Roller chain drive Plasma table

My first CNC plasma cutter/profile cutter that can cut up to 3/4" plate and 7/8" steel plate with an edge start.
It uses a Hypertherm 1250 with up to 80 amps of cutting performance. These are supposed to be the best in the business and at a price of $5600 it had better be. I got a very good discount off the recommended price here in Australia and I have seen them go for as much as $8000. This is just for the actual plasma cutter machine not the whole table setup.
I am still having a few issues with the torch height controller not following the contour properly but I should get that all sorted out in a few weeks when the weather warms up enough for me to sit outside twiddling the buttons to get it right.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• plasma
• cutter
• table
• cnc
• hypertherm
• vexta
• phase
• drives
• broken
• hill
• australia
• chain
• drive
• sprocket

[polypolya]

use you microsteps???

[baccus61]

@polypolya

Yes. The motors are 5 phase and 1000 steps in half step mode per revolution.

[EnglishTurbines]

The Chain is nice and cheap, however, you need to cover them up. Otherwise if debri gets in the chains, it will jam up. Easily accurate for crude Plasma cutting tho..

[baccus61]

@EnglishTurbines I will put a cover on the gantry sides to stop some dust from hitting the chain but my biggest problem right now is rust as I have it outside in the weather. The chain is fairly well protected on the sides from direct spatter but in the end if it wants to get all over it it will.

One day I might even rebuild the thing with rack drive as it would be so much better. I suppose I will just have to save up for them.

Thanks for taking the time to post.

[krap101]

Quick question, what advantages would a belt drive have over something like a rack and pinion?

[baccus61]

@krap101 ,

The only advantages I can see would be they don't rust and they are cheap. I tried the belt drive and there was way too much rebound with them and would stretch a minute amount causing wobble of the gantry when changing directions. With a rack, it's held down all the way along and has Zero stretch making them ideal for this type of application. If you can find some cheap ones then let me know. That's why I went roller chain.

[caseywellington]

Beautiful! With a little refinement you have a commercial product.

[pauchi1972]

vende maquuinas de estas caracteristicas? , cuanto cuesta¿ en colombia

[ptcplasmasc11]

hello baccus61, you know, me and my classmates are studying a technical high school, we are on our senior year, and we want to make a cnc plasma cutter for our graduation project, your machine seems to work very accurate and nice, so we wanted you to help us, can you!? can you tell us with more details what mechanisms and circuits did you use for the machine and how did you control it all!? thanks for your help!!

[HEPGUNES]

hi.baccus61 I did the mechanical parts. Could you please write, use exactly the number of teeth gears and chain sprockets trigel .Does sprockets exactly 1 / 2 inches ?or 5/8 inches?5 / 8 inches seems to be .thank you for help.

[PLASMARTCTC]

Very interesting, your video helped me a lot to install my cutting table. Next video shows the changes! Thanks for your input

Muy interesante, tu video me sirvio de mucho para instalar mi mesa de corte. Muestra el proximo video con los cambios! Gracias por tu aporte

[PLASMARTCTC]

Muy interesante, tu video me sirvio de mucho para instalar mi mesa de corte. Muestra el proximo video con los cambios! Gracias por tu aporte