[N2950H]

Well today is the day I officially started working on my plasma table build. I've done a ton of reading on this site and others, and I always found it interesting to note how long it took people to complete their setups. Some were complicated, some weren't, and their was a wide range of project lengths. My goal is to be cutting 3 months from today. If I fail, then I fully expect to be mocked by you all...don't let me down.

Here is what I have planned:
Precision Plasma 4x4 LD gantry (should be enroute any day now)
Hypertherm 45
BladeRunner Dragon-Cut 4-300 kit with DTHCII
Mach3 and SheetCAM
Home-built table frame (modified version of Precision Plasma's)
Home-built water bed
Home-built computer/electronics cart

I have found many of your builds highly informative, and the photos and details you all provided were much appreciated. Hopefully this thread will be one more to add to the pile for people coming along behind me.

Right off the bat, I must admit that I am a novice welder. I have some scrap in my garage which I plan to practice on using my Lincoln 180 Weld-Pak, and then once I gain some confidence I will press on and do the computer cart. I'd rather start with the main table, but my welding skills currently being what they are...

I do have a question about the tubing size for the computer cart. It's going to be constructed of 1x1 steel tube, but I'm not sure on the thickness. I almost picked up some .095 today but I have to wonder if that is necessary. Could a guy get away with .063 without sacrificing too much in the way of strength and durability? Those are the two options available to me locally. The cart is only going to house the Hypertherm, a PC/monitor, and electronics box. My drive to go thinner if possible is mainly cost.

[N2950H]

I spent a couple days figuring out AutoCAD and drawing up plans for the electronics cart, then went down to pick up the steel once I had all the required dimensions. I blatantly stole someone's idea for the cart, though I don't recall whose it was...I just recall seeing something like this and really liked the idea. I only have a two car garage so being able to fold the top down and slide it under the table is a huge bonus for me. So if this cart looks like yours...thanks.

Last Saturday I started welding the tubes together, and as of tonight it is almost complete. I'm waiting on the gas struts to arrive so I can take measurements and calculate where to locate them. Other than that, all that needs to be done now is cut/weld the sheetmetal onto the base, the keyboard tray, and the lid. I'm leaving town for work for a few weeks, so the table itself will have to wait until I get back.

I didn't have a bandsaw, so I opted for a cheap chop saw from Harbor Freight to cut the tubing with. It actually did a pretty good job, the cuts were nice and square.

Attachment 246846

Attachment 246848

And since I am new to metal fabbing, I didn't have any clamps, either...so it was back to HF for some of those as well. I would not recommend these...I had to buy 7 to get 4 that worked properly (most of the time).

Attachment 246850

Attachment 246852

The corner-to-corner measurements were exactly the same, so even with those cheap clamps, it still came out square. I was pleased.

Attachment 246854

Attachment 246856

A close up of my less-than-stellar welds. I'm still very early on in the learning process here.

Attachment 246858

Attachment 246860

Once the base and top were fabbed, it was time to tie them all together. Right about this time I was wishing I had a heavy 3-axis corner clamp. That is definitely going to be a requirement before I tackle the actual table.

Attachment 246862

Had a hard time squaring up the cube so I had to get creative.

Attachment 246864

Attachment 246866

Attachment 246868

Attachment 246870

The supports for the Bladerunner. These were tough to get straight, and obviously I didn't do a very good job. Difficult to do when they're only anchored on one end.

Attachment 246872

Found some nice sliders at Home Depot for the keyboard tray.

Attachment 246874

Attachment 246876

Attachment 246878

Attachment 246880

As I was fabbing up the frame for the keyboard tray, the FedEx guy came with a care package from Ron at Precision Plasma. That was a great way to end the day.

Attachment 246882

Attachment 246884

Hinges are located.

Attachment 246886

Keyboard tray was a touch too wide and it was putting too much pressure on the sliders and making it difficult to slide out, so I had to grind one wall off the tubing. Kind of hokey, but it's going to welded up anyway and nobody will ever know (except you guys). Don't tell.

Attachment 246888

Attachment 246890

Attachment 246894

Attachment 246896

Again, no bandsaw, so I had to get creative when cutting the 1/8" plate for the caster supports. I used a dotco (and an air compressor that couldn't keep up) to cut four of these 7"x7" plates out. Man that was rough. Was really wishing the plasma cutter was here already, would have made short work of this.

Attachment 246898

Attachment 246900

Attachment 246902

Ready for gas struts, sheetmetal, and paint!

[N2950H]

The electronics cart is almost complete, just need to finish up some cosmetic stuff and then paint it. I've learned quite a bit while welding this up, so I'm glad I did the cart first. I'll be away from the project for a few weeks due to work but when I come back I'll order the steel for the table and get going on the meat of the project. As you can see, the gantry is ready and waiting to be installed on the table. I can't wait to see this thing come together!

All that's left to order is the BladeRunner and then I should be in business.

Attachment 248278

[CYRAX]

looks like a good start, keep the pictures rollin!!

[N2950H]

Thanks, CYRAX. It's killing me to be away from the project for this long, but some things can't be avoided, unfortunately. Looking forward to returning home so I can start on the table itself and get the cart painted.

I'll definitely post more pics as this build progresses.

[forjay]

Great tailgating project

[N2950H]

Finished the cart last week. Hit it with some etching primer and cheap auto parts store paint, will be interested to see how well it holds up.

The BladeRunner will be in this week, and I'll start picking up the steel next week for the table. Need to finalize the design on the water table before I start, though. Still hoping to have the gantry moving under its own power by Halloween.

Attachment 252888
Attachment 252892
Attachment 252894
Attachment 252896
Attachment 252898
Attachment 252900

[N2950H]

Alright, so I missed the Thanksgiving deadline I set for myself but I did make some progress. Turns out steel is pretty expensive so I had to take it slower than I had hoped. The blood banks in the Seattle area only let you sell so many quarts at a time.

I had a lot of issues making the table square because I was building it on a sloped garage floor, but I took my time and eventually it came together. Did it mostly with a bunch of welding magnets and a carpenter's square.

The pile of steel I started with:

Attachment 259352


The assembly:

Attachment 259354

Attachment 259356

Attachment 259358

Attachment 259360


I couldn't get that last lower support in, so the redneck in me came out a little bit while devising a plan:

Attachment 259362


Fully tacked up frame. It was almost perfectly square when I tacked it up, but the floor jack shenanigans totally messed that up. Had to use some tie-downs at that point to square everything back up. Talk about deja vu...I had to do this exact same thing with the electronics cart as seen earlier in this thread.

Attachment 259364

Attachment 259366

Attachment 259368

Attachment 259370


Holes located and tapped for CRS rails, and gantry mounted:

Attachment 259372

Attachment 259374


Water table supports:

Attachment 259376

Attachment 259378


Realized I ordered the wrong motors (selected the 300 oz-in instead of the 620 oz-in). The guys at CandCNC were awesome to deal with on the exchange, even though it was completely my error.

Attachment 259380


Everything but the water table and motors/wiring:

Attachment 259382

Attachment 259384

Attachment 259386


Cutting the 45 degree angles in the angle iron was interesting since my HF chop saw wasn't big enough for them:

Attachment 259388

Attachment 259390


I couldn't find a local supplier to give me a single sheet of 64" x 54" 1/8" steel, so unfortunately I had to piece one together. And of course it buckled and warped when I welded it, even though I welded just a couple inches at a time. Not very happy with the result, but I also don't want to re-do it. If it holds water then it'll have to do. If not, I'll come up with another plan.

Attachment 259392

Attachment 259394

Attachment 259396

Attachment 259398

Attachment 259400

Attachment 259402


I don't have any photos of it yet, but the water table has been sprayed with bedliner. Just need to get the slats cut and then figure out a drain system. At the point the table itself will be built and I can concentrate completely on the electronics and programming portion.

I've spent the last few days tuning the motors and getting everything dialed in. No luck with the remote torch fire yet, but I'm getting close. When I move the X or Y axes over a 40" span, I am within 1/32". This tells me that I have better than 0.001" accuracy over 1" of travel...good enough for my purposes.

I'll post another update when this thing is finally done and I'm making some decent cuts.

Thanks for looking.