Hello! Another new guy wishing to pick brains and ask for opinions...

[seashaw]

Hello all,
I am a welder fabricator, been working in the trade since i left school.
4 years...

Basically, I work for a family business and for along time i have wanted us to purchase a cnc plasma cutter.
We once received a brochure for the plasmacam machines and i was most intrigued by it and my brain went overtime thinking of things i could make with it.

Only problem was the price of the machines!.

But only recently ive noticed people are making there own DIY cnc machines which is great!.

I have recently purchased the Chinese TB6560....
It came with motors and a power supply, for £99.

Seemed cheap and last night i got it all running with Linux cnc, An had it run a CNC command and it worked the motors both X & Y doing different things, a good thing? haha. Although upon joining this forum i have read that they like to burst into flames.
But for the price ill chance it, im realy hoping to make this machine as cheaply as possible as its coming out of my own pocket which isn't massive but i do have material left over from jobs which will do for my frame.
I also have plans for the running of the gantry using materials left over but would like input and opinions on my ideas.

Not sure were i should post my ideas though.

Anyway Hello and i hope the are people here that will be kind enough to help me achieve my goal of creating my cnc cutter.

Thanks.

[mekanik]

Hi seashaw
Welcome to the forum, if you give the guys an idea of the size of machine you were thinking off and if you could input a drawing help will be forthcoming.
Plasma machines i believe are a bit easier construction wise as there are no cutting forces as such, just the weight of your torch pipework ect. In the meantime have a look in the build logs.
Regards
Mike

[JAZZCNC]

Welcome,

First thing to do is start a Build log here. Plasma Build Logs

Doesn't matter if you haven't got design together yet just state your intensions and thoughts just a little bit more than you have here and ask any questions that your not sure about. Folks will drop in and give there opinions sure enough.
I'm not big into plasma but the basic principle is just same has router based machine just you can get away with lighter weight machine and gantry. Other than the Plasma side like torch height control then the electronics are just the same. The main difference is you MUST NOT try cutting corners here has Plasma produces lots of electrical noise which will quickly drive you BONKERS with strange happenings.

Best advise is go trawl some of the other builds for a design, ask loads of questions no matter how dumb you think they may be and Most important DONT BUY ANY electrics until your sure they are correct for your needs.

Good luck.

[njhussey]

Hi seashaw,

Firstly welcome to the forum, there are some very knowledgeable guys who I'm sure will be along in a bit to offer you some advice.

I've got a TB6560 board as I started off doing my build as cheaply (look through my build thread to see how it's changed...they all mostly do!) as I could. It's now sitting gathering dust as I'm not going to use it as I realised that it would severely limit any machine I wanted to build. You can only run them at 24V (otherwise the chips blow) and as voltage means speed they're going to be slow...

If you tell us what your budget is and what size cutting area you want then the help will be more forthcoming, if you've any initial sketches then that would be even better!!

[seashaw]

Thank you for all the replys!.
I will start a build log tonight, i have a few drawings that i have done in sketch up as well as pictures i have taken.