The Craftmans Shop > New from Old
Titivating A CNC Plasma Table
awemawson:
No nice as they may be I don't want this to turn into a long & protracted learning curve. I have a spare Dell Optiplex ultra small form factor with an SSD fitted that'll do the job.
I've made a little progress in that I've been spending money on needed bits - I've sourced:
1/ a nice 800 x 600 x 300 Schneider electrical cabinet
2/ a blower that claims to shift 3900 cu/M/ an hour
3/ some jumbo non-flammable air hose 315 mm i/d
4/ some mammoth Jubilee clips to stick them together
5/ and a wall plate to get the fumes outside
Meanwhile my sketch for the under duct / inverted hood thing is with a sheet metal work place I didn't previously know existed only just over 1/2 mile from the house - hopefully getting a quote to me tomorrow :ddb:
awemawson:
A bit more dismantling progress this morning:
The down draught exhaust duct is going in from the top, so the slats that support the work piece need to come off as well as the slat supports. Simple pull out for the slats - these are expendable, and inevitably get cut to pieces in use.
I've furnished myself with a complete new set, but obviously will only introduce them as needed - for the time being I've sorted the old ones into an acceptable pile and a grotty pile, and then removed the box section that supports them. One is rather bowed - not that it shows much in the picture, but I'm going to have to re-work them anyway, as the duct metal will be trapped by them to the frame, so the supports will need shortening by two metal thicknesses. I will probably introduce a third support that will have slots out of phase with the other two, allowing the slats to be held in a curve. This minimises slat cutting when rectangular parts are being cut.
The chap who built this welded a bit of 75 x 4 mm plate to the side frame to aid aligning big sheets - this will need cutting off before the duct is installed as it's in the way, also there are mysterious 'lumps' welded on in places that need dressing off for the same reason
awemawson:
So now I need to work out how to temporarily hook it back up to it's drive electronics so that I can move the gantry up and down, while I wheel it outside to attack those extraneous bits with an angle grinder :scratch:
(The angle grinder is banned from the 'clean' workshop :clap: )
awemawson:
Well looking again at the plate he'd welded on the solution was obvious :bang:
He'd not made it full length as obviously the gantry was fitted before he fixed it, drive the gantry down the far end and all is exposed. OK still meant lashing the electronics back on, but no need to make them 'portable' when I drag the table outside for fettling :ddb:
awemawson:
Not a lot done today - the morning was taken up by an interrogation by the local Planning Authority's consultant 'farming adviser' over my application for planning permission for a tractor shed. I wasn't looking forward to it, but in the event he went away convinced it WAS needed for agricultural purposes (honest!) and I almost managed to sell him a freezer pack of lamb :ddb:
By the time he'd left, the heavens opened and there was no chance of pulling the table out side for grinding - so how to proceed :scratch: Then I remembered a recent 'impulse purchase' of a rather nice electric Die Grinder - this was occasioned by not being able to dress welds back as neatly as I'd wanted to on the Flail Mower - the usual 'fixing the previous problem' purchase :lol:
...well the Die Grinder hasn't been banned from the clean workshop, as after all it doesn't chuck grinding dust everywhere, only filings, and as it's Tungsten Carbide bit is a small diameter they don't go far anyway :thumbup:
So I ground back the welds aiming to weaken them enough to break them and leave the parent metal untouched - largely successful but a bit of filler before a coat of paint will hide any imperfections.
The locating bar came off nicely, then I attacked that odd 'lump' on the inside of the frame only to discover that in fact there were three of them. I suspect he had had the slat supports running at right angles to where they are now, and these are the artefacts surviving his re-make. Well off they came and with a bit of hand filing everything got dressed back to an acceptable level allowing the duct to fit (I hope - still not got the quote yet)
Anyway - have some pictures
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version