Plasma Table Build - Plasma Bot 4.0

[SeanMurphy265]

I'm in the process of uploading a video to youtube. I lowered the velocity and acceleration settings and that did the trick. I set the velocity to 100 and acceleration to 50. I have everything moving, but I have to set my soft limits, and check the steps per unit.

[SeanMurphy265]

[SeanMurphy265]

I'm getting closer to the end, I finished the machine torch mount, set the soft limits, and calibrated the steps per inch. I was hoping to cut something out today, but I ran out of time.

I picked up some shaft collars at my local Fastenal store to make the torch mount for the Z axis. I drilled and tapped two holes so I could have some adjustment from the torch. The torch is sitting level on all sides. The collars are way too heavy for what I am using them for, but they were local, cheap, and no shipping charges.








I'm going out of town tomorrow, but I am ready to see if it will cut! I've been doing some reading on sheet cam and MACH3. I'm getting better at MACH3, but there is a lot to learn!

[EmptyNester]

It looks like you've mounted the torch pretty high above the table surface. It seems to me that that is pretty common. Is there any particular reason for that?

I'm trying to figure out how high to make mine, but couldnt think of a reason that I'd need that much height. I've using the Z-axis from ShopDroids and I think that has about a 6" travel. So, it seems like I don't need a lot of height.

Am I missing something that I need to consider?

Thanks

[SeanMurphy265]

Where it is sitting in the picture above it's completely bottomed out on the table and all the way down. I'm still playing with sheet cam so I have not ran my own gcode yet (I have not had much time), but when I set the material thickness it should adjust the cut height. I also did not want the torch to go below the table surface. I'm not sure if I need the full 6" of travel, but if I need it I have it.

[SeanMurphy265]

I spent some time today trying to run some g-code. I used sheet cam to generate the g-code. running Mach 3
I get a line 0 error. How do you edit the line?

[Rambozo]

I spent some time today trying to run some g-code. I used sheet cam to generate the g-code. running Mach 3
I get a line 0 error. How do you edit the line?

Mach doesn't have an editor built in. You configure what text editor you want to use under General Config. You can use Notepad if you have nothing else. I like EditNC. They used to have a lite version, but I don't see it anymore. You might still find it on the net somewhere.

http://www.ebair.com/editnc.htm

I've never used Sheet CAM, but you probably have to set it up to use the right post for Mach and your machine.