New member about to get his feet wet

[linskill]

Hi Chaps,
I am a semi retired marine grease monkey who makes ends meet by doing the odd agri repair.
I have been considering a plasma table for a while now but I really cant justify £10K plus for a turn key unit so the idea is to build one, besides that the information on this site is excellent and I will enjoy doing it.
Initially I was thinking along the lines of a full sized table (as I have the space) but to be honest a 1250 x 1250 will do everything I will require.
Now, before I go and do a man thing and try to re-invent the wheel and design my own (we always know better) can anyone recommend a certain type or a good set of plans (I dont mind paying for a good set).
I know I am going to have to upgrade my trusty 9 year old Ching Chong Cut50 with a newer machine, I am restricted a bit by the lack of three phase, bearing in mind I need to cut 12mm+ anyone got any suggestions?

[Davek0974]

Hi

I am in the middle of building a 1250 table, no plans, just a bit of cad and sketches ;)

I would look at Hypertherm for the plasma source, I tried others and had nothing but troubles. I have a PowerMax 45 now and that will do 1/2" ok

There's a lot of good help on the 'net.

[T0rnado69]

take a read of all the build threads.
a lot of good info on there.....

is the powermax 45 single phase or 3 phase.

cheers.

[linskill]

Thanks chaps, My problem is the lack of 3 phase (last quote 30k+ to install it) I don't think the Powermax 45 is big enough to cover all my needs (wants). I am thinking along the lines of the Tec Arc OptiCut 95 which comes as single phase and they quote some impressive cutting capacities. Does anyone know anything about them ?

[Boyan Silyavski]

Thanks chaps, My problem is the lack of 3 phase (last quote 30k+ to install it) I don't think the Powermax 45 is big enough to cover all my needs (wants). I am thinking along the lines of the Tec Arc OptiCut 95 which comes as single phase and they quote some impressive cutting capacities. Does anyone know anything about them ?

Are you sure you want that exact machine? I have never heard of it but its 3 phase definetely, come on- its 90A machine.

Hypertherm and Thermal Dynamics / Victo, Esab/ are the ones that could deliver thickest cut on 1 phase. For thicker than 12mm i will definitely not experiment with other machines

PS. Ok i see i was wrong they say run on 1 phase on their web site, claiming to be the only one. Which is not the case as their cutter is similar to Powermax85 which also could run on 1 phase if i am not mistaken.

[Robin Hewitt]

I heard that Hypertherm was the bees knees on that American CNC site, but it is a lot cheaper over there. Is one torch for all thicknesses the problem with the cheaper cutters. Maybe a low power fine jet torch for thin sheet and something altogether fatter for plate is the missing ingredient?

[linskill]

Are you sure you want that exact machine? I

At the moment I am not sure of anything - more research needed.
As I said earlier I do a lot of agri repairs, some of the material is quite heavy and to be able to quickly cut a replacement part would be a real bonus. Today's job was a good example, a buck rake came in with a damaged Merlo Hitch (30mm plate, How it got so bent I will probably never know) but that meant a 50mile round trip to get a new one.
The only thing I know for sure is that if I am going to shell out the necessary to build a CNC table scrimping on the cutter is probably false economy and being a male of the species I want the biggest I can get on single phase.