CNC Plasma Cutter: Post Purchase Costs

[MichaelBick]

Originally Posted by BBray_T1296

Our team usually gets our stuff laser cut by our local sponsor. Due to their scheduling and priorities, it takes them about 1.5 weeks to finish a part, even though it is only 1-2 hours of work (I worked there this summer). We have discussed getting some sort of small sheet metal cutting machine for quick prototypes and things. Thanks for providing useful knowledge.

Look into getting better sponsors. Our first waterjet sponsor took about the same amount of time. We found a new one that returns parts within 5 days, usually much faster. We're looking to find more/faster machine shop sponsors too.

[techhelpbb]

Team 11 has a CNC plasma cutter.

Works great on aluminum for rough cuts.
Gets things down to size.
Allows for really fast testing of things if you don't mind the slop.
Don't expect finished work from it.
Works great for removing unnecessary material to lighten things up.

Team 11 also has: a Bridgeport, bandsaws, several lathes and the Haas TM-1P is now in the shop.
Not quite up and running but soon. There's a Haas lathe on the way.
Plus the Makerbot.

Nothing wrong with the CNC plasma cutter.
Just don't expect it to be the end all and be all of shop tools.
If you can reuse the X/Y for other things that's even better.
Say for example use a real Z instead of a mere up and down and fixture a shop router for some work.

One nice part about CNC plasma cutters is that they tend to be as easy to instruct as pen plotters.
So unlike some other CNC tools it really is possible to run a CNC plasma cutter without touching much G-code.

The Makerbots sort of share this ease of use.
Slic3r is really not something most people use in that work flow but it is there.
Slic3r often comes up with RepRap style printers.
Even at that most people don't manipulate 3D printer G-code at the starter level.

I think of these later tools as introductory tools for the lathes and mills.
It gets increasingly difficult to avoid touching G-code and encountering surprises during operations.