Hi everyone!

[Fabbedlife91]

New member and boy do I wish I found this forum before I spent the last two years with trial and error on my table (especially when cutting 1/4” stainless ) I own and operate a small fab shop specializing in custom signs, bumpers, gates, just about any job that I can get. I run a arclight pro 4x8 with a hypertherm powermax 65 and love the auto torch height control ( awesome for anyone learning ) currently taking classes for fusion 360 so I can do away with the days of cardboard mock ups for my custom jobs and have been perfecting a process of laser printing images for my powder coated signs as well as laser etching designs into powder coated parts. Happy to explain the process! Here to learn and share what I’ve learned through my mistakes!

[adbuch]

Welcome aboard! I just saw your post with your custom built front bumper assembly. Great work on that one. One of the nice things about the Arclight Dynamics tables is that $300 auto trace add-on. If you purchased one for your table, then you know how very handy they can be for quickly turning your cardboard template into a cut ready dxf file. If you don't already have one, then here is a demo video showing one of them in action.





I actually have one mounted to one of my Avid CNC router tables and it simply works great! A bit thanks to Les Newall for the Scanything software package.

Fusion 360 is a great program for solid modeling and 2D cutting, and fun to use as well. Langmuir Systems has some great Fusion 360 tutorial videos.

https://www.langmuirsystems.com/software/fusion

I also highly recommend the Fusion 360 video lessons by Arnold Rowntree. These were a great help to me several years ago when I was making the transition from SolidWorks to Fusion 360. I find Fusion 360 easier to use due to the friendly user interface.



Please tell us more about your laser etching and engraving. What kind of setup are you using? Perhaps share a few photos showing your laser setup and some of your laser projects.

Thanks,
David

[Fabbedlife91]

Welcome aboard! I just saw your post with your custom built front bumper assembly. Great work on that one. One of the nice things about the Arclight Dynamics tables is that $300 auto trace add-on. If you purchased one for your table, then you know how very handy they can be for quickly turning your cardboard template into a cut ready dxf file. If you don't already have one, then here is a demo video showing one of them in action.

I actually have one mounted to one of my Avid CNC router tables and it simply works great! A bit thanks to Les Newall for the Scanything software package.

Fusion 360 is a great program for solid modeling and 2D cutting, and fun to use as well. Langmuir Systems has some great Fusion 360 tutorial videos.

I also highly recommend the Fusion 360 video lessons by Arnold Rowntree. These were a great help to me several years ago when I was making the transition from SolidWorks to Fusion 360. I find Fusion 360 easier to use due to the friendly user interface.

Please tell us more about your laser etching and engraving. What kind of setup are you using? Perhaps share a few photos showing your laser setup and some of your laser projects.

Thanks,
David

Thanks David!

I have the auto trace it’s definitely handy for anything with some weird geometry I’ve been looking into the trace board with the instant transfer to DXF rather than relying on the camera system (I don’t have the best lighting in the shop so I have to block out a few windows to get the auto trace to work right) thanks for the advise with fusion 360 I will definitely be watching that video tonight!

I don’t have the laser setup it’s a friend in town that runs a custom engraving/ hats/ stuff like that but hopefully I am getting one soon! Looking to upgrade to a full laser table setup for cleaner cuts on my manufactured pieces I cut for a few companies in town.

Also if anyone knows how the patent process works I need some help with my happy hooker auto set Ice fishing creation.

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[Joe Jones]

As much as I love DesignEdge, I sure wish PlasmaCam would add an auto-trace module to the software. I would gladly pay their $998.00 fee for the upgrade.

Joe

[adbuch]

Thanks David!

I have the auto trace it’s definitely handy for anything with some weird geometry I’ve been looking into the trace board with the instant transfer to DXF rather than relying on the camera system (I don’t have the best lighting in the shop so I have to block out a few windows to get the auto trace to work right) thanks for the advise with fusion 360 I will definitely be watching that video tonight!

The best "trace board" I have found is the GTCO CalComp digitizing board. Combined with the Logic Trace software package from John Walsh, this setup is hard to beat. I've got several of these digitizing boards ranging in size from 12" x 18" up to the 44" x 60" large one. I've been using them now for about 6 years and they do work as advertised. One of the fellow members - Stan Kern - does quite a bit with them and has some great demonstration videos. Stan goes by the alias " vancematsalla " here on this site, but operates under his own name over at the Sawmill Creek wood working forum. Here is a link to his site.

https://stankern.vids.io/tags/ac96d1b71 ... wing-board

Here is a recent post by Stan on this forum.

https://www.plasmaspider.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=35210

Let me know if you have any specific questions about the CalComp system and I will try to answer them for you.

David