homebrew CNC plasma cutter - crazy?

Dec 28, 2005 8 Replies

I have an unused Numonics 5460 pen plotter that I used for Autocad stuff back in my land surveyor days. I wonder if I could use the electronics and controls to drive a home-made carriage over a 24" x 36" flat bed. Is this just too insane or what? It almost seems possible.


If I had one I'd try it for sure! Send it to me and I WILL try it. However, don't have that be a testament to my sanity. A lot of guys on this ng have done some pretty insane sh-t. They made it work too. Good luck. Pictures please.

-Mike

You might want to cross post this to rec.crafts.metalworking.

-Mike

Do you think it would have the driving power to push the cables of a plasma torch about.

Steve

People do it, but it seems to be too large an effort to build a complete system cheaply and with enough quality. All the little stuff and trinkets add up to too much.

What people also do is build CNC laser cutters.

i

Good to hear someone else would entertain such a crazy idea. If it happens you bet there will be pictures at the metalworking drop box.

Don't know yet - I'm gonna look at it's inards to see if the circuitry can be made to handle larger drive motors and also try to find specs on real ones like PlasmaCAM or others.

Indeed. The college where I'm studying instrumentation and contols technology does have some nice robotic stuff that is somewhat mothballed. I can just see it being put to use on a CNC machine. I need to see an actual small CNC plasma machine for reference.

Someone built a wood router from a plotter or a large X-Y recorder, I saw the pictures myself. Try googling a little bit.

i

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