Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Plasma cnc

I used 30mm HTD toothed belt for my plasma. It stretched very slightly over
the first couple of months but seems to be pretty stable now. As close as I
can measure the error is within +/-0.5mm (20 thou) over the whole travel of
my 2.5m x 1.5m (8' x 5') machine. This is of course nowhere near as accurate
as ballscrews but plasma isn't exactly high precision anyway!

the HTD belt appears to have very little give in it. If I push hard on the
gantry I can just see a small amount of deflection before I overcome the
steppers. I would have thought it would be good enough for light routing,
especially if you use two belts to move the gantry, one either side.

I would be a little wary of chain, especially with all that abrasive plasma
dust hanging about. If my experience with motorcyles is anything to go by,
you would need to tension the chain on a regular basis. Also chain is
probably more expensive than toothed belts. You could buy all the belts and
pulleys for less than the cost of one ball nut!

Les

> Yeah, the Hypertherm Powermax 1250 is top of the line
> for CNC plasma operations. It allready has the remote
> torch on/off terminal installed for the G-Code to run
> the torch. But at $3500 I say ouch. I am also drawing
> up plans for a combo plasma/router cnc machine and am
> looking at drive options. The ball screws for an
> 5'X10' table run in the thousands of dollars. I was
> wondering if anyone here has ever seen,used,heard of
> chain and sprockets instead of screws? My parents have
> a picture framing shop and they use a CNC mat cutter.
> I was looking at the gantry rails to see what kind of
> drive system was there and it's all small chain and
> sprockets. a littls smaller than a bicycle chain would
> be. seems like if the chain was tight enough there
> would be no backlash. Since I want to use dual drive
> on the long axis, I am going to need 20 feet of ball
> screws, this is way out of budget at this point.
> --- "Jens Swales <jipeess2000@...>"
> <jipeess2000@...> wrote:
> > hi
> >
> > i was recomended a plasma-rig from hypertherm, they
> > dont produce
> > those nasty ignition-sparks that knocks out the
> > system
> >
> >
> > js
> >
> >
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> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jobshophomeshop I consider this to be a

sister site to the CCED group, as many of the same members are there, for OT
subjects, that are not allowed on the CCED list.

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DON'T POST IF YOU CAN NOT ACCEPT THIS.....NO EXCEPTIONS........

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