Hi.The heading says it all.I have a machine shop with a lot of cnc and manual machines.Since seeing Hoods retrofit Bridgeport I`ve quite fancied building a plasma table using mach 3 control.At the moment I`m not convinced that being open loop it would be suitable for other machines although I am wondering whether to retrofit an old cnc Citizen sliding head lathe that I have in store.
With the plasma in mind I have bought an oxy acetylene profile cutter which I suspect will not have fast/powerful enough drives for the speeds required for plasma so I have also bought servo drives and motors to upgrade this just in case.
To counteract the angle on the side of the kerf I am considering mounting the torch on a gimbal type mounting with two servo/stepper motors at 90 degrees to each other to tilt the torch and keep the part side of kerf square.
What I would like to know is how have other people tackled this problem and if there`s a better solution and also does Mach have the capability to control X,Y and Z axis and the torch angle all at the same time.
Could I programme Mach to keep the torch at the correct angle vertically in relation to the direction of travel automatically or would it have to be written into each programme if it is possible at all.
I have some ideas for THC as well but don`t see that being as big a problem.
Anyone else doing this at the moment who would like to compare notes?
I am in central Scotland BTW.
Mark