Plasma cnc

[Sumboodie]

Langmiur and Arc Droid both have Black's Friday sales.

Langmiur is $2294.89 with shipping, THC and the little water table. Need a laptop and programs to run it. And know CAD (non cardboard CAD)

Arc Droid is $2499. Free shipping, thc is standard and has a tracer (can trace out cardboard (real CAD) parts and cut))
A table either fab or a cheap one is like $200-300.

Kind of leaning toward the Arc Droid. Portable, uses less room, tracer, computer not needed, it's standalone.
Little bit more $$, but not a huge difference ($200)

 

[GeoBruin]

Sounds like you understand the differences. I will say you will want to learn some kind of CAD regardless which direction you go. Not everything can you or will you want to cardboard CAD before cutting. Design iterations are a lot easier/faster in virtual space.

As for the size, if you really will take advantage of the portability of the arcdroid and it will actually get put away from the to time, that's a big difference. That said, I feel like most people get it set up, get their table/water table dialed, and don't want to go though the hassle of moving it after that, so in that circumstance, they take up similar space.

Disclaimer: I don't own either but want both.

Edit: Nevermind. I just ordered an Arcdroid. I'm weak.

 

[speed bump]

I would go with the langmuir personally. I bought the tracer for our table at work and I think I'm the only one who used it (I just did it to try it out).

With software like inkscape you can take a picture, scale a known dimension in cad and have the picture traced out probably faster than you can trace the object. Then if you need to modify it, open up whatever cheap or free cad software you decided to go with and make those changes.

 

[Firebrick43]

Langmiur and Arc Droid both have Black's Friday sales.

Langmiur is $2294.89 with shipping, THC and the little water table. Need a laptop and programs to run it. And know CAD (non cardboard CAD)

Arc Droid is $2499. Free shipping, thc is standard and has a tracer (can trace out cardboard (real CAD) parts and cut))
A table either fab or a cheap one is like $200-300.

Kind of leaning toward the Arc Droid. Portable, uses less room, tracer, computer not needed, it's standalone.
Little bit more $$, but not a huge difference ($200)

Many CAD programs now have the ability to insert a well taken photograph to draw off of.

I use Fusion 360, which call it inserting a “canvas”

You just take a pic of your “cardboard” or whatever, and measure a feature on it. You can also draw a 1” line or whatever dimension you desire.

When you place the photo you can scale it by click on two points (such as the end of the 1” line) and entering what dimension it is to scale the photo to true size.

Now you can draw the part in CAD on top of the canvas quickly and easily.

Not long ago I needed a.spacer for a hydraulic valve for clearance.

Took a photo, drew a line around the perimeter and laid out the holes. And in 45 min I had the spacer off of my 3D printer. And a few weeks later when I had some other parts laser cut I threw it in with them.

 

[Jswain]

Sounds like you understand the differences. I will say you will want to learn some kind of CAD regardless which direction you go. Not everything can you or will you want to cardboard CAD before cutting. Design iterations are a lot easier/faster in virtual space.

As for the size, if you really will take advantage of the portability of the arcdroid and it will actually get put away from the to time, that's a big difference. That said, I feel like most people get it set up, get their table/water table dialed, and don't want to go though the hassle of moving it after that, so in that circumstance, they take up similar space.

Disclaimer: I don't own either but want both.

Edit: Nevermind. I just ordered an Arcdroid. I'm weak.

Lmao this is what happens when you read GJ. 2 hours and they got you!

 

[fgauvin7]

I was in the same situation last year when I wanted a CNC plasma cutter too, for me the arcdroid was too small to fit some of my parts and I with lamgmuir the base model was not big enough too. The XR was a good option but a lot more costly.

I ended up building my own table with a MyPlasm controller and software and it works just fine! I built it with a 26x50in cutting area and having the gantry on le long side means I can extend the table to a 4x4 or a 4x8 in the futur if I ever have more space or needs.

 

[Sumboodie]

After some thinking, I decided the $2500 is better put in a savings account for future house build.
Also found my plasma cutter isn't the right type for cnc, so there's another $300-500 for a cheap one.

I dug around Cut Send Cut and it's not much more than what I can buy raw steel for. Maybe cheaper even.
Like some tabs I built for a hydraulic cylinder in 1/2" were $8 each.
I spent probably 3-4 hours with a grinder and mag drill making those. "Free" from rusty old steel I had, but ~$35 and having what i need in maybe a week, or less, can't beat that.

Aside from something I'd need right away, which I can just cut by hand anyhow, it seems it's the better choice for me.

Cut send cut uses lasers too so way more accurate than plasma cutter.

If it was maybe $1000 total I could "waste" that, but ~$3k... that's over a month's wages after taxes and basic living expenses are covered.

 

[DAVE94LIGHTNING]

After some thinking, I decided the $2500 is better put in a savings account for future house build.
Also found my plasma cutter isn't the right type for cnc, so there's another $300-500 for a cheap one.

I dug around Cut Send Cut and it's not much more than what I can buy raw steel for. Maybe cheaper even.
Like some tabs I built for a hydraulic cylinder in 1/2" were $8 each.
I spent probably 3-4 hours with a grinder and mag drill making those. "Free" from rusty old steel I had, but ~$35 and having what i need in maybe a week, or less, can't beat that.

Aside from something I'd need right away, which I can just cut by hand anyhow, it seems it's the better choice for me.

Cut send cut uses lasers too so way more accurate than plasma cutter.

If it was maybe $1000 total I could "waste" that, but ~$3k... that's over a month's wages after taxes and basic living expenses are covered.

I went through this a little while ago and came to the same conclusion. Saved me a bunch of $$ and more importantly shop space. I use send cut send monthly for my projects and its a game changer.

 

[Firebrick43]

After some thinking, I decided the $2500 is better put in a savings account for future house build.
Also found my plasma cutter isn't the right type for cnc, so there's another $300-500 for a cheap one.

I dug around Cut Send Cut and it's not much more than what I can buy raw steel for. Maybe cheaper even.
Like some tabs I built for a hydraulic cylinder in 1/2" were $8 each.
I spent probably 3-4 hours with a grinder and mag drill making those. "Free" from rusty old steel I had, but ~$35 and having what i need in maybe a week, or less, can't beat that.

Aside from something I'd need right away, which I can just cut by hand anyhow, it seems it's the better choice for me.

Cut send cut uses lasers too so way more accurate than plasma cutter.

If it was maybe $1000 total I could "waste" that, but ~$3k... that's over a month's wages after taxes and basic living expenses are covered.

I made that choice as well. I have a local laser cutter for larger projects and sendcutsend for small ones. Unless I had ALRO deliver several full size sheets and then I would have to handle them and knock them down in size, it wasn't financially worth it.

 

[cvairwerks]

You could always build the XL unit from JD's Garage....plans are 25$ and it's a couple hundred in parts. Wouldn't have to drop all the cash at once to build it.

 

[Sumboodie]

You could always build the XL unit from JD's Garage....plans are 25$ and it's a couple hundred in parts. Wouldn't have to drop all the cash at once to build it.

Not familiar with them but last thing I need is yet another project just to get actual projects done.

 

[GeoBruin]

It's here!

 

[Sumboodie]

It work decent?

 

[Jswain]

It work decent?

@GeoBruin gonna have some videos for us soon don't you worry

 

[GeoBruin]

@GeoBruin gonna have some videos for us soon don't you worry

Oh the saga has begun. I didn't have the cnc interface port on my plasma cutter so I had to order one of those from Hypertherm. Then I couldn't decide if I wanted to cut into my hand torch to disable the safety mechanism or order a machine torch, but because this is Garage Journal, I ordered the Machine torch of course. Anyway, we're waiting on Mr Post man now, but soon.

 

[GeoBruin]

CNC interface port arrived and installed. Machine torch also arrived.

From a comparison of the part numbers on Hypertherm's website, all of the manual torch consumable parts are compatible with the machine torch except of course the drag shield. There are dedicated shields and deflectors for machine cutting. Some further research indicates that if your setup has an ohmic sensing torch height control system, you should use the ohmic shield. If not, you should use the deflector. I have ordered a couple deflectors. I understand unshielded consumables will be degrade more quickly but I don't know if I have another option.

Anyhow, the deflectors aren't going to get here by this weekend when I'm hoping to start fiddling with this thing, so I might just turn down an old drag shield in the lathe until it looks close enough for testing purposes.

 

[GeoBruin]

Still waiting on some parts but I had a strange epiphany about where and how to use this thing...