I built a plasma cutting table with a cantilevered arm and a down-draft table out of scrap metal I found at the dump and about $150 of electronics from eBay. It uses a non-pilot arc contact torch.
Here are the electronics I used, the are Amazon Affiliate links: Mach3 USB Controller: amzn.to/3U3qfGy Stepper Controllers: amzn.to/3GfGQkB Power Supply: amzn.to/3nJTmCp
Doesn't need to be any more complicated, very nicely done. We have a 10' x 5' CNC Plasma and that thing is a space hog, about the size of a 95' Suburban.
The pilot arc functions by applying a voltage between the electrode & the nozzle. This creates the pilot arc plasma. When the plasma contacts the work, current starts to flow through the work ground circuit. The machines circuity detects this current. It turns off the pilot arc voltage & ramps up the cutting current to what it is set for.
I've dealt with that crashing issue on USB controllers in the robotics industry I work for the pharmaceutical sector building robotics platforms for drug Discovery and development I would simply get some wide copper tape some skinny copper tape for the wiring and wrap everything and go for it it's not exactly an elegant solution but it always seem to work
Great build. I also started building mine recently. 50 Amp HF plasma. I use Arduino Uno and GRBL, firts attempt was a failure as the noise was knocking down arduino. I equipped myselef with shielded cables, metal box for control, ferrites, shielded USB. I will try to get it done over weekend. I hope it will work now, even tho after post factum research I know that it can be a waste of money😅
@@JakevonSlatt Can't wait! Thanks for your work. Mine was not tested yet. Cabling is done. Took me a while to finish. Hopefully I will test it soon. I will look forward for your video
I have made cnc plasma and tig welding lathe with arduino. They both work awesome. For plasma pilot arc is the best option no high frequency. With tig welder it was a problem that is best solved with opto isolation board and always make sure the computer is plugged into a grounded outlet so no laptop running without being plugged in
It’s certainly a challenge. I had no luck with a HF plasma after days of foil wrapping, shielded wiring, putting the controller in a lead sheathed cast iron pot etc etc only success was when I moved the torch and work surface at least 10 feet away from the controller bo. Got rid of that and will try a pilot arc machine next.
Nice build. I use SheetCam, please try it cos it's really good and if you ever add rotary axis, it is right fir the job. Regarding interference, try to ground the tip of torch. Then add a copper ground rod into floor and grown all that. I had to do that with my very first build and plasma.
I've been looking at the "pilot arc conversion" videos on RU-vid and I actually think they're bunk. There has to be a circuit that transfers the current to the work piece when cutting begins, in other words you can't just run a wire to the torch to initiate a pilot arc, there has to be additional circuitry otherwise you will loose a lot of cutting capacity. I've tried multiple ferrite cores to no avail. I think I need to move the electronics into a metal box and run shielded cable. Working on that now, stay tuned!
It's basically the same as creating g-code for a CNC mill. I use a program called CamBam which is pretty easy to learn. I talk about the changes you need to make to CamBam for plasma cutting in Part 2.
Thank you! To tension the belts I just made a plastic block with a slot through it. I pull both end of the belt through it with a pair of plies and then screw a drywall screw through them to pin them in place.
Jake, great project. I think I'm going to attempt to replicate your setup. I most likely missed the models of all the electronics you used. I think one controller board might be the CNC USB MACH3 100Khz Breakout Board 4 Axis Interface Driver Motion Controller.?. If it's not to much of a bother, could you list everything? thank you for your time.
A lot of the material came from my junk bin including two of the stepper motors. I think I spent about $180 on the USB CNC Controller, the stepper drivers, a second torch for my plasma cutter, and the shielded cable I talk about in Part 2. I didn't keep track of the hours I spent on it, but it was an off-again-on-again project over the winter.
Sheetcam and a floating Z axes will fix all your problems also USB and EFI doesn't play well together. that MACH3 controller board is for a wood cutter or mill
There’s a later video showing how I fixed the EFI with filter caps and shielding. The unit does have a floating axis but the real fix was an actual pilot arc converter I built in my most recent video. I’m intrigued by Sheetcam, especially now that I see there is a Linux version! Thanks!
Nice work, Im currently building a 4x2 same kind of gantry arrangement ,but I'm in two minds mow on the breakout board its the same as what your using..any issues with it? thanks
Biggest issue is that it doesn’t support a command used on laser cutters that eliminates the dwell delay when turning on the “spindle”. It your torch is pilot arc you won’t need it but I feel it would make cleaner cuts if I could immediately lift the torch after ignition rather than having to wait about 60ms.
Hi, I'm very interested in your dust collection system under the plasma table!! i would like to build for my belt grinder (very dusty) and was wondering if you provide the information on the fan and motor, please
Years ago I came across a video about building a cnc machine using a large scale printer as a base. I stumbled into having one but never got to build it. Keep inspiring me and you never know.
Ah! Here are the electronics I used, the are Amazon Affiliate links: Mach3 USB Controller: amzn.to/3U3qfGy Stepper Controllers: amzn.to/3GfGQkB Power Supply: amzn.to/3nJTmCp
