[Apples]

I have a plasma table with a cut length of 3m(10foot). I want to cut aluminium to make some boats. The lengths of aluminium will be longer than the table can cut. I know that sheetcam does not have indexing. (Maybe this should be made into the program).

But what if I was to cut the first half of the sheet, then stop and push the sheet up , re zero/home the cutting torch and, some how restart the cut from where it ended.

Is this possible to do?

Peter
Australia

[DanOSB]

well my only suggstion i can think of eventho im not experienced on those stuff..
make one small hole on the middle part both sides and when u move it forward you can go back to same holes for indexing.. then weld up that hole after easy

i know sheet cam u can make the material size larger than the machine area.. so maybe there is a option....

[bennett71]

Peter, I have done that many times on large sheets. If the edge of your plate is straight, you could use stops to locate the long edge. Do you have room on the plate outside your cutting area? if so, you could cut a construction hole for a pin near your x axis limit. Near your start point you could fixture a plate on your machine with the same hole size & y axis location. After you cut the first half of the plate, you can move the plate up & line up the hole in the plate with the hole in the fixture using a pin. The critical number is knowing what the distance is from the center of your fixture hole to the center of the hole in the plate. You might also want to tab in the first half of your program to keep your part & the scrap together when you move it then break it out when you are done. Tom

[Unabiker]

Here's what I do to cut sheets that are larger than my router's cutting surface:
On a 10' table, I drill holes for 3 dowel pins into my spoil board. These holes would be located at x,y coorinates of (1",12"), (1",60"), and (1", 108"). Next, I place my sheet on the table with one end of the sheet aligned at one of my Y axis cutting limits. Then I do an operation to drill 3 holes in the sheet at the above coordinates. Pins go through the sheet and into the spoil board, and we cut our first half of the 20' sheet.
Once that is pass is done, I remove the pin at (1", 12".) The sheet is then moved 4' to align the (1",12") and (1",60") holes in the sheet to the (1",60") and (1", 108") pins on the spoil board. Drill a hole through the sheet at (1",12",) reset the pin, and cut the next 4' of the program.
You repeat this process until you have cut the entire 20' of material.
As others have mentioned, you will need to tab your parts to keep the whole mess together until the end.
Vary your pin locations as your parts dictate.