Tumbler Build - For cleaning plasma cut parts.

i think the shop i work at paid somewhere in the ball park of 450 k for the machine they bought. i completely agree with that kind of cash you could fund quite a few builds of you own and cover just about any process you can think of for that matter.

Thats just called smart engineering Tom. Combining functionality with aesthetics is not a easy task!

I could of just build a ugly rectangle frame with RHS opening doors and been done with it. But I chose the harder option of a nice looking frame and a useful roller door to allow maximum work area at the front of the machine. Its usually always more work to do something properly but when something will be around for 20 old years its worth the effort.

machinedude wrote:

i think the shop i work at paid somewhere in the ball park of 450 k for the machine they bought. i completely agree with that kind of cash you could fund quite a few builds of you own and cover just about any process you can think of for that matter.

I have a major problem living on a continent at the bottom of the world. Our currency is crap and just about all machine are imported.

I am toying up building my own VMC next year when I get my robots finished. I am sure I will annoy the crap out of you with questions about VMC's since I have never used one. I am thinking epoxy frame like you filled your Plasma frame with. If I build one I can make it much bigger than anything I can afford to import as the larger machines are in the $100K AUD range. Building one with DMM servos and a large tool changer would come in around $20k AUD, and of course will be fully open source!

If anyone is looking for inspiration on building a VMC check this thread out by a fellow Stefan,

www.cnczone.com/forums/vertical-mill-lat...cnc-forum-posts.html

Some great stuff there!

Got the door moving. I will need to make a larger sprocket on the drum shaft as its moving too fast.

if you get into a VMC build and need help with anything you can always feel free to ask me anything. hopefully i have mine done and get some Linux cnc under my belt by then.hopefully the fully closed loop system i am after works well and i can offer some insight on the subject by then lately i have to many other things keeping me from working on things. i have a granddaughter on the way and to many strings of bad luck popping up right now the truck is my big problem

if you want to do E. G. i would suggest making the frame from some big tubing and then filling the tubes with the E.G. that way you get the vibration dampening for any cutting you do. E.G. has done wonders for what i have done just avoid the way i did it. to much work in making it look nice. filled tubes would be the way i would go doing it over again cut cut some fill points in the tubes and be generous with the size because this material does not flow well at all so wide open space is your friend in your design process.

Do you mean this Tom,



I can attest to how heavy it is. Much heavier than sand.

the thing with E.G. is keeping the resin content low since that is where most of the cost lies. small fillers like sand work well for compacting tight but takes a lot more resin to get the wetting needed to bind it all together well. filling large tubes would be more forgiving since it would not have to be as wet to get the nice casting.

the extra weight would be an added plus since the more weight a machine has the harder it is to get the frame to vibrate. i don't see why the mix could not be modified to add the waste metal from the plasma process.

if you get into the hard core E.G. talks the experts would probably disagree with the idea but i think most of the talks get into to much theory and not enough trial and error to make advancements.

it's not very complicated in material composition and epoxy is pretty forgiving with moisture as well. i would still dry materials before making a batch but it is not the end of the world if you only get 95% of it removed.

i have seen talk of using ultra high fillers like sand blast media but i think that's just a waste and adds extra cost to the process.i think most of the dampening comes from the epoxy honestly. keep the fillers cheap and you still get a material with compressive strength the same as concrete. the mix i did failed at about 3000 PSI which is the same as standard concrete so building the frame from tube keeping the main goal of dealing with rigidity and deflection up the the task of the tube frame on it's own for the most part and adding the E.G. for the assist of extra weight and vibration dampening because that's what it is best at make for a good frame to build the rest on.