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CNC plasma cutter build

ShawnR said:
Wait, what? What do you mean you did not want HF start? Why? How will your machine start the cuts? Sorry if it is in this thread. I did not read all posts but will go look. Are you coding in a dip of the torch to start the arc?

I started looking at Fusion a couple months back because of a thread here. But then my first lesson with Lars went south when he kept referring to a word that was not in my version. After a half hour, a google search revealed that the word was changed. I was already frustrated. I am now trying to learn Free Cad but I am thinking my brain refuses to learn CAD. We will see. I think 2 dimension will be a good start. I can manage that, maybe, I hope...:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
My cutter uses something called 'blowback' to start the arc.
Dr D-Flo has a useful page on plasma cutters which is how I found the Sungoldpower unit
https://www.drdflo.com/pages/Guides/Plasma-Cutters-For-CNC.html

My understanding is that HF causes electrical interference with the controllers and such.
 
[QUOTE="

I started looking at Fusion a couple months back because of a thread here. But then my first lesson with Lars went south when he kept referring to a word that was not in my version. After a half hour, a google search revealed that the word was changed. I was already frustrated. I am now trying to learn Free Cad but I am thinking my brain refuses to learn CAD. We will see. I think 2 dimension will be a good start. I can manage that, maybe, I hope...:rolleyes:[/QUOTE]

Thats one of the problem with Lar‘s videos. The Fusion menu system has changed quite a bit from his first videos. It may be the same with free cad.
 
I struggled with Lars' videos as well. I need to get to real basics and found a site called Desktop Makes. It's focused on designing for 3D printing but it gave me a pretty good grounding in some basics.
Vlad does a good job in his intro series. It was enough to get me going.
 
Thanks @David_R8 . I will take another look.

As for the plasma unit, did you order from the states? I can only find hi freq units in canada or on Amazon. I should clarify, the unit you bought is available on amazon.ca for 1300ish dollars..(400% markup?) . Did you buy from Sungold? I have emailed Sungold power to see if they have a Can distributor.
 
ShawnR said:
Thanks @David_R8 . I will take another look.

As for the plasma unit, did you order from the states? I can only find hi freq units in canada or on Amazon. I should clarify, the unit you bought is available on amazon.ca for 1300ish dollars..(400% markup?) . Did you buy from Sungold? I have emailed Sungold power to see if they have a Can distributor.
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I bought from Sungoldpower directly.
It's been my experience that once exchange and duty are taken into consideration there isn't a lot of price difference between the US and Canada on most items.
Amazon is well... Amazon. No way would I pay that much.
 
@David_R8 I can't find any options in Canada that I like so will most likely order the same Plasma unit as you. Have you used it yet as a general plasma cutter? Do you like it? A lot of machines are labelled as CNC friendly or compatible but often still seem to use Hi frequency. The Sungoldpower is the only one I find that seems to have the lo frequency
 
ShawnR said:
@David_R8 I can't find any options in Canada that I like so will most likely order the same Plasma unit as you. Have you used it yet as a general plasma cutter? Do you like it? A lot of machines are labelled as CNC friendly or compatible but often still seem to use Hi frequency. The Sungoldpower is the only one I find that seems to have the lo frequency
Click to expand...
I have used it and it seems to work just fine. Have only cut up to 1/4 but it cut that like butter.
I need to get an air drier in my compressor setup though as I understand that consumables last longer with clean dry air.
 
I have emailed them a couple of times. Waiting to hear back. Seems a bit of a lag. Holiday in the USA? :rolleyes: ;)
 
I was looking through some old bookmarks and found this it’s a wire edm machine he made and apparently has the plans but the rail system would work great for this application.

7DBC9DA4-5169-4F8B-B2F0-014F341C5DF3.jpeg
 
Sungold was out of stock on the 50L but had a 60L so it is ordered. I have plasma cutting jobs lined up anyways so even if I do not go all the way into CNC, no loss. Their website is a little confusing. All descriptions say high frequency but in the short description beside the machine, it says low frequency on only the L series. Makes sense, I guess......I hope....
 
More progress today.
Built the rails.
Lots of drilling, countersinking and tapping. Ten fasteners in each rail.
676700afbf6cdf8572182c0e9c528e25.jpg

4531a09e9f0fea5d75e6eea248624fcc.jpg
 
Lots of learning today too.
On the bottom rail I miscalculated the width of the flat part of the v-rail and drilled the holes in the flat stock too far inboard which meant the holes were to close to edge of the v-rail. All ten of the holes... :(
And I thought I could accurately transfer the hole locations from the flat stock to the v-rails. Not so much...Doh!
For the second rail I carefully measured the width of the v-rail in decimal inches, divided that figure in half and then scribed marks for the hole locations. I also clamped the flat stock and v-rail together to drill the holes.
 
Looking good what is the weight of the top sliding arm? I’m just wondering what the weight would be fully extended.
 
Well that’s not much I was expecting a few pounds at least. How does the rigidity look any noticeable flex?
 
If I bear down it will flex but there’s very little weight on it in use.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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