DIY Laser alignment setup for Plasma system

[DesertFabworks]

I recently added on a laser alignment system for my Precision Plasma table. I took a drill press laser alignment kit and modified it a little to work with my plasma system. It took about 15 minutes to make the mods and get everything hooked up.

I drilled an tapped a couple of small holes in the plasma torch mount so that I could lock down the laser system. The laser system was nearly a perfect fit. It was a little too thin for a perfect fit. I used some foam with a thickness of .19 and cut it too fit on top of the laser system.

This made the system a perfect snug fit. The screws keep things aligned and allow repeat-ability if the mount is removed and re-installed.

The system was easy to align. While a laser is not needed its a neat tool add on for $30 bucks that makes aligning a starting point a little easier, and in the rare case things get messed up during a cut, with pin point cross hairs you can get back to a known point.

I saw some other commercial products from $70 - $199 going to give this a try and see how it works.

[dgeorgester]

Very nice setup. I"m just wondering if a little guard would be required to keep the flying sparks from sticking and building up onto the plastic??? Maybe wrapping the the unit in reflective foil.

[Granite]

Nice work! Where can we buy the $30 drill press laser unit?

[DesertFabworks]

The place where I got mine was Woodcraft.com

Here is a link to the page: http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/208270 ... hment.aspx

In case the link does not work just type in laser on there search bar.

I would love it if the thing was made out of aluminum and not plastic but good luck finding a milled aluminum part like that for $30. I'm working on building up a CNC router mill when I'm done I think making an aluminum version will be one of my first projects.

[Craig]

For about $13 including AC adaptor and toggle switch, I made this rig. You can buy a cross laser module on ebay for about $5. Mine mounts on a snap n cut (http://www.snapncut.com/) magnetic breakaway torch holder connected to a DHC2 Plasmacam table.

I ran the DC cable back to the computer cart along the torch cable and placed the switch on the side of the computer cart so I don't have to go to the table to turn it on and the lighted LED in the switch helps remind me when I leave it on.

Because the laser rides on the Z axis, at only one height will the laser and the nozzle tip be in alignment, I use the ?Rapid travel height?. I mainly use it for rough positioning and to make sure new cut don't end up in old cuts. It also help keep an old man from having to do the X Y sighting shuffle at my table.

The only thing I would change would to use more heat shrink protecting the DC wires, sparks burned through one in about a year.

Craig Johnson

[dgeorgester]

I didn't have a laser on mine, so here's a little trick I would use to align the tip a previous cut (when indexing on a 4 x 4 table). I'm not sure about other types of plasma cutters, but on the Cutmasters, after pressing the test button on the Plasmacam controller the air would stay on for a bit.

sooo...
1 - move the tip near the end of the last cut
2 - move the z axis all the way up
3 - press test to get a quick blast of plasma and get the air flowing
4 - bring the tip to about 1/8 from the plate
5 - you will hear a distinctive difference in sound when you're over the cut or over metal.

This works better when the previous cut is parallel to the machine's x or y axis. It takes a bit of practice, but for me I could start my cut extremely close the end of the last cut. It would at least confirm the "by-eye-alignement". Also works great for confirming the plate edge.

Of course... if it's just soapstone marks... fugget bout it.

Georges

[BS Cutter]

Available on Amazon also. I just ordered it from there.

[adbuch]

This is an interesting post, and one I had not seen before. As the owner of a Plasmacam table, this particularly piqued my interest. Great information and thanks to Craig for his post.

David

[Lee0110]

It's great to hear that you were able to modify a drill press laser alignment kit to work with your Precision Plasma table and create a custom solution at a fraction of the cost of commercial products. Using foam to snugly fit the laser system into place was a clever idea and it's good to know that it allows for repeat-ability if the mount needs to be removed and re-installed.

Having a laser alignment system can definitely make aligning a starting point easier and can be a useful tool to get back to a known point if things go wrong during a cut. It's always satisfying to create custom solutions and save money in the process. Thanks for sharing your experience and I hope the system works well for you!