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

rodw wrote:

Tommy, are you legless again?

Oh yes !

Santa was here !

Also got the legs, so it is on !

Now only complete silence ..... until things are moving again !

I can see the finish line.....

Had to rewire everything and it took quite some time, small box, to much wires and electronics. Cramming 4 drives, 2 power supplies, 1 power line filter, 1 BOB, 1 mesa 7i92 and 6 relays inside a 400X300mm box was challenging, for sure so had to get a bit creative and mount the filter on the bottom, power supplies on each side, so that left the whole back plate for the rest of the stuff.
Now on to wiring the THCAD and the plasma cutter that needs some custom fitting to install the new Trafimet A141 torch.
The rest of the panels should be ready on tuesday, and that would also need some mounts made for the sides.
Hopefully by the end of the next week it should be fully finished ...... almost as i still did not get the drag chain, should also be here next week. Should being the operative word there.
On tuesday i should also get the rest of the smaller machine, so rinse and repeat, mounting, installing, checking, tuning, tightening, torturing, again checking and rechecking and tightening, and that reminds me, the belts on both sides of the Y on the big machines are still loose, that is the weird noise on the video.
Regards,
Tom.

Finally got to wiring the THCAD300 to a Cebora 50A plasma cutter with "High Frequency/High Voltage" pilot start and got very disappointed when no smoke escaped !
Did several test with the torch far from material ( worst case scenario for interference ) and with the torch touching the material ( worst case for the THC ), no issues at all.
Also took some pictures of the insides of the plasma cutter as it has separate boards for everything making it very clean and easy to see how things work and interact. Not of much importance as everything is going the SMPS way or "inverter" type power supplies, but it helps in locating functional blocks inside a plasma for wiring torch on, arcok, and THC.
More pictures and stuff tomorrow.

Nothing to report !
Wired the THCAD to the rest of the electronic, did some cuts by hand as the torch is not mounted yet, everything works, even with all the cables laying on the ground intertwined.
Goes to show that proper grounding and shielding is the most important part of building a cnc plasma machine.
Again, i am reporting this as this is a HF/HV pilot start plasma, and the manual for THCAD300 rightfully states not to use it with this types of plasma sources, as wiring it to the wrong place will render it crispy at the first firing of the torch.
More experimenting, and that is going slow due to small compressor.

It did first cuts today! Yay !
The THCAD is mounted as usual on the back of the plasma cutter, in this case a Cebora Plasma Prof 52. so here is a picture of how that looks finished:

Need to make some custom fittings for replacing the hand torch with a Trafimet A141 machine torch, add a magnetic holder, and wait for the side and back plate from painting. Then build a 3.3X2.3m water table that will weight about half a ton.
Now if only i had the rest of the parts for the smaller one .....
Edit: Cr@p i just saw my fingerprint there!

Your belt arrangement is 99% of the way to being a "Servobelt" setup. You just need to glue (VHB tape) another belt face-up to the rails and you would have it.
That system takes out nearly all the belt stretch, which might reduce "ringingi" on fast direction changes.
Or might be a waste of time in this application.