cnc plasma

[fgl123]

Does anyone have any experience with these setups? I'm liking the idea of having one of these in my shop. What all is involved for a turn key set up? compressor, plasma, cnc set up, computer/ programming? What else? I'm thinking along the lines of 1/4 steel as max for speciality parts and 1/8' for decorative scenes and numbers and such. Point me in the right direction for quality products. I'm a firm believer in getting what you pay for as far as quality goes. Thanks for any replies
George

 

[Gemp]

I would look in a torchmate.....http://torchmate.com/

I have a 1st version plasmacam and I can't believe I haven't scraped that turd yet.

 

[rslaback]

I just purchased and installed a 4x4 Torchmate 3 in my school shop this past summer. I already had a plasma and found a machine torch (which isn't required) for it on craigslist for $120. The total for the machine, watertable, controller software and shipping fell between $8000 and $9000. I did not opt for the ATHC (Automatic Torch Height Control - Basically a Z axis that moves automatically based upon current draw)

So far I love it. The install was fairly easy to install and has worked well for me. One of the things I was pleased to see when I got mine is that the machine will actually write its own G code (cut on vector only, no offset) from an imported dxf file. This allowed me to have my CAD students cut a part or two even though they had no coding experience.

Torchmate does also offer a toolpathing software that you may want to look into. I didn't need it because I already have a toolpathing and design program that I use with my cnc router that can output G code.