2+2+3 More Plasma builds, double the joy ! 3X2M and 2.5X1.5M cnc plasma build.

very nice looking Tommy.

seeing the comment about the imports and lack of consumables made me look back to the plasma unit i just bought a few months ago. they had nothing stocked at the time but after seeing this i checked again to find they eventually got the straight torch and consumables for the hand torch in stock now. i am half tempted to just buy the straight torch now since they only have 3 of those in stock just so i have it for later

Finally finished one of the three from the last batch, except the side skirts, those will have to wait a bit as the price of metal is just going up here, very close to 2 Euro/Kg!!!
Notice the torch cable going over the plastic control box = interference testing, as can be seen it does not care even with the electronics being 7Cm far from the cable while firing the torch.


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On a same topic, the first machine from this series got a transplant, yanked the 7i92 (now in the machine above) and all relays, put in a Mesa 7i96. What a difference in space and installation time it makes.
Still waiting for another 2 of Mesa 7i92 and a Mesa 7i95, so the machine with 7i96 has LAM Technologies drives with Boost feature so i will add encoders to the motors promptly and implement RodW's "boost while accelerating" feature instead of my "boost when skipping steps" feature. Much better preventing skips than correcting for them.
Hmmm ... i forgot to take pictures of how the box looks now...

those plastic boxes are one way to cut the cost down a little bit. the last two i have bought are the exact same style you have. the metal ones are nice but the cost is the big factor. the only thing i noticed was the size of them being limited and on the smallish side making things tight to fit into them. i guess from the looks of things if you run your wires right noise is not an issue.

i hate to even price the metal ones lately i'm sure the price has went up quite a bit since the last one i bought. it seems like everyone is doing the same thing waiting to see if prices come down any but i have my doubts that will happen any time soon or at all. i have found myself trying to make stuff from odds an ends more and more lately just so i can hide from the price shock

Here is how the big machine looks like with the touch screen monitor bolted onto it:

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Here is the control box with the Mesa 7i96 and LAM Technologies drives (there is a Leadshine there also), much nicer now:

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And here is one of the plasma sources with the Mesa THCAD attached to it's back. This is how i usually do this:

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And this one is for PhillC

machinedude wrote:

those plastic boxes are one way to cut the cost down a little bit.

It is a balancing act, plastic is light weight so i can bolt it to the gantry and that allows it to have much shorter cables hence less chance of interference on the cables but more interference on the control box. And i can not find good cable here, wasted 4 months to find some thin, so-so shielded cable used for intercoms, so i had to use 3 wires in parallel for every motor wire. Also used 2 wires for every sensor wire, just to be on the safe side.

machinedude wrote:

i guess from the looks of things if you run your wires right noise is not an issue.

Yes.
Although with plasma there are always issues, other parts do their own mess, example:
The machine in the last video with No.1020 has the big power supply from a China company that has a dealer here (owner happens to be a very good friend of mine) it is a 24V/16A pushed to 27.2V, works on all machines, even the smaller supplies on my main machine with No.2030 are the same make but 200W each so there they are set as 45V/8A in series.
Also that same machine with No.1020 has two more smaller power supplies for 12V and 5V, some china cr@p for 7.5 Euro/piece.
All is good there as cane be seen on the video, works like a charm even with the torch cable resting on the electronics box.
On the machine next to it with No.1320 there are 3 power supplies, a bigger one at 24V/8A and two smaller same ones as above for 12V and 5V, the big one is labeled wrongly as 12V/16A, at 19.5 Euro a piece, i did not care much.
I was wrong! Not about the voltage, that is 24V and is OK, but the amount of interference this one makes actually caused a raked gantry as one of the steppers will start moving as soon as the power is turned on, and all other motors will vibrate quite violently.
Same manufacturer for the last batch, not the same quality!
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machinedude wrote:

i have found myself trying to make stuff from odds an ends more and more lately just so i can hide from the price shock

Same here, had to do some welding a few days back, i thought i was done with it when i finished the shop!

Also, i am consistently monitoring this forum but not replying much as i am busy finishing some other projects ... or hobbies
Building and modifying some 3D printers, and to se what is going on there i do post often on instagram @toma.3d and toma.cnc and toma.pc
Less updates on youtube @ toma cnc, toma 3d, and toma pc.