Mobile Plasma Table

[RivetsNleaves]

HELLO WORLD...

Hi Plasma Spider community. My name is Abel and I live in SoCal. I am currently building a mobile CNC Torchmate 4x4 table. I am building a mobile table because I envision to get a start up company building a product that requires a cnc plasma table and if I decide to lease a shop I want to make it easy to move the table with out the hassle of breaking down and moving the table. In the mean while I plan on traveling with the table locally to do a few jobs on site and to no overwhelm my self with overhead I want to do as much as I can without compiling overhead costs to my start up. Any how Here is a vide of my set up on my Youtube Channel:http://www.youtube.com/@terratorre TerraTorre.

Enjoy and please subscribe and come along for the ride:

https://youtu.be/oInUVspsDLw?si=fIqf7ejCXdUOURgw

[05Duramax]

Very interesting, will def have a look at your channel. Curious to see your air pump setup run. Best of luck with your mission, sounds exciting.

[adbuch]

This looks interesting. I am assuming from your block diagram that you are intending to use a separate v8 engine as an air pump and drive it from another engine? It will be interesting to see how this works for you. Please keep us posted.
David

[TJS]

This concept was done back in the late 1940s to 1950s. Company called Hesse and General Supply called the GS260 hornet.They used a Willy's engine. The center two cylinders pumped the air and the outer two cylinders ran the engine. The cylinder head was a special configuration for this as there were also complicated unloader and loader valves, governors and such. I have one of these and it is a beast. It runs and produces air. On the back of my Dad's old GMC square body welding truck.

[abmetal]

There was also a company, maybe the same one, that made a conversion kit for the model A engine. I remember my Dad converting a model A frame with the converted motor to a trailer. It made an excellent mobile compressor.

Allen

[Joe Jones]

Not knowing much about what you plan to produce, I think that if I were to make a plasma table mobile, I would equip a trailer with perhaps three or four large tanks of compressed air that could be swapped out or refilled at any AIRGAS location or other welding supply store, or diving center. These would be tanks with "Super compressed air," Not just filled using a tire hose. They can pack a LOT of air into those tanks. The initial filled tank pressures would be in the 3,000 PSI range.

I have never done this experiment myself, but I did consider a trailer mounted portable plasma cutter once upon a time. I looked into this air tank idea, and wanted to rent ONE tank and do a lot of cutting on my plasma table for a full day, just to see how long an air tank could reasonably supply a portable plasma cutter in this scenario, before the pressure in the tank dropped below what is needed to maintain that 100 PSI range.

A plasma machine uses air at 9 CFM or there about. I do not know what a tank holds, but I do know that with a regulator, you don't need the electrical power or gas engine power to produce the air for the plasma cutter. All you would need is a generator for the plasma cutter itself, and to run a PC, hand grinder, etc.

They do make generator/compressor combinations that are all set up for what you want to do. They probably run on diesel. You can find them on auction sites. Your tax dollars at work! Buy a $100,000.00 compressor from the government for $3.500.00!

Then there is the huge reel of AC power cord you can mount onto the trailer, and plug into any construction power pole for power.

At any rate, I would look for a rotary screw compressor, or a scroll compressor that could provide unlimited air supply, quietly, rather than a piston compressor.

Here is a helpful tip ... Rather than reinventing the wheel, contact Christiansen Entertainment https://amusements.com/contact-us, or any traveling carnival or circus, and ask them what THEY use for portable power and air, because they certainly use a lot of BOTH. I am certain that they have already found the most economical solution.

If you want to be taken seriously, you cannot show up with something that looks like it was designed and built by Jethro Bodine Clampett!

Here are some links you light like ...

https://www.mitm.com/industrial/air-com ... enerators/

https://www.mitm.com/air-compressor-gen ... -30M/1942/

Joe

http://youtu.be/g1sXOvoOqxM?si=9ZsvameGv4s9SxhX


.

[Joe Jones]

I watched your video.

I am BEGGING YOU to abandon the idea of Frankensteining this thing together on a trailer, and look to more reliable off-the-shelf solutions. A plasma table bouncing down the road on a trailer WILL NOT hold together for long. The slats WILL bounce out of the table frame. The gantry will be beat to death. The drag chains will self-destruct.

I have already given you a lead to a very nice all-in-one compressor/generator/welder machine which is crisp and clean, and will serve you well.

If I were to do what you plan to do, I think I would look at buying a BUS and converting it into a mobile shop. It would carry the machine, the generator/compressor, the material, the hand tools, the extra tool box with the clamps etc., and more. At the job site, the table would be lowered to the ground outside of the bus body via an articulating arm or whatever.

http://americanbussales.net/

A small trailer with a plasma table on it will mean towing it with a pickup truck laden with all of the other STUFF that goes along with the trade, and you will not be happy.

If you want to go mobile, START with a BUS, either a traditional retired school bus with a raised roof, or a diesel pusher bus (old Greyhound? old City Bus?) or something. You will not regret it!

Joe



.

[Joe Jones]

It doesn't need to be expensive.

Joe

http://www.commercialtrucktrader.com/li ... sid=811902

[TJS]

I think for mobile cutting an arcdroid might be more suitable than a full cnc table.

[SegoMan DeSigns]

I have future plans for a Mobile 5x10 CNC Plaz trailer as well, it will be enclosed with gas operated lifting side doors and the roof will have a built in gantry for loading sheets. The gantry / skate will have a park area with bolting options for transport. An airbag suspension on the trailer will smooth out the bumps.

The mobile concept is not that difficult if you plan around all the variables. Juan and Freddie from the Gold Rush series has a Torchmate in a trailer, some job sites are north of Timbuktu by about a bagillion miles so this is a viable concept. Any additional wear and tear due to transport can be billed out accordingly while providing an economical onsite cutting solution for the customer.

Big Blue & Red offers welder / generator / screw compressor combos, that would unitize things or like RivetnLeave is doing you get creative with your thinking. Keep us updated on your progress if you would.

[adbuch]

I think for mobile cutting an arcdroid might be more suitable than a full cnc table.

[RivetsNleaves]

Oh wow.. some great feedback here. Love it thanks.

I know it has been done.... there is a fun factor in building it your self and content for my channel. I have a few Rover V8 engines as I own several vintage Land Rovers. Costs would be with the plumbing and the unloader valve/system. I am going to contact Conrader Unloading valves mfg to see if I can go with analog way to govern the driving engine. I also have some experience with Parallax and arduino boards that I can probably create a good governing system.

The mobile part is that for the time being as I get my business up and going creating my product that I am developing I plan to travel to remove places to cut some of the parts away from home. In the area that I live the city code enforcement love mess with hard working tax paying citizens here in CommieFornia. I do plan on sharing a space with a friend of mine at his shop so being able to move the table and leave if needed from his shop is appealing that I can just hitch and drive my table away.

Yes, I did think moving the table would damage the screws and motors. I plan on disconnecting the rails and also locking in place the gantry to keep it from moving. I am not going rockcrawling with the table its self. Although it would send me in a viral spin on social media if I cut parts while crawling at King of the Hammers this year....ha ha ha.

Joe Jones. I am currently setting up my table to run off of Nitrogen while I sort out the air compressor end of it. I will get a 200 or 300 cubic feet bottle and I will report back on how long a bottle will last. I do like the idea of bottles for now for their quietness. As I dial down the machine and get it sorted out quietly and not trigger anyone neighboring.

[RivetsNleaves]

This looks interesting. I am assuming from your block diagram that you are intending to use a separate v8 engine as an air pump and drive it from another engine? It will be interesting to see how this works for you. Please keep us posted.
David

David, Yes I have three rover engines I do plan on using two of them. One will drive the other will pump air. I was thinking of using one engine but the cams and head would have to be modified and maybe that cost and complexity might make it difficult to tackle. I am contacting a company that grinds and welds cams and I am going to see if they can modify a cam for a diesel engine I have to see if that might be easier but I think the Rover v8 might be easier with all the parts I got.

[TJS]

Oh wow.. some great feedback here. Love it thanks.

I know it has been done.... there is a fun factor in building it your self and content for my channel. I have a few Rover V8 engines as I own several vintage Land Rovers. Costs would be with the plumbing and the unloader valve/system. I am going to contact Conrader Unloading valves mfg to see if I can go with analog way to govern the driving engine. I also have some experience with Parallax and arduino boards that I can probably create a good governing system.

The mobile part is that for the time being as I get my business up and going creating my product that I am developing I plan to travel to remove places to cut some of the parts away from home. In the area that I live the city code enforcement love mess with hard working tax paying citizens here in CommieFornia. I do plan on sharing a space with a friend of mine at his shop so being able to move the table and leave if needed from his shop is appealing that I can just hitch and drive my table away.

Yes, I did think moving the table would damage the screws and motors. I plan on disconnecting the rails and also locking in place the gantry to keep it from moving. I am not going rockcrawling with the table its self. Although it would send me in a viral spin on social media if I cut parts while crawling at King of the Hammers this year....ha ha ha.

Joe Jones. I am currently setting up my table to run off of Nitrogen while I sort out the air compressor end of it. I will get a 200 or 300 cubic feet bottle and I will report back on how long a bottle will last. I do like the idea of bottles for now for their quietness. As I dial down the machine and get it sorted out quietly and not trigger anyone neighboring.

I ran my machine on nitrogen for a stainless job. I think I went thru an 80(cant remember the size, pretty good size) bottle in no time. It adds $$ up fast.

[adbuch]

TJ - that's exactly what I was thinking when I heard him mention the nitrogen bottles. If I had to do plasma cutting (artistic stuff) with a mobile setup - I would probably just go for a traditional generator/compressor unit along with a small table. But I do understand that the OP is doing this on a small scale and has interest in "thinking outside the box" with his design setup.

David

[SegoMan DeSigns]

Yes I have three rover engines I do plan on using two of them. One will drive the other will pump air. I was thinking of using one engine but the cams and head would have to be modified and maybe that cost and complexity might make it difficult to tackle. I am contacting a company that grinds and welds cams and I am going to see if they can modify a cam for a diesel engine I have to see if that might be easier but I think the Rover v8 might be easier with all the parts I got.

Are you going to pull the heads and replace with reed vales? This would allow for pump unloading and cooling when the air is not needed. The OEM engine rotation must be maintained to keep the oil pump pushing oil in the right direction.

Go to the 4:40 mark of this video and it will show the continuous run system, when engaged it holds the intake valves open which allows air in and out:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD1jYwR1G1o


You might contact Eaton Compressors / Polar Bear Air and ask about this along with throttle control.

[Joe Jones]

I would think that for the artsy stuff, the Hypertherm 30 AIR would be sufficient. it has its own built in compressor, and you can just cut 14 gauge steel without needing an additional source of air.

It looks like it can cut 14 gauge at about 100 inches or more per minute.

Joe