yeah I pretty sure anything with metal gear in the URL has been taken , doesn't look like you play video games so you wouldn't know anything about that , or you do and you made a cheeky joke , like how I'm making one on your channel name sounding like a porn site ,
This is THE most efficient video I have EVER seen! Your shop practices are efficient. Your "what if there's a snag" scenarios are efficient. Your editing is efficient. Video & audio is excellent quality. I'm impressed. You give me something to aspire to. Thank you.
+John Heisz it should works just fine, but I'd probably try to do some cutting next to a running Shapeoko first to see how well the electronics handle that
My son and I built a CNC plasma cutter last summer. He is running a HyperTherm 45. The speed setting to get minimal dross is critical. Each material thickness has to have a different feed speed. We have most thicknesses up to 1/4" figured out. We have played around with 3/8" and 1/2" a little. I am sure that with practice, you can figure out the appropriate speeds. All of the wood working machines are cool. I wish I had them. I did build my own house and accumulated a few wood working tools, but my oldest son became a welder/fitter, so now my shop is filled with mostly metal working tools.
I'm a HUGE Mathias fan. I'm also right in the middle of building my CNC. The day I see a video come out that says "building a CNC router part 1" from Mathias, I will be the happiest person in the world. I think he would end up with the nicest machine. I wish he wasn't so against building one for some reason.
Hey Matthias! Love your videos. I work on a CNC plasma cutter at my school and I wanted to let you know that those beads come off very easily with a chisel. Just clamp down the gear and pluck away! Keep up the great work!
I was sitting here tonight investigating CNC, $$$$, then I had a thought, I had seen a movie years ago and it was set to the 1700s time period. They used a gizmo to counterfeit a signature and after a few minutes googling I had the name " pantograph ". After watching a router pantograph video, I watch yours, This is way cool, thanks for sharing!
Hey Matthias, I've been watching your vids since you made a ukulele! I've never done any of your projects, why would I? I've built houses and all sorts of things when I was young, but I just love seeing your techniques and your problem solving! You have a very creative mind and dynamic thinking and practical skills. It;s great. Thank you.
Wow Matthias, as always I am impressed with your intelligence, creativity & completion of the projects you share with the world. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I really liked the reamer trick with the pivot pin materiel, the micro switch to control the plasma cutter & of course the possibilities for shapes to be made with such a machine WITHOUT said machine being computer numeric controlled. Not that I dislike cnc machines what so ever.
ok guys i'm a woodworker but watch my cnc do the woodworking for me,matthias everybody is now having their cnc do the woodworking for them, its like saying i'm a good runner whatch my racing car run. you allways do good woodworking videos i'm glad ,keep it up
RU-vid.. Ha! I should have figured someone has already done this. Matthias, what a great video! I was actually looking up pantographs for the very purpose of adapting one for my plasma cutter. I just never figured on seeing this done and relayed on such a professional level as you have done here. Bravo.
I love watching these videos, I'm new to woodworks and its awesome seeing someone who can make such elegant mechanisms from scratch like this. Keep up the great work
As a thought, I wonder if you could use a metal plate under the pattern and the metal follower to complete your control circuit. It would give you more control when drawing pretty pictures. Follower up, no cutting, follower down, cutting.
Great idea and a great experiment. Now we know what kind of results to expect. If you can live with deburring the cuts then this is a good option for the guy who has plasma but no plasma cam. It is hard to beat the computer at cutting things. Thanks for the video.
That"s pretty cool bro! the one suggestion I'd offer is: affixing a piece of thin sheet metal to the bottom of the mount that holds the torch will save the wood over time. Great work and thanks for all you do!
Mathias, the slag on the back gets removed by hammering. Slide a hammer or the edge of the metal, and it pops off without grinding. Don't bother trying to limit it, it's a non-issue. It pops right off with a hammer leaving clean edges. If you go WAY too slow, you can get molten metal mixed in with the slag, which does not come off like the slag alone does. Focus on the top cut side and the cut quality and don't worry about the slag. A stick-welding chipping hammer laid flat pops it right off. It looks like the tip distance is a bit high, which is why you have slag on the top of the plate.
Your plasma cutter pantograph has actually a great advantage over other CNC cutter setup by having a wooden construction that doesn't conduct electricity. One could even consider combining CNC with your setup, because the high voltage from the cutter could fry the electronics on a aluminium frame.
+Denis Lipatnikov i am loving the pedantic comments. Both of you knew exactly what I meant, who cares if it is not terminology specific, i don't otherwise i would have said 1:1 scale, which i am fully aware of as a term but i am also conscious that lots of people, especially in the youtube comment sections likely aren't.
Jared Reabow I try to not make a habit of correcting people in comments, however when someone else tries to correct someone and fails, then it is just too hard to resist ;)
+Jared Reabow (Jazza) I was thinking if the cutter was on the other end of the pantograph, the small movements on the template would equate to faster movements on the cutter end...
Amazing as usual Matthias. I have a suggestion for a video, could you make long reach C-clamps again but without box joints or any special tools (i.e. no table saw or bandsaw)?
+Majin Snake That is very true. I think projects which involve as few tools as possible are really good to watch, like Matthias's sawhorses or simple workbench. Good for getting amateurs like myself going in woodworking.
Awesome plasma pantograph! I see this as quicker & more flexible for creativity than a CNC Plasma. Aren't you a little worried about wood around sparks?
hola matthias soy de argentina soy carpintero y me gustan un montón tus maquinas ya me e hecho un par de tus maquinas lo ultimo q ise fue el elevador del Reuter gracias por tus vídeos un abrazo
Do you have an adequate air compressor for your plasma cutter? If you have insufficient air pressure/flow part way through your cut that could be a cause for the increase in slag. Just some thoughts to consider. You may be able to adjust your air pressure to get more favorable results.
Hi Matthias, I have a CUT50 plasma cutter similar to yours I think. It cuts pretty well when my compressor has just topped off, and the cut degrades with more slag as the pressure drops off, until the compressor pressure switch activates. I have tried fiddling the pressure reg on the back of the cutter, but mine is currently as good as it gets. Not sure if your situation is the same, but it could be contributing to the cutting slag you are experiencing.
I knew, at the moment I had the idea of watching a video of how to build the simplest plasma-router ever, that I HAVE TO VISIT YOUR CHANNEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great idea, usual blistering execution. The only thing, I know you have the electronics skills to do a real CNC, while I have held off for years because I don't. The prices on parts are getting pretty low with the Tiny G board. I guess the other reason I stand back is I need 4x8 for the boats I build, which is a heck of a machine. I think it is possible, if possibly silly to do linear slides in wood. Sometimes when a router is running wooden slides move smoothly just due to the vibration. Or maybe compressed air. I think a person who really knew how to do structure in wood could save a ton on some of the stuff 80/20 is used for. That stuff doesn't haul it's weight in the average build mostly just functioning as an alignment guide on units that are often structurally overbuilt with impacts on cost and weight.
Matthias, would having some resistance to movement help regulate the cutting speed? Something like tighten the hinges or dragging the follower would give some force feedback.
Excellent build Matthias! What will you be using the gears for? If not gears, what project are you initially going to be using your pantograph plasma cutter for?
The guy I bought my plasma cutter from suggested dropping cut parts in muriatic acid (HCL). He claimed that it eats the slag a lot faster than anything else, leaving a clean edge needing minimal grinding. I'll have to try that once I get my new cutter working.
Great project. I think if you put pattern down at the same level as the plate you are cutting it will cut better. The torch tip is lifting higher the further you get from the pivot point. An easy project and I think I may duplicate it with square steel tubing.
It may be a trick in the photography. It appears the pattern is high and the tip is moving upwards as you move the torch further from the pivot point. The gear you cut was also not cut as well on the side away from the pivot. I have the same problem when cutting by hand if I move the tip away from the metal it doesn't cut as good. Still an awesome project, my hat is off to you and your skills.
Hello Matthias; I think that different shield gasses work best with different metals. It is also important to operate in a draft free environment, so that your shield is not blown away from the work.
+Mentorcase Air is fine for rough work, but inert gasses are used for fine work. If your gas is blown away from the work, it does no good. Before you attempt to belittle someone, know what you are talking about.
I have used plasma in an industrial setting with plasma gas and there is no danger of wind ever blowing it away as it is fed to the nozzle at a raised pressure.
That slag should be very easy to remove with a hammer. It's very brittle, and you can chip it off. There are even hammers made specifically for this purpose.
How does the bottom of the area around the torch look after those cuts? May want to consider a thin sheet metal shield to protect the wood from charring. Also, that dross on the back of plasma cut parts is common regardless of CNC or not - though a well tuned CNC will have minimal. It usually will chip right off cleanly with a chipping hammer or other heavy scraping implement.
+Matthias Wandel I don't normally hold the tip when I'm cutting, but that's just me! :) On thin material, you don't get a lot of splashback on pierce so likely not a major issue. Especially if you're not cutting 100 parts out.
If you press the release lever on the gun for the construction adhesive it relieves the pressure on the cartridge and stops it from oozing out when you are not using it.
+Matthias Wandel i see it as a way of doing quick geometric shapes and copying templates roughed out on the bandsaw. but you could also quickly make reinforcing parts for your wooden projects (corners etc) with some simple templates even cutting the screw holes (or plug weld holes). id be excited if i had just created that. last note bathe your steel sheet in white vinegar over night to remove all the rust and scale.
Matthias Wandel I think there is some great potential for these metal gears out of some thicker stock. Would be really cool to try some metal dovetails? See how precise this setup can be!
Worked around a CNC plasma cutter for years , even those machines leave slag on the bottom . I think there's no way around it really ! Best I've seen is it just flies off when you hit it with a grinder .
