Plasma cutter idea

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

Reply to
Bob Engelhardt
Loading thread data ...

CNC is not in my future - the $800 I spent on the plasma cutter was at the budget limit.

I don't generally cut large stuff, so if & when I do, a special set up is acceptable. I'd like the everyday small stuff to be convenient. Taking the cutter outside & dragging out a cutting table is the major inconvenience that I'd like to change. But having it inside really depends upon good fume extraction, which is much easier with a fixed-torch cutter. I plan on some experiments with fume extraction.

Today I cut a 9" square out of a circular piece of 3/16" mild steel. This is typical of my cutting jobs, so a table-saw sized set up would be appropriate. Another typical job is cutting pieces out of PC cases, also small enough.

I found that microwave oven magnets will hold down a cutting guide, so that's a problem solved (having to clamp down the guide). The work itself still needs to be clamped & avoiding that would be convenient.

For now I'm going to build a quick-and-dirty cutting table (bed frame angle) and get some more experience with my cutter. I'm kinda' keen on this idea, so there's a good chance that I'll build it, someday. If & when I do, I'll be sure to show it off here.

Thanks, Bob

Reply to
Bob Engelhardt

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.