Tig weld rack and pinion to cnc plasma frame?

[Clive S]

i'll be extending the gantry outpast the side of the machine so i can carve gas cylinders

Just for clarity do you mean carve or cut with plasma by rotating the cylinder?

[warwick]

Just for clarity do you mean carve or cut with plasma by rotating the cylinder?

very sorry...i would like to cut with the plasma.......................

[Clive S]

very sorry...i would like to cut with the plasma.......................

Well in that case I think it would be fine.

[JAZZCNC]

There's better way to do this than having wide gantry making for large foot print if only want to cut cylinders which are less than width of machine.?

Make the Top rails longer so gantry over hangs the end. I do this with routers so 4th axis can be added or Panels cut on there ends. IE: Hindges or Dovetails etc. Take less space and easy to do.

[warwick]

There's better way to do this than having wide gantry making for large foot print if only want to cut cylinders which are less than width of machine.?

Make the Top rails longer so gantry over hangs the end. I do this with routers so 4th axis can be added or Panels cut on there ends. IE: Hindges or Dovetails etc. Take less space and easy to do.

that was my initial thinking,but the y axis is 3m long and the longest rails i could find were the 16mm supported rail that are 3.2m ...i have 2m of r&p spare and some long lengths supported rail so i figured the only option was to side mount.....i would like to be able to get the x axis gantry completely out of the way so i can load an 8x4 sheets on my own with out to much worry of damage to the machine......the size of the machine and space isnt an issue where we are for now......id like to have an engraver along side the plasma torch so i can scribe parts for folding and numbering etc.is this going to be possible???

[JAZZCNC]

Marking and scribing etc will be no problem provided you have enough resolution. What kind of ratio and pinion size are you thinking to use.

[warwick]

Marking and scribing etc will be no problem provided you have enough resolution. What kind of ratio and pinion size are you thinking to use.

think the pinions are 20t and was hoping to use a 60t for 3/1 gearing....as for resolution i havent a clue as of yet..have just been taking advice from a very nice fella locally and building it in stages..right at the start of my craving for cnc i was totally over whelmed so now im just doing stages and moving to the next part of the build....