CNC Plasma cutter for £5k

[Revs1972]

For the the 4' x 8' (4800) version you won't see much (any) change from 30k.

Is that + VAT or including ?
What are they like on say 10mm plate ? What's the duty cycle on that particular setup ? Could it be run all day 5 days a week for example ?
I'm just thinking I spent over £34k on fittings last year, with probably around £15k of that in labour etc. Makes that £30k not seem quite so much

 

[Jim Davey]

It's a 125 amp plasma, at 100% duty cycle. So that means 40mm cut all day long if needs be. So it will EAT 10mm at a rate you would scarcely believe. It's a proper industrial unit, water bed, industrial motion control and proven software (7 years running) so yes, it will cope with whatever you want to throw at it. I'd say it's happiest up to 25mm but you can go more if required.

 

[Revs1972]

It's a 125 amp plasma, at 100% duty cycle. So that means 40mm cut all day long if needs be. So it will EAT 10mm at a rate you would scarcely believe. It's a proper industrial unit, water bed, industrial motion control and proven software (7 years running) so yes, it will cope with whatever you want to throw at it. I'd say it's happiest up to 25mm but you can go more if required.

Thanks Jim, its something I will be giving some serious thought to over the next few months, and its good to know that its more than ample for my needs. I assume with the water bed (still can't get my head round having water that close to electricity) you do not need any further extraction units ? The last CNC plasma I operated had an extraction unit and huge pipes leading up and outside, that sounded like a bloody jet when switched on.

 

[henry Kadzielski]

Thanks Jim, its something I will be giving some serious thought to over the next few months, and its good to know that its more than ample for my needs. I assume with the water bed (still can't get my head round having water that close to electricity) you do not need any further extraction units ? The last CNC plasma I operated had an extraction unit and huge pipes leading up and outside, that sounded like a bloody jet when switched on.

Good morning Revs1972.
Be it water bed or extraction, it is up to you what you would like to use if you build one, some built machines have an option to choose. My machine is set up for down draught as I can also route and flat bed mill. Let me affirm that the Hypertherm 125 is 100% duty cycle and will cut 1" plate with ease. In fact it will pierce 25mm plate. After much research over about 18 months, prior to me getting all my equipment, I finally settled on a Hypertherm plasma. This coupled to the fact that the electronics package supplier had the better integration with Hypertherm and as the greater majority of builders were using Hypertherm, made my descision more comfortable. If you get a machine complete, with training from the supplier you can be away cutting very quickly and be in control of your production, this can be very attractive

 

[Jim Davey]

As Henry says getting the right package is the key.
The Lincoln Torchmate is a full turnkey package, and unlike most others it's a Lincoln table, Plasma, Motion controller and software. In instances where the table is shipped with the legs attached the machine can be commissioned and cutting parts in half an hour.

 

[Fintray]

Just to put you in the picture, regards building your own table there is well over 5 grand in the controller and hypertherm 85 that's in the picture, been over a year now building the table it's time that's the problem with me, also that's the easy bit !!!!!. Leaning or better still trying to lean the software is one big headache !!!!!! Could do with someone to come around and say this how you should be doing it but hopefully it will be up and running soon regards Barry.View attachment 109005

Barry do you have any other pictures of your build so far as there are plenty of people on here that would be very interested to see how it is coming along and any successes or problems that you have had?

 

[henry Kadzielski]

Just to put you in the picture, regards building your own table there is well over 5 grand in the controller and hypertherm 85 that's in the picture, been over a year now building the table it's time that's the problem with me, also that's the easy bit !!!!!. Leaning or better still trying to lean the software is one big headache !!!!!! Could do with someone to come around and say this how you should be doing it but hopefully it will be up and running soon regards Barry.View attachment 109005

I am hearing you with someone coming around and saying 'this is what you do'. I at the 'almost' end had a running machine, but didn't know how to drive it. I had done the calibrations and tests without realising that all was left was to get some drawing, put it through the post processor and into mach3 in the control computer. A gentleman in Qld which felt sorry for me actually suggested some steps, so out of desperation I rang him to get me accross the line. He actually held me by the hand over the phone on the software side to get the job on the machine. This job, the maiden job for the machine was a routing job. Once all was ready, I sat down for lunch and thought after lunch I would cut this job out. When I finished lunch I sat in the chair for 40 minutes to frightened to move to the machine. Maiden test flight, would this thing actually work and do what it is supposed to do and will the finished product be what it is intended. There is also the case of feeds and speeds and the tooling required (many variables). Also the first job was too big for the machine bed size, so the parts had to be split into two separate drawings to fit.
In the end it went like a charm, I increased the travel speed by 300% from 1.5m/min to 4.5m/min, the engineer that gave me the drawing came to watch and said ' pretty good'. There was no pressure, they needed that job that afternoon, so they were happy. I was more relieved than happy as I had promised to complete that job that day, really on a totally untested machine. I had built the machine to do plasma and in the unforseeable future to do routing. Strange how things work out. To get the router to work I had to discover 'machine spindles' and VSD, design, machine mounts for the spindle and fit them. It is very stressfull to be building extra capability into something new untested, learning software and juggling to deliver jobs to customers.

 

[cumbriasteve]

I also saw that R-tech thing and thought hmmmmm that would be gre ...then clicked off fast, vowing never to return to the evils of expensive, not really required, shiny tooling temptation (an actual medical condition)

 

[B k G]

Barry do you have any other pictures of your build so far as there are plenty of people on here that would be very interested to see how it is coming along and any successes or problems that you have had?

Now that's a very good question, give me a couple of weeks and I will post hopefully the the finished table, but one of the biggest problems is the controller which is of course is candcnc unit and not Mack but the new Linux based unit, as of yet their is not a lot information on the internet regards setting up, programming etc were in the Mack CNC plasma set ups it is all over YouTube which of course helps a hell of a lot don't get me wrong Tom and is company does provide manuals but they can be come very bewildering at times, this has been my downfall jam not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to such things at all, it does take time to find tune the tables and it would help if someone gives a hand with such things, two heads are better then one even if they are sheep heads, that's were the turn key tables win, you pay your money and take the chance. Barry

 

[knighty]

Barry.... where abouts are you ? I know it's a bit cheeky but I'm pretty keen on building my own table and would jump at the chance to have a peek at yours :-o

 

[angellonewolf]

I also saw that R-tech thing and thought hmmmmm that would be gre ...then clicked off fast, vowing never to return to the evils of expensive, not really required, shiny tooling temptation (an actual medical condition

my other half said im so bad she made a name for it its o.c.t.d (obsessive compulsive tool disorder)

and the laugh of it is i have not got half of what you lot have got but to be fair i do buy a fair bit of stuff that i dont need and then sell it later half a year on

 

[B k G]

Barry.... where abouts are you ? I know it's a bit cheeky but I'm pretty keen on building my own table and would jump at the chance to have a peek at yours :-o

7 miles south of Bill Edwards and also in the same line of business.

 

[WorkshopChris]

As Henry says getting the right package is the key.
The Lincoln Torchmate is a full turnkey package, and unlike most others it's a Lincoln table, Plasma, Motion controller and software. In instances where the table is shipped with the legs attached the machine can be commissioned and cutting parts in half an hour.

I had previously looked at the Torchmate it looks like a real nice package.

I have to admit when i first saw the r-tech my initial thought was i could just stretch to the 5k at the moment and i know i could get regular work for it and maybe upgrade to something bigger if the work picked up.
But as soon as i looked closer i just do not see it performing well for long.
I would imaging it will soon start to loose accuracy as belts stretch and metallic dust attacks the bearings, the frame looks light to me for something to take 12mm material. In one video you see the head come down a push the warped sheet down a good 10mm, light axis drives wont stand up to that for long.

Time to save up till i can find a way to invest in something more robust.

 

[Jim Davey]

I had previously looked at the Torchmate it looks like a real nice package.

I have to admit when i first saw the r-tech my initial thought was i could just stretch to the 5k at the moment and i know i could get regular work for it and maybe upgrade to something bigger if the work picked up.
But as soon as i looked closer i just do not see it performing well for long.
I would imaging it will soon start to loose accuracy as belts stretch and metallic dust attacks the bearings, the frame looks light to me for something to take 12mm material. In one video you see the head come down a push the warped sheet down a good 10mm, light axis drives wont stand up to that for long.

Time to save up till i can find a way to invest in something more robust.

An ESAB Crossbow is a good halfway house. Has the added benefit of being equipped with an oxy/fuel torch as well as plasma so you get the best of both worlds. It is mobile, so you can make up your own table to put it on keeping costs down.

 

[Jim Davey]

Time to save up till i can find a way to invest in something more robust.

Finance is available

 

[Welderpaul]

It's a 125 amp plasma, at 100% duty cycle. So that means 40mm cut all day long if needs be. So it will EAT 10mm at a rate you would scarcely believe. It's a proper industrial unit, water bed, industrial motion control and proven software (7 years running) so yes, it will cope with whatever you want to throw at it. I'd say it's happiest up to 25mm but you can go more if required.

Does it go up to a 3000 x 1500 bed Jim? We have been looking at buying a Swiftcut.

 

[Jim Davey]

Does it go up to a 3000 x 1500 bed Jim? We have been looking at buying a Swiftcut.

I don't think so Paul, you'd be looking at one of the bigger machines from Kerf developments for a sheet that size.

 

[skotl]

I also saw that R-tech thing and thought hmmmmm that would be gre ...then clicked off fast, vowing never to return to the evils of expensive, not really required, shiny tooling temptation (an actual medical condition)

You go first, mate, then let me know how you get on... I'll be right behind you...

 

[knighty]

7 miles south of Bill Edwards and also in the same line of business.

I have no idea where that is.... but you're in frozen dog food too ? small world!

on the bright side, we don't really advertise so hopefully haven't been nicking your customers, and if you've nicked any of mine I don't know anything about it because you've already nicked em :-)

 

[henry Kadzielski]

Does it go up to a 3000 x 1500 bed Jim? We have been looking at buying a Swiftcut.

One advantage of a home built, if you plan correctly, you can build a smaller machine, to prove the concept and get your foot into the water. If all goes well it can be extended. I built mine to supposibly be 1200 by 1200 bed area, however when it was being constructed, the rails were larger so it grew. It ended up being 1500mm by 1500mm and yet the first job I got it was too small. I had previously discovered that All plate can come in 1.8m by 6.0m so about 9 months ago I got the hardware to extend to fit that material. Since I have a machine already operating the extension is just hardware as all else is the same. At about the same time I organised the hardware for the rotating axis, now from memory it is supposed to do up to 400mm diameter. It has been quite some time since I got all the hardware so can't remember absolutely. Now all I need is some quiet time to start construction.