Rambozo must be tele-pathetically (intentional misspelling) connecting with my thought processes. :>) I know, I know it's telepathic. I love to tweak some words just to get a rise from people now and then. Anyway, I intend to get the plasma process working properly first then determine what I might want to expand into, like an air scribe for engraving and possibly a router, knowing the router would involve dealing with wood dust and such and require a vacuum attachment near the work area. Even then it would still not be a "clean" process, but could enhance and expand the artistic side of plasma cut products.
As for the CNC table I am narrowing the candidates down to a short list. I had been leaning toward a Precision Plasma Magnum II HD gantry kit until I discovered a fairly new gantry a company named Wolf Metal Fabrications located in Nebraska. This is a small business that's spent quite a lot of time in the metal fab industry and has come up with what I think is the most complete and heavy duty gantry kit that is still affordable (as gantry kits go). The 2 URLs below have a lot of good info about his products with the first being a longer read with more detail about what's been designed in and its capabilities and the second being shorter with more photos, videos and order links. It's a little more expensive that the Precision Plasma gantry but not by much and what the buyer gets, I think, makes for a better deal and a more complete and capable gantry.
http://www.wolfesmetalfabrication.co...antrylong.html
http://www.wolfesmetalfabrication.co...awolfcncgantry
For motion control of a DIY solution I'm pretty impressed with the complete package from CNC Routers .com. The package I've selected is very comparable to the PlazPak 1A from CandCNC and isn't as expensive, having NEMA 34 960 oz-in low inductance motors, Ethernet Smooth Stepper and come completely wired in a NEMA steel cabinet. Even with a 5th axis upgrade and cables to accommodate a 4x8 or even 5x10 table the price would be $2840 verses the close to $3500 for the comparable PlazPak. Yes, the PlazPak includes their torch height control but I can get as good or possibly better THC from Neuron.THC and still be less than CandCNC.
http://www.cncrouterparts.com/4-axis...tem-p-132.html
http://neuroncnc.com/products/lite
I've haven't completely decided against a turnkey solution, especially since receiving a new brochure from PlasmaCAM announcing a sale price of $7980 for a ready to use 4x4 PlasmaCAM table. I had discounted them before as being too expensive for what the buyer gets compared to a DIY solution like the Wolf Alpha, however, with the lower price being much closer to the build cost of comparable DIY builds it piqued my interest enough to contact them about this to see what you get and don't get.
Anyway, that's where I'm at now. I hope to finalize what I'm going to do very soon so I can start getting familiar with whatever system I get and start producing parts for myself and other stuff (metal art and possibly parts for others), eventually getting this to the point of becoming another source of income later on while having fun with it at the same time. I'll be back with more as this develops.
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