2+2+3 More Plasma builds, double the joy ! 3X2M and 2.5X1.5M cnc plasma build.

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12 Apr 2022 08:34 #240026 by machinedude
i honestly think the only people over here that are making any money are the mills producing it. you hear all this stuff about bring manufacturing back in this country but it's next to impossible when material costs price you out of the global market. all talking points in politics and no real solutions basically.

global markets suck. the only people who get wealthy over here are the people who have the money to set up shop in another country to produce their products. well out of reach for most ordinary folks. it's pretty sad when raw material costs price you out of the game before you even factor all the other stuff. this comment is turning into a rant it seems :) but it honestly is an issue over here.

every one is like save the planet oil is evil but have no problems with producing stuff on the other side of the world and slapping it on a boat to ship over here. like all the extra transport is help the environment any for anybody's grand kids?yep definitely full blown rant :) i will just stop there :) before i pop a cork :)
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12 Apr 2022 09:28 #240028 by rodw
I might add, I buy a lot of HDPE plastic. Simple parts I used to machine them but then we had trouble sourcing the raw material and wasted time chasing multiple suppliers looking for it. So I bought the finished parts ex China packaged and labelled for less than the material cost and my availability woes were over.

I revisited local sourcing recently and was told the raw material would still be dearer than the finished parts but I would have to order 4 months in advance ex Germany. Why would I do that when I can get the finished part with a 3-4 month lead time?

I really would like to bring it in house but I can't...

God knows how the German connection is faring when Europe is buying 45% of  its coal from Russia.
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28 Apr 2022 14:56 #241493 by tommylight
Another one done and gone to a new home, this is the 3X1.5 meter work envelope.
Finding plasma sources here has become such a headache that past two weeks went mostly trying to find consumables...
-New 100A china Kzubr is 600 Euro, but the dumb a$$ that imported them has no consumables nor machine torches, talked to him, did not give a $hit about providing them, so now even if i do find consumables, i am not buying his stuff.
-Used 90A Thermal Dynamic Pac 9, 1300 Euro, needs torch replacement as the original parts are pricey, brings the total to 1600 for a used one. BTW, i have the same one for over 5 years, it works perfectly.
-New 60A china Makute, 280 Euro, no pilot arc, sooooo short of doing some HAL magic that will not work.
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Some pictures to lighten up the mood ! :)

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28 Apr 2022 18:08 #241536 by snowgoer540
Looking great as always! Thanks for sharing Tommy!
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28 Apr 2022 18:19 #241538 by tommylight
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02 May 2022 13:15 #241848 by shpatb
Looks nice !
Awesome work as always.
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05 May 2022 23:18 #242084 by machinedude
very nice looking Tommy.

seeing the comment about the imports and lack of consumables made me look back to the plasma unit i just bought a few months ago. they had nothing stocked at the time but after seeing this i checked again to find they eventually got the straight torch and consumables for the hand torch in stock now. i am half tempted to just buy the straight torch now since they only have 3 of those in stock just so i have it for later :)
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22 May 2022 23:22 #243581 by tommylight
Finally finished one of the three from the last batch, except the side skirts, those will have to wait a bit as the price of metal is just going up here, very close to 2 Euro/Kg!!!
Notice the torch cable going over the plastic control box = interference testing, as can be seen it does not care even with the electronics being 7Cm far from the cable while firing the torch.


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On a same topic, the first machine from this series got a transplant, yanked the 7i92 (now in the machine above) and all relays, put in a Mesa 7i96. What a difference in space and installation time it makes.
Still waiting for another 2 of Mesa 7i92 and a Mesa 7i95, so the machine with 7i96 has LAM Technologies drives with Boost feature so i will add encoders to the motors promptly and implement RodW's "boost while accelerating" feature instead of my "boost when skipping steps" feature. Much better preventing skips than correcting for them.
Hmmm ... i forgot to take pictures of how the box looks now... :(
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28 May 2022 12:18 #244054 by machinedude
those plastic boxes are one way to cut the cost down a little bit. the last two i have bought are the exact same style you have. the metal ones are nice but the cost is the big factor. the only thing i noticed was the size of them being limited and on the smallish side making things tight to fit into them. i guess from the looks of things if you run your wires right noise is not an issue.

i hate to even price the metal ones lately i'm sure the price has went up quite a bit since the last one i bought. it seems like everyone is doing the same thing waiting to see if prices come down any but i have my doubts that will happen any time soon or at all. i have found myself trying to make stuff from odds an ends more and more lately just so i can hide from the price shock :)
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29 May 2022 21:53 #244156 by tommylight
Here is how the big machine looks like with the touch screen monitor bolted onto it:

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Here is the control box with the Mesa 7i96 and LAM Technologies drives (there is a Leadshine there also), much nicer now:

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And here is one of the plasma sources with the Mesa THCAD attached to it's back. This is how i usually do this:

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And this one is for PhillC :)
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