CNC Plasma update

It has come to me that I have not updated the blog for ages. So apologies to all who are reading, I also hate when I get to a blog and the author has just stopped for no explanation. Guilty ;)

So much has happened since I last wrote in the blog. 1 change in shift roster (which was a complete waste of my time) and a consequent change in jobs, getting married etc etc....... It is almost complete! So I quick run down in points since October last year, how do I condense so much work into one blog post????

• Y axis bearings and rails installed
• Z axis mount machined and mounted to bearings
• I manufactured a floating torch mount, but its pretty crap. More on that later.
• All rack and pinion gear mounted
• 3:1 gear reduction assemblies made up
• All drive shafts drilled and pinned due to the massive amount of torque causing the 2mm grub screws to come loose all the time.
• Electronics were ordered and delivered
• Limit switches installed
• All wiring was finished and cleaned up
• Wiring management sorted out with cable trays
• Water tray frame was fabricated and installed
• Water tray bent up and welded - still to see if it has any leaks.........
• Supporting slats installed. This will be modified as I have the money
• Made up and mounted some wheels to it to be able to at least move the behemoth. They are not very pretty but they do the job for the mean time.
• Test runs!
• More test runs.
• Found a myriad of problems with it.
• Fixed problems.
• Some more testing
• Fixing..........
• I moved the whole machine to South Windsor which is over an hour closer to home so I can work on it on the weekends and have things happening.

Anyway, enough of the point rambling. I wish I had some more time to delve into the problems and solutions that I came up with but I think I would be writing this for at least a day. So without further waffling, here is some pictures. Hopefully in some semblance of order.