X3 James, thanks for putting the time in to show all of us not only how you build your parts but also how you design them. You show more detailed Fusion design than any other YT channel I watch. Keep up the excellent work.
Hi, I'm a time traveler and I've just come back from the future to give you a warning about that monitor mount. The screws and metal spacers you've used, have connected the monitor's ground to the chassis of the plasma table. This means that the ground on USB cable from the monitor is also grounded to the plasma table. The USB cable plugs into the plasma controller, which the manufacturer has taken special precautions to ensure that it is isolated from the plasma table chassis. If you sort this out now, it'll save you having to admit to making a mistake later. Love your videos by the way, thanks for all the great content.
Your planning and execution is always awesome to watch. Good stuff sir 👍🏻 No judgement on your welds. In the words of AvE, “Grinder and paint, makes me the welder I ain’t.”
...the day you come to Florence I want to offer you a coffee (and family of course) and show you my city. It's not just words, I mean it like that. This to tell you thank you for what I have learned from your videos. Ciao da Firenze
Thanks for your simple explanations of each step and speaking at a pace we can keep up with. Some would have given explanations that made everything more complicated.
I like the systematic way you approach things. This is a great study. Please consider extending this concept to include those perforations that make precise bending easer. Some people call them perforations, bend lines, relief cuts, or smile cuts. The smile cuts are the most fascinating. Industrial Origami patented the smile cuts about 20 years ago, so they should be in the public domain by now.
Being able to design an object that will be created by bending, with integral holes, that end up in the right place really shows the power and flexibility of Fusion 360. Thanks for sharing. I seem to be going through your backlog of videos and I am learning tons. I'm also a computer engineer by day and I find a lot of joy in creating physical things.
Obviously you are a perfectionist which pretty much says it all. Very nice build. Around here that thing would be rusty tomorrow. Thanks for the video.
If you haven't seen the later video, make sure you don't ground the monitor to the table if you have a Langmuir. It will ground the electronics through the USB cable and prevent the torch height control from working.
Awesome build James! So amazing to see your shop and skills improving time to time. To have this CNC plasma machine with the bender, such a relief! Congratulations for your videos, love to see them!
Don't sell yourself short? The welding was really good!!! And remember practice makes perfect 😊👍 You have a really nice break. Ty James for another great video ty
Love it as always. And sewing! I would watch you do that. And not only because it would mean I'm not the only person on the planet who wants to Make All The Things....
The bracket came out fantastic! I really enjoy the way you take us (the viewers) through the entire process, from thought to working it out in Fusion 360, to making test coupons to bend etc. You left off "Fusion 360" on your things you`re good at. You could sketch up your monitor cover in 360 and make a flat pattern for the person that will cut it out and sew it together ;) Thanks for sharing!!
James, I love how Precise you are on everything you do on your channel. If you have the right equipment, use it to your advantage. I design and fabricate sheet metal parts for a living and I am extremely proficient in Fusion 360. I have sheet metal rules set for every Gauge we work with and over 40 different die sets in 4 different press brakes including a RAS cnc folding machine. Your new mag brake is pretty awesome, but without a hard back stop your wasting your time scribing lines with a surface plate and height gauge just to rely on an eyeball. Your always going to have a variance. ( next video... an Arduino controlled servo driven p5 double ballscrew back stop with Taper and automatic tram.) 🤣 but seriously I love your channel and your content, keep up the incredible content 👍
Great project and beautiful work. This makes me even more excited to get my CNC plasma up and running. I just stumbled on your channel a few days ago (subscribed) and will be working my way through your videos.
Oh wow I only just noticed that the plasma table is a cantilevered design! Very neat! Gotta look back at the previous vids to see if I missed some details... Great build btw! I wish I had a shop like yours...
I’ve been on the fence with subscribing we share similar hobbies but I’ve been all in the past few months you have a teacher way of explaining things. I’ve learned more from your fusion videos than I have from all other sources on the you tube. I’m also a welder with prototype work and is it ever hard to get in the rhythm on a new jobs. Most of the welders on here giving you a hard time weld the same weld for months of not years just high paid assembly line workers.
Since I learned to weld by watching welders and doing what welding I needed I have no business criticizing anyone's welding skills. Also, my welding is done with stick.
Buff in some automotive paste wax, and you’ll have bright steel for a long time. Just remember to clean w/acetone prior to painting (if ever), to remove traces of silicone. Well done James.
James, Awesome project all around. Thanks for the ride along. Certainly would like to see the sewing part, as well as the approach and hardware you employ for the wire management.
Love the overhead shot of the shop @19:02, great for seeing just how you have things arranged in the shop. BTW, like those casters you put on the Baleigh Magnetic Brake, quite a step up from the two small Harbor Freight dollies you had in the first video!
You should use MIG it is so much easier. TIG is so much harder than it looks! I have bought a footpedal now so hopefully I will get better. Your workshop always looks so spotless - mine just looks like a workshop 😁
If all I cared about was speed and simplicity, I would have used my spool gun or just bought a MIG machine. TIG requires skill and it's a skill I am trying to acquire.
I prefer SolidWorks, but for the money, Fusion 360 is a very capable tool that has worked well for me. The two things I miss the most are constraints and part configurations.
This looks sooooooo satisfying! Nice work, James! And yes, I'd totally be up for a sewing project next. Also, your "good at"/"bad at" lists... relatable!!! I always hated "homework"/practice... and I suffer for that sometimes. But, some things I do practice, and the results are nice. :)
Hello James. Not long ago you have published the video about your new SPOT WELDER so, wonder why on earth you have torture yourself. 🤣😊. Cheers, love your videos!
I was looking for filament videos and found this little project. I have the project in mind, replace the flimsy LS laptop stand with touchscreen mounted to my Crossfire Pro. It's been a year, were you able to operate firecontrol without a keyboard attached? Thanks for these 2 videos, you've saved me a lot of design time.
Your probably not going to like my technique for removing dross, but I will tell you anyways. When the part is done cutting pick it up and drop it on the ground. That should break off around 90% of it. I own one of the original pre-order crossfires that mainly collects dust in my workshop but have cut alot of plate on it and it works great everytime I fire it up.
That little plasma table seems nice. However, you can see it visibly shaking and moving as your cutting. While it doesn't appear like it effected your cuts on this project, I would recommend looking at stiffening the frame up if possible. Smaller materials could end up shifting and ruin your cut. Really enjoy your videos. As with anything, time and experience.....
If all of the steel you can buy locally is specified in inches, all of the dials on all of the machines you can buy locally are marked in inches, all of the hardware you can buy at your hardware store has unified inch screw threads, and all of the end mills, drills, and collets you can buy at your local tool supply are in inches, it sounds pretty silly when someone in the RU-vid comments says "You should fully convert to metric."
Man you're on a role.... Once again learned multiple things from this thanks. Dross chips off really easy with a chipping hammer rather than sanding through the dross. Just thought of another tip... rather than a shop vac or broom for you cold cut saw get one of those rolling magnets for you shop. Does a great job of picking up those metal chips.
Nice video of the process. The bend line location and the bend deduction changes depending on the type of bending machine used. An Amada brake using V dies and air bending ( the bend deduction would be yet again different for crush bending) pulls material into the bottom v die from both sides. Your Magnabend clamps and immobilizes the sheet on one side of the bend line and all the stretch happens in the other side. For your shop size and use case you made the perfect choice getting the Magnabend.
Are you using the FINE CUT nozzle? That nozzle is the best for sheet metal because there is no dross. Here's a tip for, I used to recondition my nozzles to extend their life. First of all, I would turn about .002" off the face and then ream the orifice with the proper size ream. Many times, just cleaning the face of .002" -.003" did the trick. you have to get them early enough though. I could tell by the sound and checking the cut edge if the orifice was egging out. Usually, if one side has dross it is an indicator the nozzle orifice is starting to egg out. I would change the nozzle and when I had 10-12 used nozzles to recondition, I would face them and check the orifice. If it needed it, I would ream it to clean it out. I used a jeweler's loop to check the orifice. I hope helps.
The big thing about getting a good weld is seeing the puddle and a steady hand. If you can't focus up close you'll have problems. For me going to a 2 diopter lens in the helmet and 2 diopter glasses corrected my seeing the puddle. Now if I can only keep my hand steady.. Make sure everything is clean..
That project turned out great....one thing I've found on welding is to flood the object with lots of lighting so there are no shadows on what I'm trying to do, and I have a cloth cover on the back of my helmet so I don't get glare/reflection on the inside of the viewing shield.
@@Clough42 Another place I get stray light is from under the front of my helmet. (worse with light colored clothes) I found the little add on leather flaps for that spot made a big difference.
Looks nice. Can you tell the software that you mounted the monitor 90 degrees to the actual table so pressing the arrow buttons makes the machine move in that direction?
You can try making your welds look better by going back over them with pulse to make the previous filler you laid down a nicer pattern and also add more if necessary. Works for me anyway... LOL
Hi James, did you bolt your bend brake to the floor,or do you find the machine weight is enough? Like you space is a premium and permanent bolting for me would compromise my options for my equipment. The only thing I have had to bolt down is my Mr.Deburr drum,as it will walk like a miss loaded washing machine.And your welds are fine,great video.
I like that you keep precision in mind even when it comes to sheet metal, so kudos for that. The build turned out very nice, and I am even more envious of that metal brake. I'm not sure it will help, but I will attempt tig advice. I've found it best when you're starting your bead to get a puddle flowing on both of the sides that you intend to connect. Once you've created a puddle on both sides you can drag them towards each other, push the pedal a little further and start adding filler. Just be consistent in your movement and time your filler and it will do the rest (easy thing to say I know). Good luck in your welding endeavors and keep up the quality work and thank you for the videos. Sincerely, just some apprentice.
Thanks. I'm just getting a feel for steel. In this case, I think 65A was a little cool. I suspect a little more heat would have made it easier to get the puddles to join before things melted back. I'm also figuring out shades and cheater lenses so I can see the puddle better.
I generally set my helmet around 10.75 or 11 for Tig, but I'm usually welding in the 95A+ range on high carbon steel. As long as you don't feel eye strain afterwards you know you have the right setting, setting it too dark will strain your eyes as well. 65A wasn't too far off if you use the 1amp per 0.001" thickness rule. Another little tidbit for welding thicker to thinner is to spend more time on the thicker material and just wash the puddle quickly to the thinner material so it doesn't absorb as much heat. I've been lucky enough to have people around to pester about welding, and these are things that I've been shown that I didn't think about before. The grind on the tip being rounded or sharp make a difference as well, more rounded tips make a wider puddle and vice versa. Grinding the tip with a diamond wheel instead of sand paper also makes a difference in quality as well. Food for thought I suppose, sorry if I'm bugging you with stuff you've already heard.
@@thallmeister I made a recent video about building a diamond tungsten grinder. A sharp tungsten makes it a lot easier to control. I started out at shade 12. I'll try 11 next time. I had everything running well at 125A on aluminum, and the first time I tried it down at 65A, I didn't have it set sensitive enough, so I was getting flashed occasionally. That's no fun. :(
You can use your digital caliper as a front gauge to hit your bend lines exactly.... just set the caliper to your bend line dimension, and use the depth measuring ability of your caliper up against the nose of the top tool and against the front edge of your material...but only if your caliper is long enough for the flange
Very nice. The cables could just go into the tube, couldn't they? I've been using furniture wax on unpainted steel surfaces lately. A thin layer which you can polish keeps the "bare metal" look and it's extremely easy to apply. No rust yet.
In this case to put construction points for the holes there is shorter way: just create center point rectangle (center point in the diagonals cross section) with the desired dimensions (width and height) and put points in the corners. And - that's it! The same procedure can be used if you need three, (four - just mentioned) five, six etc. symmetrically positioned holes. Just create center point polygon with desired number of corners (holes), dimension it and put construction points. That way you usually you do not need mirroring.
I love watching your videos! As I was watching this one and where you were trying to determine where to put your score line for the bend reminded me on a section I’m studying right now to get my Airframe & Powerplant license for the FAA. There’s some formulas they use to get the “setback” of a leg and the bend allowance to determine was size flat piece you need to make a part. In this case of the 2”x1” piece bent to 90° using that formula I’ll try to explain. You may have this formula already but if not maybe you can use it in the future. The formula for setback if SB=Radius+Thickness (R+T) thickness being the material you’re using. So for a 1” leg at 90° with a .063 thick piece with a radius bend of 1/8” the setback would equal .188. Then you would subtract that from 1” which would be .812”. To get the bend allowance you’d use the formula 2pie(R+1/2T) over 4. Bend allowance for 1/8” radius on .063 material would be .246. Then to get the flat piece overall length to make a 1”x2” piece bent at 90° you’d subtract your SB from each leg 1”=.812 and 2”=1.812. Then add those 2 together plus the Bend allowance of .246 to get the overall dimension of the flat to be 2.87” long. This may be confusing the way I tried to explain it. I wish I could post a picture of the example in my study material
@@Clough42 I figured the software will do that. I just thought it was nice to know that way to calculate them on paper because I never knew it. Really enjoy your content tho!
is there any reason in particular you didn't split the difference and run 175 inches per minute for the plasma table? Can you only adjust in increments of 50 IPM? or is there something else coming into play?
As always great video content. I do learn a lot about fusion 360 from your videos. Thank you! I wanted to point out that your Hypertherm manual should have really good info for cut speed and kerf width. I cut 16ga. At 220 ipm at 45amps and it’s relatively dross free. The setting from the manual for my hypertherm 45xp are really close.
The tables in the manual are useless for this. They say that 14ga cuts at 120IPM max, and 18ga maxed out the test table at 400IPM. They provide nothing in between. I started at 150 and hoped to end up at 200 or 300.
It doesn't work for me, which actually makes sense, since sheet metal gauges are not standardized. 16ga mild steel is .0598". Aluminum is .05082". Stainless is .0625". Copper is .065". www.metalsupermarkets.com/sheet-metal-gauge-chart/
C'mon James ! It clearly NEEDS a sheet metal and CNC milled, stepper driven roller shutter ! Of course the extra 0.010 gap is for the powder coating in the next episode. Right ?
There's a link in the video description. I would consider it just barely adequate to run windows 10 and the crossfire. Might be a good candidate for LinuxCNC.
you can route the cables through the post with some 3d printed caps, nice detailed video like always. keep up the good work. any updates planned for the electronic lead screw ?, I was thinking semi CNC electronic lead screw you can add a servo to your main motor then you have a precision controlled Chuck and a router attachment. just thinking out loud here
Can I ask why aren’t you using hypertherms speeds and feeds for mechanized cutting, if you need them message me and I’ll get them to you, I’ve had a CNBC plasma table for about 8 years and their setting are for the most part right on
Help! Slots using Fusion 360 and Langmuir Would really like to see how to design sheet metal parts in fusion with sharp thin slots used to make the bend lines in thicker sheet metal/plate. The issue is that the settings for a flattened sheet metal part in fusion have a lead in and so a thin single line slot will never get created or posted. Would love a short video of you know how to do this. I'm wondering if it's possible at all? Maybe setup a custom version of langmuir posting tool with different parameters to "fake it"? Can you pick different tools for different operations? I appreciate that maybe one would have to live with a bit of uncontrolled piercing at the beginning? Thanks!
Clarification. The idea is to make a bend with only tabs holding it so it can be "weakened" so that it can easily bent with the intention of welding the corner back up as needed to make it stronger.
