MechTorch! The First Mechmate Plasma #58 - Winston-Salem, US

[uncsamococlass]

We are starting a mechmate as a class project for Motion Control II and III class project at University of North carolina School of the Arts. the course is part of the graduate level Stage Automation program.

We are currently working towards a machine with a Plasma Torch and a 4'x4' cutting area.

We are in a research ad development phase getting all the parts and information together, we hope to begin building the structure soon.

[domino11]

Welcome Guys!

[OBXCNC]

Hey Guys,

Good luck with the build...I'll be watching with interest. I am a '93 MFA TD graduate student of NCSA (or UNCSA as ya'll know it) and my wife is a '92 BFA Scenic Artist. Miller and Grillo will remember me and probably, Booth (although Booth was just making his entrance as a faculty member as I was making my "grand" Grad School "exit"...long story about my final year...which I am sure you learned the "first" week.......).

Ya'll will learn a lot here...I don't have a MechMate but have earnestly studied this site (for over three years) and have a CNC based loosely on Gerald's Mechmate design; R&P using Gecko 203v's and a PMDX break out board which I have been running for nearly two years (mine is cheaply built out of 8020, steel and spruce). Not nearly as robust as a MM but it has been carving signs which I can sell to tourists and support my family for the whole of that two years (leaving me lots of time to lurk and read this website while the machine works).

You will learn a lot from Sean R. in this project. We overlapped only by a year in W-S but I have learned a lot watching my fellow NCSA student's multiple builds (and the rest of these great guys and their builds on this website) even many years later after graduation. Sean has a huge understanding of the control and building aspects of this project. Looking forward to watching your build as the principles "outwork" me...I wish it could learn to "out sell" me.

Good Luck,
Carl McCoy
'93 "tsmgo" MFA of NCSA

[smreish]

Hey Carl,
Nice to hear from you. If you get chance, late winter term we should have something to show off if you come by campus. Great to hear from you.
Sean

[uncsamococlass]

We have started our Mechmate Plasma.

We got the steel cut for the base table. And have most of the welding done.

We are finalizing the drawings for the control side of things.

[domino11]

This should be an interesting build. Another Mechmate first. :) Good luck guys.

[uncsamococlass]

I had not realized Sean had already dubbed this MechTorch.

We keep finding more parts andmore ifo as we go.

[oopz]

Will there be a pure plasma machine - or - with a router as an option - maybe even both :)? ..
- Yes, I know that plasma is/can bee "dirty", so it will be nice to see your table solution.
Regardless, I am still curious :D and GOOD LUCK !!!

/ oopz

[smreish]

The class can name the machine anything they want - as long as they finish it! I'll be watching for post's when I am not on campus. :)
As far as machine specifications, I will leave the real particulars to the class to post and keep you all informed of the progress. Class over the past 2 days has resulted in a machine table being fabricated, welded and electronics being chosen. I have donated an extra completed z slide from machine #5 for the build to speed things along.

Particulars for now (subject to change)


48 x 48 net cutting area
x and y will be OM 7.2 geared steppers (heavy gantry)
z1 - nongeared stepper
z2 - nongeared stepper
z1 will be torch
z2 will be spindle/router engraving or metal cutting device
THC controller with arc control
"other electronics and i/o as we get fancy"

[Drad98_98]

Have fun on your build Moco, I built one a couple years ago, not from the MechMate plans, just my own design. One thing you might want to consider is that sheetmetal comes a variety of sizes, 4 x 8, 5 x 10, etc. (here in the us anyways) I made mine 5 x 6 cutting area beacuse I could get 5 x 10 sheets cheaper and I would cut them in half and be able to use the whole sheet (my cut area is 5 x 6). Just a thought and good luck. I had alot of problems with noise at the beginning, make sure everything is isolated.
Here is a pic of my plasma.

[uncsamococlass]

Base table under construction in shop

frame is 2"x3"x 1/4" rectangular tube

[uncsamococlass]

This week we have been getting purchases underway, about half done there. We spent some time on the table. And clarified some of the electrical drawings. Our batch of laser cut parts arrived today, very nicely done. Time to get some work done in the shop.

[uncsamococlass]

We had a good week.

Purchasing underway, and parts coming in the door. Thanks to all those helping with the process..

A few minor purchases left to make, but ready for the shop to get rolling.

The table is up on its feet. The X Rails have been cut and ground.

Looking forward to more progress next week.

[MetalHead]

Looking good.

Are you going to use Airflow exhaust or are you going to use a water table?

Mike

[uncsamococlass]

we are planning to use airflow exhaust. our metal shop has a decent exhaust system in place, so we are going to let that handle the fumes.

[KenC]

pardon my ignorant, what is airflow exhaust?

[MetalHead]

Ken,

On a plasma table basically they will place a skirt around the bottom of the table and slats across the working area where they will lay the steel that will be cut.

Then they will hook a "vacuum hose" (Large suction pipe) to the skirt. When the plasma is cutting this suction will then pull air down into the table along with the smoke that is created when cutting with Plasma. This "Exhaust" system is then vented outside or ran through some kind of filter system.

Plasma generates a nasty smoke. What looks like smoke is actually vaporized metal and left unchecked can cause all kinds of strange problems in your shops electronics and is toxic to breath.

Hope that helps explain it.

Mike

[Johannescnc]

I hope the Green police don't find out about these fumes going into the atmosphere... :rolleyes:

[KenC]

Thanks Mike, I don't have much experience with CNC Plasma cutting. Always has the misconception that a overhead suction hood over the table like those in Chinese restaurant & water bath tray beneath the table/grill but apparently it is not as easy.

John, I'm neither a tree huger nor avid intentional polluting the earth. BUT lets be realistic, we human are the biggest pollutant, any human activity will contributes to polluting the earth, BUT what can we do? Sometimes, making things green actually contributes to more devastating effects... Cow fart & burps Methane, padi field emits methane as well, we upset the CO2 balance just by having metal & plastics objects around us, don't forget about flying & driving around... how about heating & refrigeration.... the list goes on & on.... I never believe in so call "green police"... this is solely a personal opinion, you may have opinions of your own.

[Johannescnc]

Okay... :rolleyes: I am an Amerikaner living in Germany. We don't get NFL broadcast here... sooooo. I had a friend send me a copy of the program... :D
This thread reminded me of this commercial from Audi...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVhT7P0lDfI

[uncsamococlass]

The team has been hitting it pretty hard the past couple days. We have most of our parts in house and fabrication well in hand. The control cabinet is underway.

Very exciting these days.

[Gerald D]

Notice that you have the rails cut & ground - that was a major hurdle. Nice progress!

[domino11]

Nice progress!

[gooberdog]

Looks like you are making great progress Moco. As a Class of 82 D&P TD grad it does me proud.

[uncsamococlass]

Thanks

We are plugging away pretty strongly. This is the last full week of winter term. We are a mixed class of second and thrid year grads, and fourth year undergrads.

It is a pretty fun project too.

[uncsamococlass]

we made quite a bit of progress on the project today.

managed to get most of the brackets mounted today, hoping to get the cable chain mount attached, and the moutn squared away for the control box.

wiring on the control box goes well. more to follow soon

[smreish]

I am very happy to see so much work on my visit for instruction this week. The winter storms kept my last visit from happening.

If you all look closely, you will see the 2 Z slides in the y-car. A premamba slide with the short stroke on the "away from 0,0" side and the Mamba long slide on the "near o,o" side of the car.

Very proud of the MOCO teams' accomplishments this week.

[MetalHead]

So is there a reason for two Z slides? Or is this just a fit test?

How is the range of motion on the table. ie how big is the work area?

Have you decided on a THC (Torch Height Control) ?

A few to look at.

http://www.soundlogicus.com/thc300b.htm
http://www.soundlogicus.com/thc300a.htm



Mike

[smreish]

Mike
I will chime in for the MOCO class.
The Net cutting area is nominally 48x48. But really 52x52.
The double z-slide is so the machine can do a few things well. (fairly multipurpose for the university's use)
- Torch with THC controlled Plasma head on Z1
- Router/Spindle/Drill on Z2 for engraving/marking and spot drilling of parts before cutting them out.
- Router for light aluminum plate milling if necessary.
- The Z2 will have the Quick Disconnect plate to allow changeout of the Porter cable 690 router or "other drill motor of the day" for making holes or center marks.
- The THC/BOB unit is the MP3000 from CandCNC.

All is going well and maybe have mechanical work finished today. (rack attachment on all axis', cable chain management and fingered table bed are on the short list this week)

....now I will wait for the class to finish updating the thread!

[MetalHead]

I had hoped to be up this week to come for a visit. When will you be back there again? I will be in the area on the 1st and 2nd of April.

[uncsamococlass]

1st and 2nd of april most of us will be at a technical theatre conference in kansas city. we are in session through the end of may.

sean leaves tomorrow, and we are currently scheduling his next trip.

let us know when you will be visiting we will be happy to arrange a tour

[gooberdog]

Cool, I know where Kansas City is. Maybe we could get together for a beer.

[smreish]

...sounds like a NCSA D&P meet up with the crew traveling is in order. Good luck and have fun in K-city. Eat some good BBQ for me :)

[uncsamococlass]

We had our final class of the term today. Made short lists of things left to do for both the machine and the control. Next week is spring break. We may get a little done but are not going to push it. When we get for next term we should be able to polish off the lists pretty quick.

[ben.eells]

We've done a layout for our cable chain and put most of the finishing touches on the control cabinet. As soon as we get the holes drilled and tapped into the table base we will be able to finish wiring the control cabinet and getting power to the motors.

[Johannescnc]

Ben, I just noticed your rails are mounted on rectangular tubes. Is that more cost effective or just what was available? either way I like the "out side the box" thinking... :)

[ben.eells]

moco, feel free to jump in with corrections but I think the idea was to build the table base out of the same stock so all our cuts and scrap were of the tame type and also to add weight to the base. I believe we used 2x3" tube. I know the thicker wall of the tube was intentional so there is more material to tap.

[uncsamococlass]

We work with tube most of the time, are set up to work with it in our metal shop, and found it easier to source than the channel. We also found it a fairly easy process to build the frames this way and are pleased with how true the frame is with very little adjustment. The tube is 2"x3" 1/4" wall. The thickness let us drill and tap it no problem. We do like having the mass of the base, while it is primarily a torch we will the capable to mount a pindle or router so we wanted the mass. We matched the rest of the tube because themachine is giong to move around from storage in one part of the shop, to use in another. The gantry tubes are 2"x4" 3/16" wall. We wanted the mass of the gantry for the same reason. the 3/16" is still tappable with out a backing strip. Does mean we went with geared steppers for x and y though, x to handle tha mass of the gantry, y to match x. The 2 z steppers are direct drive.

in our business we spend a great deal of time thinking outside the box, to the point that we usually just forget there is one entirely.

nice pictures ben, thanks

[Johannescnc]

What box? :confused:
Well for what it's worth, I like it... what originally caught my attention was the build area,
Winston-Salem
I have family in the Roanoke area...
I would be interested in seeing pics of the dual Z you have... I can see it in my minds eye but its still a little fuzzy... :o
thanks for the in depth reply :)

[ben.eells]

It's pretty hard in these pictures to see what's really going on in the z-slide but maybe this helps a little. Next time I'm over there I'll get some better shots.

[EEngineer]

Hey moco,

I was just curious about the layout of your enclosure. I was wondering why you are using so many small sections of din rail? Also it looks to me like the control boards you are using are mounted over the power supply transformer? I can tell you from personal experience that you will want to mount it as far away from that as possible.

While i haven't built a mechmate, yet, i have done many electrical wiring projects for some very large installations, and have had BIG problems with things like this. Even with very small control transformers, generate a tremendous amount of noise, which we all know is really bad for electronics.

I think you all need to re-think your control box layout, and distance the PCB's from the high voltage, especially the transformer!

[Gerald D]

The z-axes are 2 spiders, back-to-back.

[ben.eells]

engineer, funny you mention that because we actually are a bit worried about it. We did a lot of talking about the layout of the box and finally settled on raising the BOB up over the transformer and shielding it with a steel plate would be okay for a first try. If we get a lot of interference we will move it though.

as for the small sections of din rail: we happened to have small sections so we figured we might as well use it to our advantage and spread things out into places where they fit easily instead of trying to squeeze everything in to one large section. It also helped us a little bit with the "flow" of the box and moving power around it in a way that made more sense.

we'll definitely heed your advice and see what comes once we get power to everything.

[EEngineer]

A "second try" might involve buying a new bob. Your steel plate under everything will not do much, unless it makes a seamless box around the whole thing and ground it. This will shield the boards from EMI.
In the specific instance that i had a problem with a PCB next to a transformer, much like yours, upon power up the EMI from the transformer actually caused an arc across an opto-isolated part of the board, and fried it and everything connected to it.

Not saying that it will happen to you, but just a word of caution.

[Johannescnc]

Thanks for the pics Ben. I see it better from those pics. But more detail may be of interest to us all... :)

[smreish]

Teacher-of-the-day here.
The Transformer location has been a great topic of conversation in our MOCO (Motion Control) class. Since were in a learning environment, the choice to go ahead with space allotted placement is being taken. The enclosure was a found and repurposed item, so our original requirements were compromised.

The class has located a small NEMA 4/12 Box as a back up solution to "remote" the transformer outside of this enclosure and piggybag on the the bigger box. Thus, rendering the EMF in a box and grounded separately.

Sometimes it's hard to explain EMF and inductance interference until you experience it first hand; Thus, learning :)

Thanks for the comments MM forum - keep them coming!

Regards,
Sean

[uncsamococlass]

after being pulled away for some productions, a conference, and a couple other projects the team has been able to get back together and do some nice work on our cnc project.

the motors have all been spinning hooked up on the bench.

the table is in very good shape, awaiting a couple prox target holes and a nice coat of paint.

very pleased with the progress of the team, nice work guys!

[isladelobos]

In the first picture. you have one radio broadcast?

[uncsamococlass]

don't know what you mean by radio broadcast.

[bradm]

The racks (19in?) in the background in the upper left appear to house the type of equipment used for broadcasting radio ... a few years back.

[uncsamococlass]

ah that would be this. we are in the process of setting this up as a test station for some of our equipment. i am not sure its original purpose, we likely picked it up surplus and are converting to our needs. we do a fair amount of that in our business

[smreish]

...and the best part - all this gear is in perfect working order. Even the tube based freq counting unit on the upper right. Ahhh - surplus. :)
The silver 2U unit that is set vertical in the center of the Rack is a Goddard Controls AWU (automated WINCH unit) Very sophisticated analog limit and position controller. The "essential" basis of theatrical automation and control used on broadway for years. Of course, it's all PLC now, but a great system that is still used today.

[bradm]

Drool ...

[uncsamococlass]

hey all

we have got the frame painted, reasembled and are in progress wiring it all up. we need to ring out all the wiring before we power up. we also need to complete the cutting surface. Images show the overall machine, a close up of the two z slides back to back and a shot inside the tube showing the bolts for x rails.

[smreish]

Great progress class. Can't wait for commissioning day next week!
Cody, I see you got the back-to-back clearance for the proximity sensors worked out.

Note: Since the class decided to make this a 2 z machine, they painted the plasma slide (RED) for FIRE! and the utility z axis black for visual clarity when operating the machine.

Nice work.

Sean

[smreish]

...and the MechTorch machine is cutting. A few bugs, but working pretty well!
Good job class - A+

[domino11]

Congrats to the Class and to Sean! The first MM Plasma. MechTorch! :)
Hey Sean, where are the pictures and logos? :rolleyes:

[uncsamococlass]

we are holding off on the logos until sean joins us next week. working right now at ironing out the bugs.i will get more pictures next time i am over in the shop.

[uncsamococlass]

machine keeps getting closer and closer. these are very excting times around here. these are also very busy times around here. we are trying to wrap up this project and a few other ones we have going on to finish up our school year.

[MetalHead]

I am impressed !!! Congrats ..... Metal Smoke is dust ehhh ? I want to see a video... Sent you a PM as well.

[uncsamococlass]

Yes metal smoke is most certainly dust!

[uncsamococlass]

getting closer and closer... dialing in torch height controller... getting it working

[uncsamococlass]

Getting so close

We spent some time dialing in preset volts on the torch height controller and then some more with travel speed

We ran a bunch of circles and squares in 1/4" plate and 16 gauge

Then we were feeling adventurous and decided to cut out the school logo.

We are planning on putting mechmate logos when our teacher returns next week.

[domino11]

Nicely done guys!

[Conrado_Navarro]

can You post wiring, mach3 configuration?
and any other device used, diferent to Normal Mechmate?

[Codered741]

Just a quick and dirty video of some of the first couple of cuts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cMzAEfQX0s

[KenC]

Yes, all those oil spill are dirty :( .... but no sign of your video.

[Johannescnc]

Video link did not work... :rolleyes:

[vishnu]

What is the Plasma cutter & THC you are using.

[isladelobos]

Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cMzAEfQX0s)

[MetalHead]

Hey cool video -

MAKE SURE YOUR NOT BREATHING THAT DUST !!!!

That is not smoke you see floating around the room. It is vaprized metal. Nasty stuff on lungs and electronics (Thinking of all that nice old AV equipment posted earlier).

If you don't have an exhaust system , at least skirt the table with sheet metal and use a shop fan to catch smoke.

See this thread on the zone. (My Plasma Torch Setup)

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?p=338275#post338275

Start there, but a good read if you read the whole thread.

[uncsamococlass]

all the nice electronics are closed up. we are only testing in this space. we are moving it to our metal shop for use. which is much better equipped for ventilatiion. still i am considering a dedicated catch and exhaust system.

thc is an mp3000 and dthc from CandCNC and arc good current transformer. gekko drives and oriental motors steppers

torch is a thernal dynamics pak 75

nice video cody

[uncsamococlass]

the plasma lead is a 20' shielded machine torch lead

[uncsamococlass]

i am working on getting the drawing package put together

[liaoh75]

Hi Cody,

I'm Jealous. You really have a nice machine. Congratulations!!

[Codered741]

Sean arrived today, and has deemed it a success, so we logo'ed it today!

And the obligatory photos. First is logos and evidence of cutting, second is a plaque that we cut for our donor, who graciously funded our project.

And we would sincerely appreciate a serial number!

Edit: Our cutting area is 52"x52" (nominal 48x48), with dual z slides, 1 plasma, 1 router.

[domino11]

Excellent Job! Is the second Z working yet? Would be interesting as this would be the first working dual Z setup to date I think!

[MetalHead]

Looks Awesome (took out great becuase of the cheesy rhyme)!!!! You get #58

[Gerald D]

Fantastic!

[Codered741]

Just wanted to share another, more refined video that we made, showing the entire process, as well as most of the team.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSvdGoM5hTs

[Gerald D]

Great video! That scene with the z moving straight to the camera, while the x and y motors churn, is mesmerising.

Who is the guy with the toolbelt, with hammer(s?) and test instruments??!!:D

[Robert M]

Nice to see all this team effort & spirit !!
Congratulation on your accomplishment.
Robert ;)

[swatkins]

Very, Very nice machine!

Great Job guys!

[Codered741]

The guy with the toolbelt and hammers, yes hammers, would be me.
Its usually just one, but it was just one of those days...

[domino11]

You can never have too many hammers. :)

[uncsamococlass]

there are at least 14 different kinds in my toolbox... or where i have lost track of the count

[bolingerbe]

Very nice job and a great project for students to learn on.

[jhiggins7]

UNCSA Class and Sean,

Congratulations on completing the first Dual Plasma (TorchMate) and Router MechMate and on earning Serial # 58.

Here is the Updated Builder's Log (http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AttqjIPMBEXKcExveGc4d3U0V25zQmMyX1U1eUVhU Xc&hl=en).

Please review your entry and let me know any changes you want to make.

I'm sorry to be tardy in making your entry...I'm traveling with my family in Northern California.

[Codered741]

Just one thing... The class is Motion Control, not motor control. But otherwise looks great!

-Cody

[jhiggins7]

Thanks for the correction Cody. Update completed here (http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AttqjIPMBEXKcExveGc4d3U0V25zQmMyX1U1eUVhU Xc&hl=en).

[Codered741]

So I posted in another thread that we were having some isolation issues upon the start of the torch, and Mike asked me to say something about it here.

What we believe was happening was, as our torch is a high frequency start unit, the high frequency was passing through the ground on the table. This made the inputs on the BOB card trigger random inputs. Sometimes it would be estop, sometimes feedhold, sometimes limits. We were somewhat expecting this, and isolated the material we were cutting with some 2x4's. This fixed the problem immediately.

So the solution was to isolate the cutting surface from the rest of the frame. We made the entire cutting surface replaceable, so that if it got damaged in normal use it could be easily re-made. It is simply attached with two 1/4" bolts. Our simple solution was some 4" wide strips of fiberglass in between the table structure and the cutting surface, and some cool non-conductive fiberglass bolts from mcmaster to attach them together. This has effectively solved the problem.

I also think that if either the computer or the plasma machine had an isolated ground, it would help even more.

Edit: We also cut the MechMate logo, with our serial number, to attach to the side of the machine.

-Cody

[smreish]

Additional isolation note:
The control cabinet has a very unique BOB (MP3000) unit from CandCNC. This board, albeit performing well, is being used instead of the standard PMDX series board. The size of the control cabinet was a "little small" being a found item, thus the class moved the 56v toroidal transformer to a location just adjacent to the control cabinet and routed the 56vdc/12vdc/5vdc via conduit back to the box. This additional wiring practice helped eliminate the erratic flutter on the BOB inputs. The flutter was mostly eliminated by debouncing the inputs to a higher setting, but to be certain, the additional wiring was used and transformer moved.

Today is commissioning day and the local business BOB KING automotive group, which the project would not have been possible, will be present for a "cutting ceromony"!

Thank you to all that made this possible and for the continued generosity of the MM community for a design that is scalable and transferable to other cutting technologies.

Best Regards,
Sean Reish

[MetalHead]

Cool we need videos of that !!! THat would be greeeeaaaat !!!

[swatkins]

Additional isolation note:
The control cabinet has a very unique BOB (MP3000) unit from CandCNC. This board, albeit performing well, is being used instead of the standard PMDX series board.

Was there a reason for using this board instead of the PMDX ?

[uncsamococlass]

we wanted a torch height controller and went with a package from c and cnc. our torch unit lacked thc and arc good signal so we used the arc good transformer from them as well. both of these features really make the functionality of a cnc plasma, without them i would not be as pleased with the machine.

all in all it works well for the torch function. the machine moves like a dream. the torch is cutting very well.

[bolingerbe]

I see that you used prox switches on the Z axises but did you also use them on Y and X?

[mikefoged]

Bryan that a look at the pic. http://www.mechmate.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=9416&stc=1&d=1272743890

top mid. and left corner.:)

[bolingerbe]

Sorry I did not see the one on Y.

[uncsamococlass]

yep prox switches all around.

[bolingerbe]

Ya thanks Mike #27 pointed it out. I had one of those can not see the fourst for the tree's going on. I get that way sometimes.

[Mountaincraft]

Hopefully, someone from this build still monitors this thread..

How heavy was your base table once completed.. Could a couple guys pick it up and move it?

Also, why did you choose to go with the dual Z slide system as opposed to some sort of 'change out' design on one slide? Is it too difficult to switch between router and machine torch? Is there some reason a single slide could not be used? Or was it simply a 'convenience' issue for you?

Thanks,
Mark

[smreish]

Mark,
Sean here...the University students are still on summer vacation, but I will be glad to answer your questions.

1 - heavy - yes. The material used for the 5' x 5' table was 2x3 - 1/4" wall rect tube. Table was lifted and rotated by an overhead chain hoist. 4 people can move it, flip it, etc....but NOT a 2 man job.

Dual Z slide was so the primary use of the machine was not violated. A plasma machine requires a special break out board and electronics not centric to the MM design.

Additionally, the Plasma can only do certain operations on steel plate.

The machine was designed to fabricate other machine components that require layout lines (like the laser parts you order for the MM).

The layout lines are "engraved" by the Z2 spindle head and center marks pointed for critical marking, then, the plasma head cuts the "not so critical" areas of the part, the rest are drilled by hand or otherwise. The Z2 spindle has a quick disconnect plate (per the MM Plans) for use of a single speed/purpose airdrill for center marking as well.

Plus, the aluminum sheet cutting is to be done on this machine.


You "can" do wood routing on the table, but not specifically designed for that purpose. Wood and sparks don't mix that well together.

Plus, the University has a 5'x10' SB ALPHA for wood cutting of stuff about 200 ft away in another part of the shop.

Sean

[Codered741]

You beat me to it!

However, I could not have said it better!

Some of us are still here, lurking, and I will be sure to keep adding photos as time goes on, and school starts again.

-Cody

[Mountaincraft]

Dual Z slide was so the primary use of the machine was not violated. A plasma machine requires a special break out board and electronics not centric to the MM design.


What do you mean by 'breakout board'? Don't see anything named that in the plans, but maybe I missed it...

Thanks,
Mark

[smreish]

Mark.

Break out Board (BOB) A computer board that allows for machine I/O to communicate with Host computer.

PMDX-122 is the design standard for the MM, but many others are allowable.
PMDX-125
CNC4PC (many options)
Custom boards
M3000 - DTHC , BOB integrated controller (which was used on the MechTorch)


...read the threads on Controller basics......read, read, read. :)

[smreish]

Cody and Jon,
I don't see any pictures of all the work you and Dr. Miller produced last week.......No slacking while the "other" professor is absent.

Thanks in advance.

Sean

[Codered741]

Yea... this last week has been a liiiiiiiiiiitle hectic. But i will get a photo up tomorrow, two actually, we are cutting knives for a foam carver tomorrow! basically making big shaper bits.

Good to hear from you!

-Cody

[Codered741]

As promised, the first few files that we have cut on the machine this year.

10424

10425

10426

[Codered741]

Test cut using the foam knives, and some M-16 sideplates and clips for props!!

[smreish]

Cody,
Nice progress photo's. So, when are you installing the water pan that Dr. Miller suggested now that the machine has a home!

Nice cornice. How many passes under the cutter with the foam blanks?

Keep up the great work and photos.

Sean

[Codered741]

Yea... well the machine will get a water table, as soon as the machine HAS a home. It is still in flux, certain people do not want to give up the space... So for now we are still dragging it out onto the loading dock to cut.

Just one pass with the foam cutter, final product was made with pink EPS, instead of blue, as it is a little denser, and had a finer finish.

-Cody

[Codered741]

So we were cutting our first real project for the automation department, and we ran into a small issue.
It seems that our plasma power supply has a problem, it is not putting out the correct amperage, and will no longer cut through plate, except at very slow speed.

So as it stands the mechtorch is down, but not out.

As a part of our troubleshooting, we are looking into re-working our control box, which could use some tlc. In working out the bugs and the particular setup for the DTHC the box was made to work, but it did not get documented, and became a bit messy in the process.

We are still having a much reduced, however still present, isolation issue. When the torch starts we sometimes see our spindle light turn on, and hear the contactor fire.

While a multimeter does not indicate continuity from the cutting bed to the machine frame, I am thinking that the high frequency start is still affecting us.

We are also still working on finding a permanent home for the mating, but encountering significant resistance, for reasons that are beyond my understanding. Once the machine gets a home, there will be some more rework, relocating the control box, etc.

-Cody

[ben.eells]

Hey guys. I know another round of students is leaving for the summer (tomorrow, i believe...) I was just wondering how the machine is doing. I hope someone is still around on campus for next year that knows about the forums. I heard through the grape-vine about the problems that came up, I hope they get fixed.

It's cool to look back on the build and see how far we came!

Rob V also says hey.

[Mojo]

I like this build and its video was fun to show to show friends now its been made private?

[smreish]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKOLjw6q0Hs

follow the link

[Codered741]

Hi all,

Just checked the videos, they should be all good to go now!

http://youtu.be/OSvdGoM5hTs
http://youtu.be/4cMzAEfQX0s

Let me know if they don't work!

-Cody

[smreish]

Thanks Cody!
I hope all is well and you had a good Christmas....

Best,
Sean