CNC Plasma Table from DD 350 Cummins 6.7/twins/6R140 Thread

So it looks like I am building a CNC plasma cutter.

I'm modelling mine after this one, though some of the details are going to be different.



The thing I like best about it is the cantilever design which will allow me to cut parts from sheets that wouldn't fit on a typical gantry design. Of course there are tradeoffs to doing that, but I think they are liveable.

So I'm now neck deep in selecting linear guides, servo motors, rack and pinion drives and other fun things.

I'm hoping I can build it for $1500. Sounds like a lot, but it wouldn't take much to spend that getting parts cut for several upcoming projects and I've probably spent $500 getting various parts cut the last few years.

And once I get it, I'll also probably be cutting parts for my friends in return for favors and trades.

I don't think it will take long to pay for itself, especially when I buy nice plate from a local metal recycler for 30 cents a pound for clean steel and $1 per pound for clean SS and aluminum.

I've been wanting a CNC plasma cutter for a very long time. Its just a shame I have to practically stop working on my swap while I put this one together.

I'm aiming for a cutting capacity, size wise, of 2 feet x 3 feet. That is more than enough to cut the bellhousing plate for the 6R140, as well as the largest pieces I am going to need for my air ride 5th wheel hitch. A good air ride 5th wheel hitch sells for over $3K and I figure I can build one in my spare time this winter for a cost of 30 cents a pound plus some air bags, bushings and misc hardware, most of which I already have.

I bought my plasma cutter this spring with a CNC cutting table in mind. Its an 80 amp Everlast Power Plasma with a built in CNC port. I think it cost $1200 with shipping. That is a bit more than a typical Chinese plasma unit, but the quality on their stuff has been very good. Needless to say, you can't buy a red or blue 80A plasma for that price.

I'm pretty pumped thinking about all the parts that I am going to be able to make with the CNC cutting table when its done. If you google around you'll find an incredible assortment of things, especially decorative, that people make with these things.

One of the things I'm really pumped about is how much less drilling I am going to have in my future. Seems I am always making brackets and drilling holes. These CNC cutters are great at cutting pretty decent holes, quite quickly. If you need really precise holes, you can ream them or drill them conventionally. This cutter is going to save me a TON of time building things.

Its totally off topic, but I'll document a bit of the CNC plasma table build if people are interested.

CNC plasma cutting table porn.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=854722

Warning: not safe for viewing if you don't want to waste (? !!!) a few hours.

I'm working on a plasma pantograph that is a gantry style that I can convert to cnc and expand easier. I am going to set mine up to use the hand torch since the machine torch for my miller 625 is $1100. I figure I'll have $300 in material and would cost me about a grand to go cnc with ball screws. I need to get rolling on the rear air on the super duty, but everything around me has decided to break so I can't ever get out from all that.

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http://www.everlastgenerators.com/forums/showthread.php/1842-Plasma-Cutter-Pantograph

This is the one I am thinking about. The cantilever is nice but the one i'm looking into is simpler to get the accuracy out of it. I'm going to build mine to handle a four foot sheet between it and four foot long for now and I can expand it to eight if needed. I could setup next to my welding bench and use it for the scribe side. I draw the parts i'm auto cad and laser print, then acetone transfer to the bench then trace with stylus to cut. Im spending my money on some horse stuff right now instead of this!

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Jake said:

http://www.everlastgenerators.com/forums/showthread.php/1842-Plasma-Cutter-Pantograph

This is the one I am thinking about. The cantilever is nice but the one i'm looking into is simpler to get the accuracy out of it. I'm going to build mine to handle a four foot sheet between it and four foot long for now and I can expand it to eight if needed. I could setup next to my welding bench and use it for the scribe side. I draw the parts i'm auto cad and laser print, then acetone transfer to the bench then trace with stylus to cut. Im spending my money on some horse stuff right now instead of this!

Click to expand...

What you are wanting to do is WAY better than hand holding the torch. I considered doing something similar.

To get the most out of it, you'll need to use some good guides. Probably CNC quality guides. If you look at Charlie's setup on Youtube, he is using some nice round linear guides.

So basically, it comes down to hand moving the torch and making patterns or generating the patterns in CAD and having stepper motors move the torch.

For me, the patterns would drive me nuts. They would be as much work to make as the part, nearly so.

Yes, you can cut nice straight lines with a wood saw and sand various shapes, but how do you place one hole at (X3.075, Y-2.678) and another at some other funny co ordinate, which is how the numbers come out some times, especially when you work on a project with both metric and imperial parts. I'd be back to hand laying out parts and once I do that, I actually prefer to work in metal over wood.

I'm actually going to do the reverse of tracing patterns. I'm going to make my table heavy enough that it can do some light routing and then I can make a proof from light wood or plastic from time to time. Something like that would be extremely handy for getting all the bugs out of the transmission adapter plates, for example.

Don't get too caught up in the cost numbers outlined in that article. You need the plasma cutter and air compressor either way. Your tracing system will need good guides. You can live without torch head control. You can cut without a water table, but once you can cut parts, its easy to add the water trough.

What most of the commercial CNC plasma table companies are selling is the benefit of the PACKAGE and most of the "package" is the software they tout.

CNC software is an interesting area these days.

I plan to run the table with GRBL on an Arduino processor. I'm not sure if I'll use the Arduino servo driver shield or if I'll use Geckos are something similar. In any event, the stepper driver electronics is not terribly expensive. FYI, GRBL was invented by a guy running a laser CNC table who was frustrated with the controller he was using. I think there is a lesson there.

I CAD my parts no matter how I build them, mostly because I can't build intricate parts from thoughts in my mind (at least the first try) and if I am going to make a paper drawing, I might as well make a CAD one because after the first paper draft, CAD is faster.

So with GRCL and Arduino running the table, all I need is a piece of CAM software to convert the DXF files to GCode. I used to and still do that by hand (!), but I think I am going to automate that in the near future. There are a number of free and low cost packages out there to help.

Will my process do everything that MasterCAM does ? Nope. Do I need it to ? No. Right now I just need to make a few engine parts. When I need more than that, I'll upgrade.

I just spent $450 on eBay buying the X and Y linear rails and a Z axis stage (rails, platform and screw) to mount the torch (and router) to.

Ironically, I recieved this moments later.



Looks like I'll pay for the rails on the first job, minus $20 for SS material and the cost of my time.

Note the cost even in mild steel and note that the cost for two pieces is double the cost for one. Apparently once you set the machine up, it takes just as long to cut the second one as the first. This from an ISO certified company. And look at the minimum order. The economy must be picking up !

3 years ago they would have cut this piece for $50 in mild steel. They had a $75 minimum then and they would cut me 6 to 10 pieces of 1 part for that. I honestly thought I would get 2 pieces of the manifold part in mild steel for $75 before this experience.

It appears the payback on my CNC cutter is going to be about 5 parts, 3 if you count the 6R140 transmission adapter.

"If you think the tool is expensive, try hiring someone to do the whole job."

The cnc companies are charging mostly from machine time plus setup. The guys that I was having do waterjet stuff for me when they would put the drawings in flow it would tell them what to charge for each piece. They always cut me a deal, quite a few times they let me run the machine when they were busy. I was scared to hell running it though since a nozzle collision meant a new $700 nozzle, but the company got sold and the new guy got rid of the waterjet and there parent company does the cutting now. I have been looking at options on the guides. I still think for now I am going to do the angle aluminum on angle aluminum since I have the material and the extruded aluminum is very true. I was looking at the Gecko cnc parts, and ball screws, I always draw all my parts in cad now so I can make full 3d models. There have been some things that I have sent to the 3D printer which is cool. Like you said about having to pierce holes at certain coordinates I print with my laser printer onto acetate paper, super glossy photo paper, or parchment paper then mist the piece you want the pattern on with acetone. then lay the paper printed side down squeege with fiberglassing or bondo squeege and peel the paper back. Your pattern is on the material you want it on, I do very intricate patterns this way and very accurately, this will just have to work till i get some other stuff out of the way to go CNC.

I have been thinking of some other ways to build the guides but for now this will work, some trick guides will be made later....

Whatever you do buy a quality plasma cutter. Like a Hypertherm or Thermaldynamics. I'm partial to miller welders. I have them all in my fab shop. Like them better than all the rest. I had one of those everlast welders...there imported junk. You get what you pay for. We had one at work and it didnt last near as long as a comparable blue or red brand.

I run all blue gear, the spectrum 625 plasma has been great to me.

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I would like to hear about the plasma table you will he building. I have wanted one for some time now and have thought about building one myself.

I don't want to turn this into a welder thread/debate, so I'll state what I know and lets leave it at that.

I have 3 Everlast machines, all purchased this spring.



From left to right, a Power Pro 256, a Power Plasma 80 and a Power Arc 300.

The Power Pro 256 is on loan. It will be exchanged for a PowerTIG 250EX. I got the PP256 because they were out of stock on the 250EX and I badly needed a machine.

I've welded with Miller for about 20 years. My DIalArc 250 was 20 years old (1991). http://www.millerwelds.com/products/stick/dialarc_250_ac_dc/

I have absolutely nothing bad to say about any of the Everlast machines. They've all worked flawlessly and the AC stick quality on the PP256 is nothing short of awesome. Miller says the DialArc has superior 7018 performance, but the PP256 rocks 7018s compared to it. I could not believe how well it handles 7018s. I usually hate welding 7018s, but I don't mind at all with the PP256. I haven't tried the PA300 with 7018s yet.

The only minor things I have to say about any of them is that the torches could be better quality and the PArc 300 seems to be just a little hot/aggressive. Maybe I just need to get used to it and maybe my DialArc 250 was sluggish. You certainly don't have to worry about rods extinguishing with it !

I was going to keep my DialArc 250, but it was such a big, heavy beast and someone offered me $800 for it, so I let it go. I've always wanted a good, heavy duty stick machine so I got the PArc 300.

The PowerArc sells for about $600. A similar Miller sells for $2600. The PA300 doesn't come with a pedal, but I think I am going to add one and a gas solenoid for scratch start TIG work with it.
http://www.millerwelds.com/products/stick/cst-280/

The Miller only goes to 200A @50% duty cycle on single phase power. The PA300 goes to 300A @60 duty cycle on single phase power. I've never needed 300A, but I don't like using welders at the edge of their capabilities.

I've needed a plasma for a long time. I got the 80A model because it was the biggest that I could run from the service in my garage (50A) and you need as much duty cycle and power as possible when running a plasma on a CNC table or cutting aluminum.

I've been dying for a TIG for a long time. I used to do some oxy acetelyne welding so I know the principles, but this was my first try at TIG. So far I love the PP 256 for TIG. I can't believe how easy it is to weld aluminum on AC when you have adjustable frequency and balance. Its crazy that I didn't get one of these a long time ago.

Here are some welds I've made with the Everlast machines. I'm totally self taught and these are my first TIG welds. I was playing around with settings when I did them, thus some are fat and some are thin, etc. If you look closely you can see wider and narrower "cleaning bands" around the welds. I was adjusting gas flow and AC balance there.





I have no affiliation with anyone selling welders.

Vader's Fury said:

I would like to hear about the plasma table you will he building. I have wanted one for some time now and have thought about building one myself.

Click to expand...

OK. I'll write a bit as I go.

Jake said:

I run all blue gear, the spectrum 625 plasma has been great to me.

Click to expand...

The 625 is rated at 50% duty cycle at 40A, versus 80A @60% for the PP80. The PA80 is 100% duty cycle at 63A. And the PP80 has a post flow timer to help tip life and it has a CNC interface port. Though it is a high frequency start machine, so it will take a bit of work to get it going with the CNC table.

People say to take the rated cutting thickness and divide by 2 for CNC table use. Because the duty cycle on a table is high and there is lots of piercing and people generally want to cut fast.

An 80A machine will probably cut 1" steel fairly well. Thus its good for use on 1/2" steel on a CNC table.

One thing about the Everlast machines is that the fans on them howl. They seem to move a lot of air too. My Dialarc was the same way. It had a HUGE noisy fan. I'll take fan noise over a machine shutting down on duty cycle any day.

I tell it like it is. If any of these machines give me trouble, I'll report it in full detail.

CNC Plasma Cutter Stuff

My apologies to people subscribed that don't want to read about this. I am going to be very brief on this topic.

As I said previously, I'm building a cantilever design, loosely based on this.



I'm doing this for a few reasons.

1) Be able to cut from/onoversized sheets and not have to slice them down to size the way I would on a typical gantry design.

2) I'm probably going to make the Y axis arm flip up out of the way when its in storage, so it doesn't take up as much room.

3) I'm probably going to make the table separate from the cutter, for flexibility. I suspect that the CNC cutter part will weigh less than 75 pounds. In some cases I might be taking the cutter to the material (steel) rather than putting the material under the cutter.

If it doesn't work out, I'll change it to be a gantry design, using the same parts.

I decided to buy all the guides for my cutter rather than make them.

The X axis is going to have the most stress on it, because of the overhanging nature and thus I bought the heaviest guids for it.

I bought these for $150.



They are 48 inches long. The saddle that travels on the X axis is going to be about 12" wide, so that will leave about 36 inches of X axis travel.

The Y axis arm is going to be a piece of 2x3 aluminum that I already have. I'm using aluminum because I want it to be light to lessen the overhang burden on the X axis saddle and rails.

I bought these for $175.



They are 37 inches long. The saddle on this axis will be about 6 inches and thus I'll have 30+ inches of travel. I want over 30 inches becuase some sheet steel is sold in 5x10' sheets and half of 5' is 30 inches.

I am going with a moveable torch head off the bat, for better piecing and because I'll probably put a small router on it someday.

I bought this for $125.



90mm of travel, set up to accept a NEMA 23 stepper motor. Plug and play.

I'll document the rest of the components as I buy them and explain things as I put it together.

It might be a good idea to make a new thread with the plasma table stuff so the two projects don't get too crazy in one thread. I can help move posts around if need be.

Hotrodtractor said:

It might be a good idea to make a new thread with the plasma table stuff so the two projects don't get too crazy in one thread. I can help move posts around if need be.

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Good idea, though I don't plan to post much. But you know how that goes.

By all means, move them.

I wont get into a pissing match over welders as everybody has there own oppionion I'm just stating what I know. We have toyed with the idea of using them but for us it didnt make sense. Cheaper yes, but there are other attributes that we did not like. They perfomed well along side of the millers but they didnt last near as long.

I've been working on the CNC plasma table project, off and on.

The biggest part of the system, aside from fabricating the table itself, is the controller to runs the steppers. Not the stepper drivers, but the software that takes GCode and turns it into motion commands for the stepper motor drivers.

I'm investigating different CNC controllers. Its been a steep learning curve and its taken a lot of time. I've been up late a couple nights just reading. I think I have a solution though.

I'll post more as I go along.

All the parts are ordered.

Here is the parts list.

The X, Y and Z axis guides as listed in a previous post. $450

2x NEMA 23 stepper motors, 570 Oz in, for X and Y axis $110

2x NEMA 23 stepper motors, 355 Oz in, for Y and Z axis. Don't know which one I'll use for the Y axis yet. Want to keep weight down on the cantilevered arm. $78

1x Gecko G540 4 axis stepper driver. 3.5A, 50 Volt $250

1x Toroidal power supply, 48V, 13.5A $140

2x NEMA 23 belt drive pinions $180

2x 4 foot racks $90

1x wireless USB pendant $125

2x cable chains $70

Total $1493, plus shipping charges.

Not included in the parts list is the NC controller and a PC and miscellaneous wires, hardware, limit switches, etc.

The stepper driver (Gecko 540) is more than I need, ie 4 axi instead of 3. I might add a 4th axis for cutting pipe in a chuck or something like that.

I also purchased one extra NEMA23 stepper motor. That is in case I convert it to a gantry at some point. Ditto on the extra axis on the G540.

I am probably going to use GRBL as my NC controller. The board for it is $35.

I feel as though the parts I am using are as good or better than most of the turnkey lower end CNC plasma tables. I thought about using servo motors, but couldn't justify them on such a small table. Most of the guides on lower end plasma tables are roller bearings on cold rolled steel. They can be troublesome. My motors are as large or larger than most entry level systems.

I think I should be able to put together a nice little plasma table with these parts. My target cutting size is still 2.5 feet x 3 feet.

I'll provide pictures and specs as I work with the parts.

Again, great info. I love seeing this stuff come together, and man would I love to have a CNC plasma table for myself!