New/Old Table owner.... Intro from Michigan

[large_time]

Hello Masters of the Plasma Torch and Minions of Metal Melters!!...

I did a little research online and started my hunt for a deal on a table and I lucked out and found a sweet deal on an old machine... the stars aligned and I borrowed a trailer and went and picked it up.. let the fun begin.

I have a few ideas of what I need to do to get up and running on this monstrosity of steel.

Read all of the owners manuals...

Deep clean the table and remove all of the slag from the metal on the bed....

Find a dust free cabinet for the controls (Flashcut)

Rig up a dust shield and ventilation system to keep the rest of my shop toys from getting dirty.

Figure out if i can get a machine torch for my Miller 701

Buy and install a nice dryer for my compressor...

Might need to upgrade my compressor also...

Soooo.... I have lots of reading online and here to do.

And I havent even got this baby off the trailer...

The picture is my other hobby in my garage...

Im up in the thumb of Michigan... Anyone else up here?

[Gamelord]

NIIIICE!!! You have just stepped into an awesome world of creation that grows every day you do it.

As for computers - you don't need much power. My torch is still running off of XP and a very old computer.
For drawings I use my office unit windows 7 64 with an I7 8 core processor.

I wouldn't bother too much with cleaning all the slag off the slats...it will just get replaced very quickly once you start cutting. I would make it easy to get all the way around your table, at least walking space to reach cut parts easily. The back of the table is probably the least used but you will want a couple feet on both sides and the end - oh and make sure you have plenty of room to load up 10' sheets of steel. They get very heavy and the more room you have to load them the easier it is - and safer.

Let us know how your progress goes. Nice find! Time for fun!

[Largemouthlou]

Very nice!!!! Welcome aboard!!

[large_time]

Thanks fellas....

Im in love with this thing... I thought my welder was cool... but this is just too neat.

I found a bottle opener cad file and after the initial set up inputting the parameters.... this thing rocked it out.


And I made this time lapse video for you guys.... of my one man unloading show...

I need a forklift!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV5USIZ ... ata_player

Anyone here have a recommendation for a dryer for my compressor?

Im still trying to figure out how or what turns the plasma torch on and off... possibly a box with 2 wires snipped off of terminals.

I sure hope my trusty Miller 701 can be made to work with this torch holder... I would love to just have to purchase a torch and hook those wires up....

Back to reading while I thaw out from the cold.

[Gamelord]

He he...love the time lapse....looks like you did just fine without the forklift.

[muzza]

Welcome, looks like your heading for a fun time ahead. With your ingenuity in unloading I'm sure you'll have no troubles mastering control of the beast, pity that workshops not going to stay that clean .
Murray

[tnbndr]

Wow, you unloaded that thing in less than a minute.!!!
Nice table and garage. Do you heat that space? I had a quonset hut shed on my property in northern wisconsin and it was nice but the floors and walls sweat like crazy. I spanned the top curves with some steel unistrut held in place by the original building bolts and then hung a chain fall from it for lifting lawn mowers to change belts, blades, etc. worked pretty nice.
Good luck and keep us posted.

[jmsrbrt]

Anyone here have a recommendation for a dryer for my compressor? Im still trying to figure out how or what turns the plasma torch on and off... possibly a box with 2 wires snipped off of terminals.

On the dryer, you can get a Mac-Air off of this site, or check Ebay. I got my Hankison that way. As for the little box with snipped wires, on the Torchmate web site, there should be a one-line diagram that shows how all the components interconnect. Bob

[large_time]

I have been reading about dryers and thinking of how to engineer my shop to provide my cutter with the best dry air.

I heat the garage only when I have to... I have a torpedo style thats 200k BTU... its a kerosene one... it heats up the garage nicely... then it slips back into being cold again.... and your right, these garages do sweat like crazy. I have to watch it because if it gets above 80 with the heater it starts raining.

Not sure if the 875.00 machine torch for my Miller 701 is the best idea... I think that torch will only work on my miller... should I go and get a hypertherm.... and a torch that works with many cutters...

I was reading up on the handheld torch I have and I was thinking I could figure out the schematics and rig this one up to try it out.... i have a broken miller torch that I can test with... the cable is broken but I could wire it back up.

So, im very excited to try this out on steel... I think my first burn is going to be a small beer opener I found a file on last night.

Going to read up on machine centering and manual centering.... its got me a bit confused... and I need to program my table width again... it keeps touching a limit and stopping.... all learning steps im sure.

I hope to keep the shop clean like it is... I have an idea to form a type of tent over a frame with a puller exhaust fan that incorpprates my welding heating table vent into the picture.

Thanks for the advice and comments!

[muzza]

I hope to keep the shop clean like it is... I have an idea to form a type of tent over a frame with a puller exhaust fan that incorpprates my welding heating table vent into the picture.

Thanks for the advice and comments!

I get most of my dirt and dust in the workshop from sanding and grinding, new shop will have a designated grinding bench with extraction through a wet scrubber.

To minimize dust on your table set up rather than hood type extraction I would utilize what you already have with your drops hopper and add a door to the front with extraction sucking in a downdraft system. I would add a tapered piece to the front portion under the table to match the back leaving an opening about 6 to 12 inches wide and fit a hinged door to fill the gap and make a duct to draw from the rear. If the door was hinged at the top and made higher than the opening gravity would basically hold it closed and when you turn the extraction on this would suck the door in tight so all the extraction would be through the top of the table. Turn the fan off and the door would easily open to allow the drops to fall through. By having any material you are cutting located closer to the front of the table (operator side) this will also create the major draft area to the back which will also then draft away from the operator breathing zone. If you use a hood arrangement you would be trying to suck the contaminants back through the plate you are cutting and also working against the flow created by the cutter as well as gravity as the contaminants you have are mostly heavier than air contaminants.

I spent many years in industrial ventilation mainly spray booths and trust me downdraft is far more efficient than updraft or cross draft configuration this is why industry regulations in Australia and most parts of Europe require air flow of 0.17 to 0.3 metres per second on downdraft ventilation and 0.5 to 1.0 metres per second on extraction hoods. (about 3 to 6 feet per minute as opposed to 10 to 20 feet per minute)

I hope you follow what I'm trying to explain and hope my words are of some assistance to you.

Murray

[large_time]

I hope to keep the shop clean like it is... I have an idea to form a type of tent over a frame with a puller exhaust fan that incorpprates my welding heating table vent into the picture.

Thanks for the advice and comments!

I get most of my dirt and dust in the workshop from sanding and grinding, new shop will have a designated grinding bench with extraction through a wet scrubber.

To minimize dust on your table set up rather than hood type extraction I would utilize what you already have with your drops hopper and add a door to the front with extraction sucking in a downdraft system. I would add a tapered piece to the front portion under the table to match the back leaving an opening about 6 to 12 inches wide and fit a hinged door to fill the gap and make a duct to draw from the rear. If the door was hinged at the top and made higher than the opening gravity would basically hold it closed and when you turn the extraction on this would suck the door in tight so all the extraction would be through the top of the table. Turn the fan off and the door would easily open to allow the drops to fall through. By having any material you are cutting located closer to the front of the table (operator side) this will also create the major draft area to the back which will also then draft away from the operator breathing zone. If you use a hood arrangement you would be trying to suck the contaminants back through the plate you are cutting and also working against the flow created by the cutter as well as gravity as the contaminants you have are mostly heavier than air contaminants.

I spent many years in industrial ventilation mainly spray booths and trust me downdraft is far more efficient than updraft or cross draft configuration this is why industry regulations in Australia and most parts of Europe require air flow of 0.17 to 0.3 metres per second on downdraft ventilation and 0.5 to 1.0 metres per second on extraction hoods. (about 3 to 6 feet per minute as opposed to 10 to 20 feet per minute)

I hope you follow what I'm trying to explain and hope my words are of some assistance to you.

Murray

Murray, freaking genius! That is an awesome idea.... clearly you are well educated in ventilation... you just made my day brother! Thanks!

So, I did some digging and since in a cheap penny pincher... I rigged a handheld torch for my table... and made a few cuts.

So, my consumables are old and the cut is nearly sideways.... don't judge me!

I learned quite a bit tonight....

Don't forget to attach the ground..... whoops.

When in doubt... take it apart and add your own little magic to it...

Cranking up the amps on the cutter isn't always better....

That 1.5 second delay where my program thinks its waiting on an arc start.... when actually its full blast... yeah, that melts that area pretty good.

I welded that triangle piece to the pipe and then fit it into the torch holder...

Ah heck, you can see the pics.

Good times!

I'm about to use my first project to drink a wine cooler..... uhhh, I mean beer...

[Gamelord]

Awesome, there's no stopping you now.

[large_time]

Awesome, there's no stopping you now.

Ha Ha, well besides learning a bit about G code and figuring out how to make something in autocad/Rhino and have it save where Flaschut sees it as good G code....

I cant wait to find a project that I "Need" to do on the Hummer and have it all cut out perfectly and then use my welder to put it all together.....

Then I will be posting to figure out any powdercoating tips.....

Best 20 Bucks I have ever spent!