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CNC plasma cutter build

I picked some up when I visited Vancouver.
Downside of that is you have to forecast what you might need, buy more than you need, and explain to your wife why.
 
I bought and tried out this GRBL shield: https://github.com/synthetos/grblShield/wiki

This is the picture from the web site. It attaches to an Arduino. I hooked up some stepper motors and was thinking about CNC plasma table. I didn't make much progress beyond that. The shield drives the motors but also it interprets the GCODE and runs the motors from the program appropriately. Significant step that. I was using a java based program on Mac to communicate with the board - kind of a Mach like piece of software. Now if I could only remember what it was called. That was a computer or two ago so it's not on the machine I'm using anymore.

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Janger said:
I bought and tried out this GRBL shield: https://github.com/synthetos/grblShield/wiki

This is the picture from the web site. It attaches to an Arduino. I hooked up some stepper motors and was thinking about CNC plasma table. I didn't make much progress beyond that. The shield drives the motors but also it interprets the GCODE and runs the motors from the program appropriately. Significant step that. I was using a java based program on Mac to communicate with the board - kind of a Mach like piece of software. Now if I could only remember what it was called. That was a computer or two ago so it's not on the machine I'm using anymore.

View attachment 12952
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So the design I'm leaning on has the steppers driven by the Arduino Uno board. Is there a piece of technology that I'm missing here?
(I'm a complete stranger in a strange land...)
 
PeterT said:
Has anyone had experience with them shipping items to you?
or @Johnwa maybe that's what you meant by 'if you're in the area' (ie. maybe spendy).
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They do ship, and the rates seem really reasonable.
For example shipping for four pieces of 24" long 1"x3" 1030 to me is $15.
Four 72" long pieces of the same is $35 by courier.

Edit: a bit of price checking reveals that their extrusion prices are very good.
A 995mm long piece of 2040 is $14.85
Banggood has the identical profile. A 350mm length is $12. A 1000mm length is $27 shipped from the US
 
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@David_R8 the board @Janger posted has built in stepper drivers that are similar to the plug in one I posted a picture of. I don’t know which drivers are recommended in the plans that you have. For larger Nema 23s I’d recommend ones like these
https://www.amazon.ca/TB6600-Stepper-Driver-Controller-tb6600/dp/B07B9ZQF5D
They are about half that price direct from China. One other thing, unless you’re going to solder directly to the Arduino board get a screw terminal shield. They bring out the Arduino pins to screw terminals.
The software Janger referred to is a gcode sender. There are many choices but I assume there is a specific one for a plasma cutter.
 
A big box of parts arrived today from McMaster-Carr. :)
Just need to get some parts waterjet cut and I can start building!
 
David_R8 said:
Me too to be honest.
I'm such a complete CNC newbie that I sometimes misspell CNC :rolleyes:
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I mentioned it before but I had a customs agent ask me once what “CNC” stood for. I actually drew a blank, I couldn’t have told you. They made me go find the brokers office and print off a paper explaining what a “CNC lathe” was :mad:
 
Well the plasma cutter arrived. And it's not what I ordered. So back it goes.
 
A small victory today...
I was struggling to get my CAD-->CAM-->postprocess to work. Kept getting an error on the post.
Kept at it and actually produced gcode to cut out a square.
It's the little things... :)
 
David_R8 said:
Well the plasma cutter arrived. And it's not what I ordered. So back it goes.
Click to expand...

The seller was very apologetic and sent me a prepaid UPS shipping label within two hours of asking to return the item.

I have a different make and model ordered now.
 
A big step today!
I managed to get F360 to postprocess my CAM file and get UGS to send it to my Arduino board.
For a complete rookie this is a big deal :D
 
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