It seems like this will be fun, so I will try to keep track of my doings for those who are interested, and for that matter, those who aren't.
I started this about a month ago, but as this is one of those "free time" projects, it has not progressed as quickly as I would like. (When do they ever? )
I need to take some pictures and start a gallery here, so I will try to do that later. For now, I will just give a brief description of my goal and go from there.
I have been making receiver hitch covers for a couple of years now, relying on a relative to cut them out with his plasma cutter. He has one of those optical things that basically traces a printed pattern and cuts out the part. This is nice, and for low numbers is okay, but seems to require more babysitting that I really want.
So, I started looking at the price of manufactured systems. WOW!!! I guess I wasn't really surprised, but again, WOW!!! For what I am after, I don't need super accuracy. I am using an O/A torch, so I think that will be the limiting factor.
As a side note, my dad used to work for a company which manufactured and re-manufactured mining earth movers. Once he brought home a couple pieces of scrap 1" plate. The parts had been cut with a device similar to what my wife's uncle has, except using an O/A torch. I was very impressed with the quality of the cut. So I know the torch is capable of a clean cut. Which brings me to the real reason I started this project. I wanted to cut a straight line. That was it. That was the whole reason for this madness. Of course, it started as a straight line, then a straight line with a nice clean cut, then a nice straight line, with a clean cut, with the possibility of doing non-straight lines, and so on and so on.
Okay, time for a break. More later...
Dave