Hey,
Well my build has been going on for a few months now. I finally have the table in a place where I have been making test cuts! Woo hoo! Ive really not used my plasma much in the past year of having it so I just now destroyed my first electrode believe it or not. Needless to say I have a few days of down time until my new consumables come in...Perfect time to share some pics!
Anyway, about my build.... I decided to go with the plasmabot 3.0 kit. I ordered just about everything for the kit including the floating z-axis, dust covers and the spring attachment. I ended up using everything but the spring attachment...I really only think this is needed with a router setup, my motors seem to do fine lifting my plasma.
I got the steppers and motor controller from www.kelinginc.net. I ordered the 4 axis g540 package (381oz motors). I also picked up the aluminum controller box they sell. I also go the parallel and heavy duty serial cables from www.cncrouterparts.com. I completed the controller box first while waiting for my rails to arrive (which took two months btw). Here are a few pics of the controller box:
The only thing I thought was a bit tricky in the controller box was setting up the torch relay. At first I didn't realize you could use any voltage relay so I kept looking for 48V relays. I had a 5V DC 240V 30A solid state relay on hand and wanted to use it. I figured out that if you supplied it with its own power you could throw it with the controller quite easily. The power supply is a small 5V wall adapter removed from the case. You can see this on the first pic, left side.
I wanted to still use the hand torch from time to time so I just wired a plug into the case of the plasma cutter that would make the whole thing easy to disconnect from the table. Its a Miller 375 x-treme btw. I ended up just epoxying a plug on to the case.
My table is almost the same as what the plasmabot plans call for with the exception of a few things. First I used 2"x"1/8" tubes only on the legs, everywhere else I used 1.5"x1/8" tube. The second change I made was designing the table so that it could be taken apart for moving. The two sides, water tray/slats and bottom level all come apart.
The last design change I made was to the slat system. The plasmabot calls for a complicated interconnected slat design that has to be cut out from sheet each time they need to be replaced. I wanted to avoid this hassle so I just used 1.5"x1/8" flat stock with a slight curve in them. Every few inches a slot has been cut to allow the slats to sink into the tube. Now...this wasnt and ideal design as water can get into the tubing however I decided that I would be going more for cut quality so I may never fill the water that high anyway. We shal see how it works out...
I created the water table from a 44"x44" sheet of 1/8" steel. The sides were created from 1.5"x1/8" flat stock. The entire table is welded to the underside of the top section. I didnt worry about making the tray removable since the entire top section can be removed if needed.
I used a shaft collar to attach the torch to the z-axis. It is currently just tacked in. I made a few test cuts and the angle seems to be a bit off so once I get some new consumables I am going to cut it off and re-tack it or either think about making some kind of adjustable fixture for the torch so that I can easily align it.
Some of my todo's are to install a drain plug for the water table, paint, route cables, build a computer stand, etc.. Ill keep posting as I have more.