB to RS485 adapters are not very robust!

So while Tommy has outlined a good stepper solution, you may also like to check out Bob's Servo Plasma build.
forum.linuxcnc.org/plasma-laser/36667-bo...lasmac-build?start=0

He shows the Mesa hardware he's using and a bit about the servos he uses. I have no experience with servos.

at that size and costs of the HARDWARE
there is no way around Hybrid servos that costs you only 25% more then a Stepper Setup
and 4NM is a overkill on Rack pinion

the Images above show clear the use of Grinded T10 like Racks this is what we used in shop
and you can get on a Mesa fast and precice motion

Jarman,

For cladding the boilers... What is the size you need to cladd the boilers in Z and Y value?
X is 15m.

UK is the country of steam locomotives. The country with car companies like Aston Martin, Bentley, McLaren and so on.
The UK has some under-developped places i know. I was there 2 years ago.

The UK developped a plane that can carry up vertical on a war ship.. Very cool !!!.

In Holland we only have a old wind mill of 1650 at Kinderdijk. We sold all our tanks 10 years ago.
All what is left are rusty bridges, and rusty traffic sign's on the highway.

We pay so much to the state, nothing happens over here. It's a shame. I am done with this.
My wish is to be a non member of the dutch economy.

Grotius wrote: In Holland we only have a old wind mill of 1650 at Kinderdijk.

You have the biggest steam engine in the world.
www.haarlemmermeermuseum.nl/en/cruquius-...largest-steam-engine

Though it was made in the UK

Thanks all.

I got my hands on a refurbished computer and am now at the stage of installing Linux and subsequently LinuxCNC.

Are there pros and cons to using Debian or Ubuntu?

I read that Ubuntu can be a little bloated / doesn't have quite as good support?

Once I have installed a Linux operating system, I am planning on installing Debian 9 Stretch. I am thinking of doing this becuase the 7 Wheezy is not compatible with ethernet Mesa boards which I will be using.

I was hoping someone could let me know if I am on the right lines?

Thanks.