My Newb Plasma Table Attempted Build

Before I tear down the machine I figured I would see if I could coax the machine to make me some riser plates, etc, for the machine upgrade.

Since I know that the backlash (or whatever) issue repeats itself fairly identically, I oriented the part for cutting so that the least amount of cutting would occur on the Y negative direction. Also I tried the centre spot feature for my first time ever, wow. That is so useful and awesome!

My main concern was that the holes were laid out correctly and identically on both plates, so I made that the first operation and made sure that during the torch moves on the centre spotting operation there was no Y negative movement...much like taking slack out on a manual engine lathe. Then I made sure the outside cutting minimized travel to the Y negative until the very end cuts. We're only talking .04" backlash or error when moving to the Y neg direction, so I think these plates are totally useable. The centre spotted holes came out exactly where they were supposed to.

I'm getting pretty excited now. The 3030 extrusion has arrived so now I can check my centre spotted hole alignment and whatnot before drilling all of the holes.

I'm very impressed with how much beefier this is in comparison to the current extrusion on my gantry. There's no way that my gantry as it is would stand up to the weight of the new Z axis.

My dog Wilma isn't nearly as enthusiastic as I am.

I have 2. They're sisters/litter mates, a little over 2 years old. Much better behaved than our human kids lmao!

Had to take a break. I herniated a disc in my back last week. Anyway, I'm feeling a little bit better and decided to get something done today.

Took all of the table apart down to the frame. I never had got around to painting it, and a little bit of surface rust has begun to settle on the frame. This is the perfect opportunity to correct that and put some protection on it. Also added a couple of pieces of square tube to the bottom for more leg support. I've been wanting to add something that I could place my plasma on, and I had this angle iron laying around in the garage so I just used two pieces. I'll probably get some expanded metal for both sides of the angle iron so I have a complete bottom storage area.

Tomorrow it will get a mount point for the new electronics enclosure and then the paint. It's 106 deg F put right now, so I think I've had quite enough for today.

Its pretty cool seeing these small uncomplicated table designs. It goes to show that keeping it simple can still work.

thefabricator03 wrote:

Its pretty cool seeing these small uncomplicated table designs. It goes to show that keeping it simple can still work.

Hmm, I wonder if dvn4life1972 actually still thinks its uncomplicated having got this far!

But yes, agree you can do it quite cheaply....

My back is feeling a little bit better, so I rearranged the small space I have and can now begin v2.

The gantry riser plates I made seem to be in good order, only got this side partially assembled and I was able to mount the rails to the 3030 extrusion that makes the gantry beam.

Thats a pretty interesting way to mount the linear rails.