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General Mach Discussion / CNC Plasma Table Which Controller where to start.
« on: September 26, 2019, 06:20:42 PM »
Hello everyone I am new here. A friend of mine just purchased a 4x8 plasma table without controls. The table brand is a burntable but the previous owner wanted to keep his controls. Since I have messed with CNC in the past along with 3d printers and other similar things I have been charged with building the controllers etc. My fee is use of the table on occasion. 
SO where am I right now, I have a table, gantry, with steppers for x,y,z, no stepper drivers, no controller, no software and apparently no limit switches. We do have hypertherm 65 & 85 plasma machines but will have to purchase a torch for the table. And I have enough extra computers around that I could run Either windows, linux or both. The steppers I have are basically these here. https://www.probotix.com/CNC-CONTROL-SYSTEMS/CNC-CONTROLLER/3-Axis-Monster-Hybrid-Stepper-Motor-Driver-Kit
I am pretty sure that I am going to get Mach 4 and want to make sure I am looking at the proper controllers. I have been looking at the PoKeys57CNC for my controller but have read a few things that I am not so sure about the support and reliability on. Anyone have any input on the pokeys system or alternatives. If I get the Pokeys my major question is where do I hook up the torch set up. The motors, stepper drivers and all that is pretty self explanatory but the torch I am kind of lost on. In 3d printing it would be considered an extruder kind of. Then I was looking at the plasmasense thc from prolabs but have also read about issues and that there are better ones.
Any thoughts and guidance is appreciated. This is only day 2 of my research so anything helps.
SO where am I right now, I have a table, gantry, with steppers for x,y,z, no stepper drivers, no controller, no software and apparently no limit switches. We do have hypertherm 65 & 85 plasma machines but will have to purchase a torch for the table. And I have enough extra computers around that I could run Either windows, linux or both. The steppers I have are basically these here. https://www.probotix.com/CNC-CONTROL-SYSTEMS/CNC-CONTROLLER/3-Axis-Monster-Hybrid-Stepper-Motor-Driver-Kit
I am pretty sure that I am going to get Mach 4 and want to make sure I am looking at the proper controllers. I have been looking at the PoKeys57CNC for my controller but have read a few things that I am not so sure about the support and reliability on. Anyone have any input on the pokeys system or alternatives. If I get the Pokeys my major question is where do I hook up the torch set up. The motors, stepper drivers and all that is pretty self explanatory but the torch I am kind of lost on. In 3d printing it would be considered an extruder kind of. Then I was looking at the plasmasense thc from prolabs but have also read about issues and that there are better ones.
Any thoughts and guidance is appreciated. This is only day 2 of my research so anything helps.