CNC Plasma

[Pipe It]

Does any body have a CNC plasma? I am looking to buy one and would like some advice on what to look for when purchasing one. Also I would like to know what price I should be looking to pay.

[guidolyons]

I don't have one but had been looking...
Search logjamgrant he built his own, but he is an electrical and mechanical genius.
I'd say between $3,000-10,000+
http://www.practicalcnc.com/ around $6K
Torchmate build your own $3K-6K+ http://www.torchmate.com/cnc.html

[Todd W]

PlasmaCAM seems to be the popular one. I believe it's about $9,000.
Don't forget you need to add a NICE plasma to be able to cut any type of thick steel at a good speed... So figure about $2500 for a NICE plasma, around $500-$1000 for a dryer, and around $1000-$1500 for a nice air compressor setup.

Oh yeah, don't forget a hood and a vent... and most likely you SHOULD build walls around it too... plasma makes a TON of dust and the dust STICKS to everything due to the metal property. Do not even think about running one in a 2 car garage there'll be metal ALL OVR the place.

If you want a bigger unit you can easily spend 50k+ on one too.

What size do you want? Have you looked into what else is required?

[X-Rated]

i researched this extensivly when our shop was looking at getting one. We were looking at either a 4x4 or a 4x8 table... We looked at about 6 different companies including all that were listed above...

I believe Torchmate was by far the most capable and well built unit. The software included and the features were better than practical cnc or plasmacam. The way the Torchmate table is built and braced was better, and Torchmate has been in business longer than any of the others...

I also decided it would not be worth the effort to try and build your own table. Anything welded wont have the precision of the bolted together aluminum extrustions, and if you ever wanted to move it, taking it appart would be nice....

If I can find 10k, I would buy one for my garage.

[DRM]

I looked into a PlasmaCam in the past, and figured it would cost me about $14k to get it set up to really use like I wanted.

[Bigtoy22]

been looking at the different units for some time, and eventually will be building my own. got it figured down to about 4k. as far as the smoke goes ill be useing a water able to help keep that down a bit. already have a hypotherm 600 so im set for the plasma. there are alot of good retrofit cnc companies out there where you can get all the steppers and motors for a real reasonable price. just searched for cnc plasma and did alot of reading.

[BRAD D]

for 10K you can get alot of laser cutting done.........

[bigdreamin]

for 10K you can get alot of laser cutting done.........

Agreeded, for what 10k will buy it will more than likely be a disapointment
the machine we're are lookign at buying in upwards of 300k, but we can hold .002" on holes and .005" in positioning with extremely nice edge quality. you won't get anywhere close to that with the type of machine your talking about, if you got a steady hand just buy a good plasma cutter and free hand it. Also remebr laser cutting is about twice as expensive as HD plasma and HD will hold tight tolerances.

edit: as far as smoke is concerened just spec. a downdraft table, kinda pricey but it's the most logical choice.

[Todd W]

been looking at the different units for some time, and eventually will be building my own. got it figured down to about 4k. as far as the smoke goes ill be useing a water able to help keep that down a bit. already have a hypotherm 600 so im set for the plasma. there are alot of good retrofit cnc companies out there where you can get all the steppers and motors for a real reasonable price. just searched for cnc plasma and did alot of reading.

I have a 600 too, and if I was going to get a CNC Plasma I would want a bigger unit.. maybe that's just me though ;)

[jasonmt]

already have a hypotherm 600 so im set for the plasma...

just searched for cnc plasma and did alot of reading.

You should do some more reading as a 40Amp Hypertherm 600 is not NEARLY enough machine for a CNC table unless you never plan to do over 1/4". Even at 1/4" you still have to deal with the 50% duty cycle, live with the fact that the initial piercing is going to be a little bit ugly and consumable life is not that long.

For comparison the 10x40 table below is used for mostly 1/2"-3/4" mild steel material and the power source is a 200A Hypertherm HySpeed HT2000 Oxygen plasma/Air shield machine.

[Pipe It]

Ya I also have the hypertherm 600 and I talked to the guy at torchmate. He said the same thing that it would max out at 1/4" and that would eventually hold me back. For the 4X8 setup and me building my own table which he says is a good idea it would be about $7,800

[PAToyota]

for 10K you can get alot of laser cutting done.........

This is the answer I ended up at when I looked into it. It would be one heck of a slick thing to own, but unless you are doing production work it is never going to be worth it. However, that argument could be given to a lot of things we do...

Still, I found it was a heck of a lot easier to do up a drawing in AutoCAD, e-mail it to the guy with the laser cutter, and pick it up a day or two later.

[Clodhopper]

I run a Hypertherm 100 on a 4x8 table. I can cut 5/16's pretty well, but I need to watch the table very closely. 3/8's is very difficult, too much splash. I generally cut 1/4 or thinner.