CNC Plasma Table recommendations

c9crewchief · Sat Feb 28, 2015 1:27 am

Hi All,

I am Looking for a CNC Plasma table and noticed Jody was playing with a Plasma Cam table in one of his videos. Any suggestions? The only one I have looked into so far is the Plasma cam. I know there are several different products out there but was hoping anyone here in forum land has hands on experience with them. Some of the Plasma cam reviews are way out of wack. two guys swear by it then three guys slam back by calling the plasma cam the biggest P.O.S. ever made and only good reviews are by employees. Any and all suggestions would be great.

Thanks

Artie F. Emm · Sat Feb 28, 2015 8:35 am

Are you thinking to DIY it, buy components, and build it yourself? I've been watching some threads on other welding forums documenting the process.

c9crewchief · Sat Feb 28, 2015 1:03 pm

Artie F. Emm wrote:Are you thinking to DIY it, buy components, and build it yourself? I've been watching some threads on other welding forums documenting the process.

No. Im thinking about buying something small like a 4x4 table to get used to working with it. I have a decent size shop at home and want to put it in there for now but later be able to move it to a bigger building. I am in school for welding technology and manufacturing right now with a year and a half left. I am going to open a shop when im done with school. Today is going to be a research day and I think I have seen every video out there on the plasma cam. I like to do my research, heck it took me a month to decide on a tig machine. If anyone knows of any other brands of tables I would appreciate it.

nickn372 · Mon Mar 02, 2015 11:37 pm

I have the plasma cams big brother the Samson table. It's 5x10 not 4x4. Plasma cams software is easy to understand for dopes like me that don't have much if any CAD experience. If you get a table buying the highest quality plasma cutter you can afford is best. I'd watch ebay for a while. Deals come up sometimes on these things. Just be sure you are informed on what you are buying.

c9crewchief · Tue Mar 03, 2015 12:24 pm

nickn372 wrote:I have the plasma cams big brother the Samson table. It's 5x10 not 4x4. Plasma cams software is easy to understand for dopes like me that don't have much if any CAD experience. If you get a table buying the highest quality plasma cutter you can afford is best. I'd watch ebay for a while. Deals come up sometimes on these things. Just be sure you are informed on what you are buying.

That's what i've been told on the plasma cutter so im researching the hypertherm 85. How is plasma cams customer service? I've heard they charge an arm and a leg for tech support and the machines are always broke.

Braehill · Tue Mar 03, 2015 2:16 pm

c9cc,
Have you looked a the gotorch? It looks like an affordable option for a hobbyist @ around $3000 and it uses a regular torch so you don't have to buy a machine torch. I'm no expert but I was checking price points awhile ago and that one caught my eye.

Len

nickn372 · Tue Mar 03, 2015 10:59 pm

Ummmm well their tech support is free so idk where that one came from and mine has burned quite a bit of material without issue. I had to change one of the sensors in the one motor but that as due to an electrical issue in my building not because it was a cheap piece. If you have a machine with a serial number to your name you also have access to an owners forum similar to this one where you can ask questions and get answers specific to plasmacams. My one problem with them is that I was told the warranty will transfer from one owner to the next and it doesn't. So if you get a one year old machine that has barely any use don't expect the warranty to follow it to you. It is a good entry level, hobbyist or job shop machine but I wouldn't expect to run daily production orders with it. Mine runs on average 5 to 6 hours a week and it's easy to keep up with.

xd40packer · Wed Mar 04, 2015 1:01 pm

I purchased my Plasma cam setup about 10 years ago. Having had zero experience with such things I found the learning curve to be quite high. I run a Thermal Dynamics Cutmaster 81 and it works great. There are gremlins that are an ongoing issue, digital height control has never worked properly and all too often communication issues between the machine and it's ability to talk with the other components crop up and ruin your day. Tech support is now free, I used to have to pay for it and it was no bargain.

When the planets align it is lots of fun and can be a real money maker, I would definitely buy again.

WerkSpace · Wed Mar 04, 2015 1:46 pm

If I were going to build an inexpensive CNC plasma table, I'd build it from scratch.
The free LinuxCNC program has been around for a long time. (Previously called EMC2)
Check out their forum. http://www.linuxcnc.org/index.php/english/forum/index

http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/wiki.p ... smaMachine
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=emc2+cnc
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=linux+cnc

jimcolt · Wed Apr 29, 2015 11:26 am

There are a lot of choices in the entry level CNC plasma table market....I count over 25 just from North America. The two biggest players with the most systems installed are Plasmacam and Torchmate. The most popular do it yourself type cnc plasma tables generally use electronics and software from www.candcnc.com .

I have a 2 Plasmacam tables, 2 x 2 and 4 x 4 as well as a 2 x 4 Torchmate. The Plasmacam 4 x 4 has been in my shop (currently has a Powermax85 plasma) for almost 10 years. Extremely reliable and it has paid for itself a few times over....even though I am mostly a hobby shop. The software is easy to learn, easy to use, and one of the most important features (on any cnc plasma), the height control is flawless. Now Plasmacam had two earlier models that had height controls that were problematic......so if you are looking at older machines beware!

Typical job on my machine. A local business needed 800 1/8" thick shim plates for a construction job.....their regular supplier said two weeks lead time.....they needed them in 2 days. I took the job, spend less than two hours cutting and cleared over $800.00. Push the button and go do something else in the shop.....come back when the machine stops.

Jim Colt

: shim job 004.jpg (51.59 KiB) Viewed 1814 times

: shim job 001.jpg (66.63 KiB) Viewed 1814 times

ldbtx · Wed Apr 29, 2015 11:38 am

Keith Fenner of Turn Wright Machine Works has a large (4' X 8' IIRC) PlasmaCAM setup in his shop. Lots of videos featuring it on his YouTube channel. He seems to be very happy with it. Uses it for one-offs, production and art projects. Just search from Keith Fenner in YouTube.

ldb