CNC plasma cutter

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Revision as of 12:30, 21 December 2014 by Smeding (talk | contribs) (Header before gallery since the gallery pertains mostly to what comes after.)
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Project CNC plasma cutter
Status Initializing
Contact [[Project Contact::Walter, Smeding, Gori, Yotson, Semafoor]]
Last Update 2014-12-21

After acquiring a plasma cutter at the space, it seemed only logical to try and fabricate a CNC version eventually.

This goal is still a while away for now, but as always, we are full of Ideas and this is a convenient place to put them.

System set-up

We're basing this project on an old X-Z traversing unit originally made for measuring air velocity distributions in wind tunnels at a metrology institute. The current motor controllers, however, seem to be made for a fixed speed and it's probably easiest to replace the electronics altogether.

A Z-axis seems required to control the torch height. It won't need to move very far, quickly or precisely, though.

To-do list

  1. Decide how to control the machine. There seem to be two basic options: GRBL and LinuxCNC
  2. Design and build interface/driver hardware for motors and encoders
  3. Set up a PC that can withstand the general environment of the SparkShack (EMI, humidity, temperature)
  4. Get basic motion control working so that the machine moves
  5. Design and build interface hardware for the plasma torch, so it can be turned on and off. Will probably want voltage sensing for torch height control.
  6. Add a third axis to the machine for torch height control
  7. Put everything together -- implement the software side of things for torch height control and reading e.g. SVG files