CNC Plasma Table Build

Oh no shit, it's an entire kit

Here I thought you bought a separate top and bottom mount, a pair of rails, etc

Appreciate it

I'll have to measure my current motor and see if it'll mount up already or if I'll need to replace that as well; I don't see it listed on the site bit what thickness is that lead screw and what are the threads per inch?

 

16mm thick... pitch would be 5mm

 

Ah it's metric, shit I don't think that'd work

Well, everything does just have to figure out the specs on my own lead screw

 

Just a quick update on the no updates. Life took a crazy turn of events, I recently bump in to this very pretty girl from mainland China, we hit it off, and last weekend I moved her in with me, so there has been a return of the "honey-do" list. Tasks that are much harder right now , due to a broken thumb on my dominant hand. I tripped over a guard rail, and lost my balance landing on my outstretched hand. I was lucky I didn't end up with SLAP lesion or broken elbow.

My days have been filled with; deep cleaning, painting and replacing old appliances and furniture. Along with lots of home cooked Chinese food.




once the thumb heals, I have plans to get back out in the shop, finish the new welding cab-cart . and work on getting the water table to be watertight, and finish the air scribe.

 

Not sure what the table weighs, but it destroyed a set of tri-wheel castors rated at 200lb each. ended up having to use two floor jacks to wiggle it into its new location in the garage. It is time for it to go to its (semi)forever home.

I Got tired of it blocking the tool box, it was only supposed to be there while I was building the table, but we all know how long that has been taking lol. Not sure what is going on with the thumb, it does not seem to be healing very well. I got a feeling it is a going to be a hardware kinda fix. going on 5 months now since I broke it, and it hurts almost as bad as when it happen.

 

Well, It looks like I will be rebuilding my control box yet again. I am going to be switching from Mach4 to Centroid Acorn. Main reason is they appear to have a much more stable product, and support for features I need. it will also support 24v on the input directly so this will help with some of the noise problems that plasma generates.

Now I need to decide if I will buy a new cabinet or reuse what I have.

reuse, will save money.

build new, I can still use the old controller while I spend who know how long to build the new one. then I can strip the old for parts for future use.

 

I thought the table was heavy when I tried to move it a few feet, then I had to load move it a few miles down the road. I ended up taking it apart an moving it in pieces. I was planning on taking it all apart anyway, to finish up a some of the welds on the base, and paint so this was was good timing mostly...

Next time I am hiring machinery movers, let them deal with it.

 

I started reassembling the plasma table this weekend.

 

time for control cabinet rebuild, making the switch to centroid acorn

 

Made some progress on the new control panel today. I have some more DIN rail terminals in orange so I can keep the terminal block matching the wire, an also some more black an white blocks I need to expand the unswitched AC bus so I can power the case fans.

 

Started wiring up the stepper drives today.

First things first, prepping the shielded cable. Started off by soldering a ground wire to a piece of copper foil tape.



once the outer jacket was carefully removed, I wrapped the copper foil around the exposed shield.





This will allow me to ground the shield to help drain off the EMI.

after the drain wire was installed, I pushed back the braid and trimmed it to just above the foil tape, snipping off the excess along with the two extra wires. I then heat shrink everything to protect the ends, and keep any frayed shield wire from getting loose later.

 

Braided sleeves are super cheap on Amazon, would look really cool on your wiring!

I never did ask, are the stepper motors (with encoders) and drivers for a closed loop setup? Or you running open loop?

 

annnddd its's alive.. again..

https://youtube.com/shorts/MogEVskEXZQ

 

open loop for now, I may change it up later. I can see a few things on the table I would change if I was starting over . So I may end up building another one. but it will not be until this is 100% and I actually need the changes.