d16sandrail

anyone have one, use one? I am possibly in the market for a cnc plasma cutting system and would love a little heads up knowledge. I have watched demo video after demo video, they all look amazing...but is it smoke and mirrors? or are they really just that awesome? I am thinking something a little more substantial than the plasma-cam, but not in the $50,000+ range either...maybe $15,000-$25,000 range. Anyone?

KFMRC

I have a friend that has a plasma cam machine and despite the fact that it does look cheesy and cheap it does a pretty good job. Not sure if its him but his biggest complaint is the software and the lack of knowledgable help with tech support. Seems they always play dumb when you ask them about a problem. Like there stuff is perfect you know. His is setup with a hypertherm and the cost of comsumables is high. I would do a thermal dynamics unit instead. Like their torch much better. He does also have the height control on his. Its a cheap way but I wouldn't consider it a good substitute for the quality cut of a laser or waterjet. Naturally it is allllllllot cheaper though also. I would say if your goign to cut flanges you will need to be a bit creative if you plan on doing the mounting holes with it also.

I have a flame cutting machine for the small run parts in house and anything that is quantity I will usually either go with the laser or water jet. I have a job that I would still give to the laser guy even if I owned a waterjet. Waterjets are awesome but the laser leaves the best finish unless the cost per part is of no concern or the thickness is beyond the capicity of the laser. 3/8 steel the waterjet is almost 4 times higher. You have to base everything on what the part is ,how it is incorporated into a job and the material.

If I need some intake flanges or intake spacers( v8 with different deck heights) then I will have the waterjetted. I have .09 and .125 thick parts that I have had done on any of the 3 methods. In the end I like the laser best for those thinner parts though.

One other thing is the cnc plasma's make a hidious amount of bad smelling hard to breath goldish colored smoke so you need a killer venting system. I know I hate using my hand held unless I can open the doors.

good luck

Andy R

I have no first hand experience, but i've read that its pretty important to have a really good ventilation system in your shop as the cutting process puts off a lot of smoke. 4' x 10' table would work well with full sheets. I don't think its smoke and mirrors. The final finish of the cut is as good as your plasma machine will allow. Depending on the types of parts you want to make, the finish may be good enough, or might require additional sanding. The actual CNC portion is pretty straight forward since the motors aren't requiring much torque just moving around a nozzle. Seams like price range might change based on how advanced the software is. Keep in mind I know nothing about this, but I would think a cool feature would be for the SW to keep track of all pieces cut from one sheet, so it knows where material is remaining and to not try and cut from a void space. Once you've maxed out your sheet and put a new one in, you can reset it. This may be standard practice for all SW tools.

I don't know if this is a valid concern, but cutting with this method creates heat and cools in an uncontrolled method and may cause strength concerns depending on the use of the part, maybe?

unusual71

I work in a CNC machine shop and we get parts that have been cut with a CNC plasma, however we don't have our own. The parts are all very uniform, but larger ones tend to warp from the heat.

My suggestion to you if you already have a plasma cutter and just want it to be CNCed, is to search online for kits that allow you to build a cheap CNC mill using a router as a turret/spindle. I was looking into these kits when I built guitars and was thinking about starting my own business, the kits are quite reasonably priced. it would be pretty simple to buy a basic X-Y machine and instead of putting a router in just put in the plasma torch.

d16sandrail

I love this site! there are a ton of knowledgable people here! I appreciate the help guys.
I'm not so much planning to cut flanges for automotive stuff (I don't think my area has the market to try to make a living making manifolds). We own a machine shop and do a lot of work for lumber mills, farmers, and plan on getting into the sandrail fab, we would also like to get into cutting fancy signs for business owners and the such. So we are thinking of adding a cnc plasma to our shop.

PTPbracket

We have one at our shop, just make sure it's in a well ventilated area lol. I have only seen it used once, the cuts are clean, not sure about the software though.

HickamHatch

We have 2 in our shop. You can't smell them if you have a huge ventilation sucker from the bottom. Our machines are 60' x10' and can cut 2" thick. We also have 6 laser cutters and those things are top notch.. If you can get a laser, there is nothing that compares to them! they cut SO fast and clean.

sicones

My company just designed out first CNC plasma cutter, the electronics and mechanics are tested and proven on all of our CNC routers. It uses a Hypertherm powermax plasma torch, cut quality is not that great because of the cheap torch. Its an entry level machine, but it definitely looks better than the Torchmate and Plasma CAM. It seems to constantly cut at an angle. It also has torch height control. Anyone ever hear of Techno CNC??

Here are some pics of how it cuts, this is still in the testing stages, its crap compaired to water jet or laser. I bet this part looks familar....it's 1/4" mild steel

Does anyone have any pictures of how some other plasma CNCs cut??

mrbigg9032

Nice MVP tow hook.

punkinbeck

I have the samson 5X10 table with a hypertherm powermax 1650. I think this machine will do everything the big expensive ones will. It's made by plasmacam. It really works great for what it is, but you'll want to spend the extra money to get some short of good collector for the fumes. You also have to build a case for the pc and side panels for the table. I can run 5 exhaust fans in my shop and something like 1/8 hot rolled will made some serious smoke. I think i ran about 200 sheets through it since i've had it, and i've had no problems. The software is okay.. Very basic and it crashes sometimes after you spend a half an hour laying out a damn part, but that may just be because of my old *** computer. It's a lot of work to put together and get running how you want it, but in the end it pays off. I think I have 28 grand in the entire setup, between my setup time, the table, the plasma cutter, and getting it wired up. It seems to do great from 1/16" to about 3/4 material. 1" sometimes I start to get an angled cut. Good machine however someday I may invest in some better software for it.

TRAN

this is my friends business that can make CNC plasma... check them out www.k2cnc.com

heres a link to there CNC plasma video http://k2cnc.com/videos/2008_K2_CNC_Plasma_Cutter.wmv

d16sandrail

So from what I gather, the mfg. of the tables doesn't really matter (we would probably prefer to build our own table anyhow). But it is the software that makes the difference. If that is a decent assumption, then which software works well? which one should we stay away from, an are the programs upgradable?...cheaply? Also, I don't see any mention of use of a water cable...we plan to have a water table with ours, this should from what I read help tremendously to knock down the amount of dust and fumes. True or false?

redboost10

why dont you take a trip over to GEM equipment in mt angel since its very close to you and you can get some visual information. you can at least get some ideas, they got any machine there you can think of. i cut all my flanges there and have never had a problem with their machine.

0MIKE@AFITURBO.COM

We have a 5' x 10' table with a Hypertherm 1650 cuts up to 3/4" plate no problem.

Software is key, we design in Solidworks and use Camworks for tool path. We built the table and controls in house.

Works great for protypes and proof of concept. We then make production parts in our CNC machine shop.

If you can afford it, look into high def. plasma. Good used HDP machines can be found for around $30,000.00 and produce production quality parts.

0morgan@synapse motorsport

We also have a cnc table, we use it mostly to cut our intercooler endtanks out, works great and is a real time saver.