[jeepsterjc]

Did you drill and tap your motors to accept the socket head bolts like you have shown in one of the photos above? I see the socket head bolt go in from the backing plate and it sure is sweet that way. I'm having minor bolt and belt interferences and would love to turn the bolt around.

Yes, I did. I didn't need to drill my motors. I just tapped them.

[ron83]

The long awaited for IVTAAS and G in good shape after a cross-continent delivery.

Jim,
Great build and pictures, have a question for you. Where did you get the IVTAAS from. I need 2 -6 foot pieces to finish my table and only local place that can order it (motion industries) wants around 7 bills and the price I have seen people pay is around .09 per mm or should be around 300.00. also if you wouldn't mind what did you pay? and if you didn't here PB is discontinuing it so if you need more better get it ordered.

[jeepsterjc]

The long awaited for IVTAAS and G in good shape after a cross-continent delivery.

Jim,
Great build and pictures, have a question for you. Where did you get the IVTAAS from. I need 2 -6 foot pieces to finish my table and only local place that can order it (motion industries) wants around 7 bills and the price I have seen people pay is around .09 per mm or should be around 300.00. also if you wouldn't mind what did you pay? and if you didn't here PB is discontinuing it so if you need more better get it ordered.

Hi there. I bought the S and G from:

From name : SPOKANE
From company: Kaman Industrial Technologies
From fax# : (509) 535-8379
From voice# : (509) 535-1611

I know the S is no longer available... I hope I don't drop anything heavy on the S's v-rail and damage it... It'd be a pain to re-design the long axis, but way easier than building an entire new table!

[Nacs Fab]

What size magnets and how many did you use for your brakeaway torch? I am getting ready to build mine. Where they Neo magnets?

[jeepsterjc]

What size magnets and how many did you use for your brakeaway torch? I am getting ready to build mine. Where they Neo magnets?

I used 4 round 1/2 x 1/2. They really hold well. Bought them off of ebay. Don't get them too hot. Mine came with a warning and it doesn't take too much heat for them to lose their massive magnetism.

[jeepsterjc]

I've posted this on the hypertherm list but maybe someone here knows if I've got troubles...

Do I need to re-position my machine torch mounting clamps?


Thanks for looking.

[jeepsterjc]

July has been a time consuming month. I had an intermitent bad connection with the dthc machine interface plug. Several of the pins were pushing back out of the dthc module plug and were flakey at best in maintaining a connection. It resulted in not sending an Arc OK signal back to the Bladerunner that had me turning in circles for a couple of weeks.

Then, I had a front panel torch wand plug refuse to start arcs... I finally pulled the machine torch wand plug out in total frustration, plugged in the hand torch and voila- perfect starter arc. Plug the machine torch back in and finally total success.

The local Hypertherm Rep has asked me to report this for future warranty work.

I've built a small water table to use inside of my giant table. I don't know if I want to make the large one use a reservoir and wanted to think about it. Now, I think I'll use a holding tank... Having decided that I can continue with finishing the table. I'm glad that I have mounted the dragoncut Bladerunner on a separate station.

I'm having zero troubles with grounds,noise and power delivery with my really long cable run. My machine torch cable is 25 feet long. The table/motor/home/limit runs are about 8 feet longer yet.

I still haven't fount a female or male plug that I could use to disconnect the table from the control station, but it isn't vital for the time being.

I'm just beginning to draw up the new Z air-scribe mount and am excited to get it in place beside the torch.

Here is a pic showing my set up:


I'm picking up $1100 in steel tomorrow for the slats and slat holder frame. I also am picking up a 4x10 sheet of 11 gauge, a 4x10 sheet of 3/16, a bunch of flat stock and angle.

This is how the system is cutting. My accel is only at 20 in/min/min and will stay there until I have time to grind flats onto the shaft stock that my pulleys for the geared reduction run on...





This is a speed test on 1/8 crs. The cuts run from 140 in/min down to 100 in/min. The exterior cut was run at 120 in/min. I only used a wire wheel to clean up the dross- no grinders. I'm happy with the result. Things improved dramatically after I cleaned the electrode and replaced a melted cone from previously trying to use THC... I can't figure out that tip saver either!

[jeepsterjc]

I have the three pneumatic lines run for the air-scribe and Baking Soda mixed into the smaller water table. I have found that the steel grating I have for it is too irregular, that the torch cuts right through, in places and that it is too difficult to get flat stock to lay flat so I'm making a real slat setup for it.

You can also see my magnetic torch holder V2.0... It has the collars supporting the torch by the composite sleeve.



I also had my 30 year old bench grinder quit and stumbled upon a sweet light duty long necked drill press that found its way into the truck box.

Does anyone know about Ford 6.4 diesel engines? We may be buying an 08 4x4 F350 crew cab longbox for my wife's daily driver. It has 124,000 miles and was a contractor's private work truck. Clean on the inside, and scratched up on the outside. Maybe he worked in the forest industry.

[Nacs Fab]

I finally got my 68 holes drilled and tapped and squared up the rails, then sat my gantry on top and found PBC must have cut the end crooked. I have worked on it for a weekend, just trying to square it up, might have to take it to a machinist to have it done.

Did you have any problems with their rail?

[thefu]

im actually looking forward to doing my next plasma table now that i have a REAL cnc mill in my shop to drill holes for the rails.

[jeepsterjc]

I finally got my 68 holes drilled and tapped and squared up the rails, then sat my gantry on top and found PBC must have cut the end crooked. I have worked on it for a weekend, just trying to square it up, might have to take it to a machinist to have it done.

Did you have any problems with their rail?

Yes. I just used a file to true up a burr. I used my chop saw for the final length and got it real close. I cut through the hardened steel Vs first minus 1/16th, then cut the entire aluminum gantry to length. The chop saw cut was as good as the PBC cut. Just go slow. I've read that other who had v-groove/wheel alignment troubles had them go away after the gantry got loaded up with equipment. The v-wheels will sit down much better with a little weight on them.

I wouldn't be happy letting the v-wheels get forced into position because you will wind up twisting, somehow, the IVTAAG for sure.

Just leave a little room for filing and you'll be fine.

[jeepsterjc]

im actually looking forward to doing my next plasma table now that i have a REAL cnc mill in my shop to drill holes for the rails.

Cool! Nice! I really didn't look forward to drilling them all, but it wasn't too bad at all. Cutting fluid really helped. My rails are 1/4" but even so, I used 2 bits. I would have only needed one, but I broke the first 2/3 through the 68 holes... I was tired and lost my "calibrated perch" just as the bit snagged on the last rev before cutting through.

[Nacs Fab]

I actually went ahead and bolted the motors on and it aligned just fine, I think I'm going to roll with it.

Let me ask a few questions though since we have similar machines in various states of build. I look to you as my inspiration as I want this machine running soon.

When aligning the gantry, do you hand ajust your A-axis and Y-axis motors to square up the machine, then the motor rotational resistance will keep it straight when not energized. I would assume they will stay straight from that point on. Meaning, my gantry and rails are perfectly aligned, but you can actually move one motor at a time and misalign it, does your setup do this and is it common for all with this type of gantry and rails?

I noticed a few things that you did differently than the BOM - what length of threaded dowels did you use on your gear reduction plates? Also, did you find you needed longer tension springs for the motors? The black spring in your pic, not the red ones.

Lastly, could I have you snap a few photos of your IGUS chain mounting and channels in both axis'?

Thanks so much for the help!

[jeepsterjc]

I actually went ahead and bolted the motors on and it aligned just fine, I think I'm going to roll with it.

Let me ask a few questions though since we have similar machines in various states of build. I look to you as my inspiration as I want this machine running soon.

When aligning the gantry, do you hand ajust your A-axis and Y-axis motors to square up the machine, then the motor rotational resistance will keep it straight when not energized. I would assume they will stay straight from that point on. Meaning, my gantry and rails are perfectly aligned, but you can actually move one motor at a time and misalign it, does your setup do this and is it common for all with this type of gantry and rails?

I noticed a few things that you did differently than the BOM - what length of threaded dowels did you use on your gear reduction plates? Also, did you find you needed longer tension springs for the motors? The black spring in your pic, not the red ones.

Lastly, could I have you snap a few photos of your IGUS chain mounting and channels in both axis'?

Thanks so much for the help!

If the gantry is sitting square on the ivtaaS with the v-groove wheels loaded- not spinning free in the air- you're good to go. The ivtaag must be square.

The A and Y sides are free to roam. There is no feed-back from the motors to inform the computer/electronics that they are where they are supposed to be. I used to re-home my gantry before each cut to ensure the gantry was square. More recently, as I've learned that the motors don't skip steps, I just begin my cuts where I have the material placed. I haven't homed the gantry for weeks. If I moved a motor on the rack manually I would re-home everything to square things back up.

Yes, the black springs are a good stretch. I used the ones listed in the BOM.

I bought threaded dowels 1/4 longer I think. I have a "thrust" bearing as a spacer between the large gear and a side plate. I just dug around in my bin for something appropriate.

I'll shoot some pics tonight for you.

[Nacs Fab]

That takes a big load off my mind about the gantry info. Thank you!

I am going to get up and running and may get rid of the washers in the reduction plates after. Nothing wrong with the design, I just wanted it to look cleaner like yours.

Going to get my motors plugged in tonight and fire it up! :wee:

[jeepsterjc]

That takes a big load off my mind about the gantry info. Thank you!

I am going to get up and running and may get rid of the washers in the reduction plates after. Nothing wrong with the design, I just wanted it to look cleaner like yours.

Going to get my motors plugged in tonight and fire it up! :wee:

Be sure to slave y and a and get the motor tuning IDENTICAL for both! Ask me how I know...

I took too many pics and here they all are for you. I hope they help. I built all of the homes to be full adjustable- both switches and stops- so that the micros don't get crushed. I built all of the brackets out of scraps so they don't look too great... I had planned to make new ones and bling the table out with cooler new ones, but these work just fine and I've got too many other things to do now.



You can see in the picture above the y cable guide extends outward enough to protect the cables from being crushed by moving the table too close to a wall or by soe other unlucky happening. I have a pic of a bumper on the right corner that keeps the table/motor off of the wall and also, if the gantry is pulled all of the way back to zero and the torch/airscribe hang outside of the table, the stops/homes will halt the motion before they crush into a wall.









I hope these help. Have fun!

[Nacs Fab]

Thanks a Ton!

[jeepsterjc]

Thanks a Ton!

You're welcome. I've pm'ed you, Neil, but the darn message is gone from my "Sent Messages" box. My cnczone mail seems to be acting up. I hope you get it. Let me know if you need any more info.

[jeepsterjc]

Here's the latest test/proving piece. Cut from 12 Ga scrap and is redrawn and scaled down to a width of 25 inches or so. The original drawing came from freedxfs.com.



I need to do a full court press to get the table's lower shelf welded in then to get a reservoir and plumbing installed for draining the main table. Once that is finished I can get the 150 feet of slats loaded into the main table.

[Nacs Fab]

Hey Jim, how many of the washers did you require to space your TNG Plate off your V-rail on the Z-Axis kit?

Finally got my break away torch mounted last night, still working on limits and so on but hope to fire it up this weekend.

I have my torch height control wired into my Hypertherm 1250 so I am nearly ready to fire it up.