Hello from Virginia

[firethru]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking at buying my first plasma table and contemplating the option of making it truck or trailer mounted and operating a mobile fab business. I saw a few members have done the same and my situation is the same- my wife and I have family in MI, VA, and CA and we like the idea of being mobile and we can escape Michigan winters Currently, I've been looking at non-CDL box trucks for the build.

I'll be reading old posts about table recommendations and hopefully post some potential designs for a mobile rig. I'd love to hear from the other members. If you're near Lynchburg, VA I'll bring beer in exchange for knowledge!

-Mike

[plasmanewbie]

Hey Mike, welcome tot he site! Sounds like a great plan, let us know what you end up buying and I know many of us would love to see your mobile setup if you decide to go that route.

[acourtjester]

HI Mike
One thing for sure do not buy a bolted together table as transporting in a trailer, it will shake it out of shape on each road trip. The other thing is the smoke and dust, Plasma cutting metal produces lots of smoke and the dust is very fine metallic type. You may look at a trailer with opening on both ends for ventilation for the smoke.

[Joe Jones]

HI Mike
One thing for sure do not buy a bolted together table as transporting in a trailer, it will shake it out of shape on each road trip.

BS! I cannot speak for the other rinky-dink tables, but I CAN tell you that If a PlasmaCam or a Samson 510 table is assembled correctly, and it is mounted correctly, and it is SECURED correctly for transport, it will be just fine in a mobile setting.

The other thing is the smoke and dust, Plasma cutting metal produces lots of smoke and the dust is very fine metallic type. You may look at a trailer with opening on both ends for ventilation for the smoke.

I would build a chamber under the truck with filters. Create a downdraft table that pulls the smoke and dust down into the chamber, and expels clean air out the sides and /or rear of the box. As for power, you will need a generator, but you do NOT need an air compressor. You can use larger tanks of super compressed air, and refill them at welding supply stores. You can do a LOT of cutting with these tanks. This will cut down on the noise, and the need for a huge generator, since you would only be driving the plasma cutter and the computer. Depending on what you want to cut, you can probably get away with a Hypertherm 85 or the modern equivalent in the "cartridge" variety.

I designed, (but never built) a trailer for plasma cutting at craft shows. The sides of the box are movable, and would expand out around the table to form an OCTAGON interior space to move around the table. The front edge of the forward panel would move to the rear, and the rear edge of the aft panel would move forward. Think ORIGAMI! This way, a 5x10 table in a trailer would work well, as you could move around the table when the sides are deployed.

Honestly, in this day and age, if I believed America would still be here in 18 months and I were to go mobile as you plan, I would look seriously at putting a FIBER LASER machine into the box. Something like the KERN FIBERCELL 4x8 machine. It requires less power, little smoke and dust, little noise, no compressor, and it will produce superior products every time.

Joe

[firethru]

Thanks for recommendations. I have no allegiance to a plasma table manufacturer. I try to buy American made and value a relationship with them. I've spoke with Shop Sabre so far, but am open to others as well. I am very interested in adding a 4th axis pipe cutter to the table. I'll check out the fiber lasers as well. I'd like to be able to cut at least 3/8" steel.

Joe, you made very good points:

Downdraft table - I had planned on using a water table and draining it to a tank whenever mobile. I'd expect some fumes still and wondered if a walled off area to contain the plasma table would be a wise move. Any thoughts or advice with the water table?

Air Compressor - I wanted to run the plasma table on a Miller Trailblazer welder/generator. However, it's no where near big enough to run an air compressor and a plasma cutter. I've considered an engine driven compressor or buying a big (20kV+) generator instead of the Trailblazer. I'll have to look into the air tanks. I am familiar with the 4500 psi tanks. I'll need to do some math and figure out how many cfm at 90 psi they can provide. If you have experience I'd love to hear more.

Your mobile rig idea- Sounds pretty cool! I am leaning towards the box truck mainly because my old 2001 ram 2500 is getting tired to pull a big trailer and I feel like I get a lot more truck out of a 24-26' box truck than a used 3/4 or 1 ton truck with the insane vehicle prices. Pros and Cons to both...

I have definitely struggled to navigate the world since 2020. I was set up well to buy property and a shop financially, but the housing prices and interest rates came about at an unfortunate time for my life. I have been delaying my desire to fabricate waiting on the perfect shop and job. I recently decided I have the finances and ability to go after it now in a mobile form in a few different locations around the country.

I've thought about farmers markets as a great way to connect with customers and ideally lead into more work and bigger projects. I'm really interested in getting into railings, gates, and architectural steel. I'm taking them all into consideration as I design the rig. If you have any other ideas or links, please send them my way.

Thanks for sharing,

Mike

PS - I enjoyed stumbling upon your Youtube channel, Joe. I would like to do something similar some day.