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Posted by Bob Engelhardt on March 25, 2007, 7:59 pm
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I've been playing around with my new plasma cutter and the first thing
that I've learned is that I will not be cutting freehand, at least not
any time soon. So I made a circle cutting guide that works really
nicely and I was thinking about a straight cut guide, when it occurred
to me: instead of moving the torch over the stationary material, how
about moving the material under a stationary torch? It would work like
a table saw. In fact, how about adapting an old table saw to a plasma
cutter?
You could "rip" with it, or use the miter guage. Cutting to a line with
a miter guage would be a lot faster than clamping a straight edge with
the right offset. Cutting to a pattern would probably be easier with 2
hands guiding the pattern against the torch. Hey - you could have a #5
lens fastened in front of the torch for helmet/goggles free cutting.
It could have a water pan for "swarf" collection & fume extraction would
be a lot easier with a fixed torch. If the fume extractor worked really
well, you could use it inside! Foot pedal arc control. The torch
would have to be easily removed for off-table use.
Limitations: really big pieces of material (4 x 8 sheets or 20' lengths).
But I'm a newbie at this plasma cutting thing and sometimes I get
carried away solving problems that don't really exist. What do you guys
think?
Thanks,
Bob
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Posted by Steve B on March 25, 2007, 8:14 pm
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> I've been playing around with my new plasma cutter and the first thing
> that I've learned is that I will not be cutting freehand, at least not any
> time soon. So I made a circle cutting guide that works really nicely and
> I was thinking about a straight cut guide, when it occurred to me:
> instead of moving the torch over the stationary material, how about moving
> the material under a stationary torch? It would work like a table saw.
> In fact, how about adapting an old table saw to a plasma cutter?
>
> You could "rip" with it, or use the miter guage. Cutting to a line with a
> miter guage would be a lot faster than clamping a straight edge with the
> right offset. Cutting to a pattern would probably be easier with 2 hands
> guiding the pattern against the torch. Hey - you could have a #5 lens
> fastened in front of the torch for helmet/goggles free cutting.
>
> It could have a water pan for "swarf" collection & fume extraction would
> be a lot easier with a fixed torch. If the fume extractor worked really
> well, you could use it inside! Foot pedal arc control. The torch would
> have to be easily removed for off-table use.
>
> Limitations: really big pieces of material (4 x 8 sheets or 20' lengths).
>
> But I'm a newbie at this plasma cutting thing and sometimes I get carried
> away solving problems that don't really exist. What do you guys think?
>
> Thanks,
> Bob
Lots of people told Henry Ford he was an idiot.
I can see where long cuts and big cuts would take special prep, but the idea
sounds very logical and sensible. Just about all you would have to do is
set up a fence. They sell the little single roller ball bearing things that
you could make a planar surface with. ( I can't recall their actual name
right now.) That would allow you to do bigger things without having to have
a carriage and more support. It would also allow you to keep it very clean,
as the slag wouldn't even get to the roller balls.
Keep us posted.
Most good things start with ideas we get while not trying to get them. Or
at that 2 AM piss stop.
Steve
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Posted by Jim C Roberts on March 25, 2007, 8:26 pm
Please log in for more thread options Greetings all,
Great idea, Bob! Button rollers on, say, 12" centers, 6'x6' table, torch
center mounted or better yet adjustable along one axis, 90 deg. out from rip
fence. Catch can/pan water filled under torch, exhaust pulling out right
around pan on bottom, just over torch on top. Provided the torch was
solidly attached and you can maintain a good ground, I'd say you have a good
idea in the making. You might even consider utilizing a belt on the rip
fence, with rollers on each end, to prevent binding or dragging.
Best of luck,
Jim
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Posted by Jon on March 25, 2007, 8:38 pm
Please log in for more thread options
> I've been playing around with my new plasma cutter and the first thing
> that I've learned is that I will not be cutting freehand, at least not any
> time soon. So I made a circle cutting guide that works really nicely and
> I was thinking about a straight cut guide, when it occurred to me:
> instead of moving the torch over the stationary material, how about moving
> the material under a stationary torch? It would work like a table saw.
> In fact, how about adapting an old table saw to a plasma cutter?
>
> You could "rip" with it, or use the miter guage. Cutting to a line with a
> miter guage would be a lot faster than clamping a straight edge with the
> right offset. Cutting to a pattern would probably be easier with 2 hands
> guiding the pattern against the torch. Hey - you could have a #5 lens
> fastened in front of the torch for helmet/goggles free cutting.
>
> It could have a water pan for "swarf" collection & fume extraction would
> be a lot easier with a fixed torch. If the fume extractor worked really
> well, you could use it inside! Foot pedal arc control. The torch would
> have to be easily removed for off-table use.
>
> Limitations: really big pieces of material (4 x 8 sheets or 20' lengths).
>
> But I'm a newbie at this plasma cutting thing and sometimes I get carried
> away solving problems that don't really exist. What do you guys think?
>
> Thanks,
> Bob
The only downside I see to it is the space that it consumes. But, if you
have plenty of space, and do enough of that sort of work to justify it, then
go for it.
You might also consider making up a straight guide that clamps to an
existing workbench. Put it on when you need it, put it away when you don't.
Let us know what the outcome is.
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Posted by Pete C. on March 25, 2007, 10:08 pm
Please log in for more thread options Jon wrote:
>
> > I've been playing around with my new plasma cutter and the first thing
> > that I've learned is that I will not be cutting freehand, at least not any
> > time soon. So I made a circle cutting guide that works really nicely and
> > I was thinking about a straight cut guide, when it occurred to me:
> > instead of moving the torch over the stationary material, how about moving
> > the material under a stationary torch? It would work like a table saw.
> > In fact, how about adapting an old table saw to a plasma cutter?
> >
> > You could "rip" with it, or use the miter guage. Cutting to a line with a
> > miter guage would be a lot faster than clamping a straight edge with the
> > right offset. Cutting to a pattern would probably be easier with 2 hands
> > guiding the pattern against the torch. Hey - you could have a #5 lens
> > fastened in front of the torch for helmet/goggles free cutting.
> >
> > It could have a water pan for "swarf" collection & fume extraction would
> > be a lot easier with a fixed torch. If the fume extractor worked really
> > well, you could use it inside! Foot pedal arc control. The torch would
> > have to be easily removed for off-table use.
> >
> > Limitations: really big pieces of material (4 x 8 sheets or 20' lengths).
> >
> > But I'm a newbie at this plasma cutting thing and sometimes I get carried
> > away solving problems that don't really exist. What do you guys think?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Bob
>
> The only downside I see to it is the space that it consumes. But, if you
> have plenty of space, and do enough of that sort of work to justify it, then
> go for it.
>
> You might also consider making up a straight guide that clamps to an
> existing workbench. Put it on when you need it, put it away when you don't.
> Let us know what the outcome is.
When you take up that much space with the rig (and effort building it)
you may as well go all out and build a CNC plasma table given the
relatively low cost to do so these days.
Pete C.
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> that I've learned is that I will not be cutting freehand, at least not any
> time soon. So I made a circle cutting guide that works really nicely and
> I was thinking about a straight cut guide, when it occurred to me:
> instead of moving the torch over the stationary material, how about moving
> the material under a stationary torch? It would work like a table saw.
> In fact, how about adapting an old table saw to a plasma cutter?
>
> You could "rip" with it, or use the miter guage. Cutting to a line with a
> miter guage would be a lot faster than clamping a straight edge with the
> right offset. Cutting to a pattern would probably be easier with 2 hands
> guiding the pattern against the torch. Hey - you could have a #5 lens
> fastened in front of the torch for helmet/goggles free cutting.
>
> It could have a water pan for "swarf" collection & fume extraction would
> be a lot easier with a fixed torch. If the fume extractor worked really
> well, you could use it inside! Foot pedal arc control. The torch would
> have to be easily removed for off-table use.
>
> Limitations: really big pieces of material (4 x 8 sheets or 20' lengths).
>
> But I'm a newbie at this plasma cutting thing and sometimes I get carried
> away solving problems that don't really exist. What do you guys think?
>
> Thanks,
> Bob