Building a Budget DIY Plasma Cutter

Time-lapse of building a budget DIY plasma cutter with 4 axes and a torch height controller
Plans for the plasma cutter that made this build so easy -jdsgarage.bigcartel.com/
Recommended Plasma Cutters - jdsgarage.bigcartel.com/recom...
Music: Fatrat Xenogenesis
Music Used From: www.epidemicsound.com
For all inquires email us jsaction4[at]gmail.com

[@jdsgarage701]

For more Information you can check out our website here. jdsgarage.bigcartel.com/

[@davidlee-mf5yf]

You guys should offer a DIY THC controller kit - a printed PCB with all of the components that would just need to be soldered onto it along with STL files to print the enclosures. It would be cheaper for us DIY guys, and at the same time carry less workload on your end.

[@jdsgarage701]

This was our original intent when starting this project, but the design got far too complex for most people to assemble and support would be next to near impossible. It would actually be more work and more expensive for us to assemble a kit as the THCs are manufactured by a PCB Board House, they can buy components for way cheaper than we can. There has also been a large amount of pirating on our original plan package so we need to keep the design secure for the time being.

[@davidlee-mf5yf]

@@jdsgarage701 Copy that 👍

[@alexthompson8307]

Definitely, because the cost of investing in a plastic printer just to print components for the plasma cnc is in its self a big expense.

[@davidlee-mf5yf]

@@alexthompson8307 and you can always pick up a secondhand plastic printer for not a whole lot… that’s what I did :-)

[@shawnprince7080]

i did a double y axis version of your machine; it's rock solid. This is something you guys might consider on yours...... Also, i ran into my first issue and that was piercing through half inch steel. The blowback absolutely obliterated my 3d printed torch holder...... maybe ill make an aluminum shield to prevent this from happening again and screw it into the bottom of the holder itself.

[@digitizer101]

Love the machine and really enjoyed building it. I can't get enough of cutting on this thing and with the THC the corrugated cuts are pretty awesome. Thanks for the build.

[@Hackjob-Extraordinaire]

Good stuff as always!

[@BleuCollarFndryMTL]

Great video! Congratulations on your build!

[@homemadetools]

Good job, it came out well. We shared this video on our homemade tool forum last week 😎

[@jensonhartmann3630]

i'm currently waiting for my electronics to ship and then i've got everything for assembly! I cant wait!

[@telecomwiz2004]

That's insane!

[@amornpech]

Nice job.

[@lightscrafts]

Cool! 👏👏

[@TDOBrandano]

Nice build. There's ways to make the cantilevered arm even more solid without having to add another leadscrew, though it looks like it's plenty rigid enough.

[@danielreborn4707]

Good job .I did built my own CNC plasma cutter using cheap chinese laser cutter frame.

[@solarguy6043]

I have your plans, and am collecting bits and pieces. I am also going to print the bearing blocks, and then use that as a pattern to cast them in aluminum. But molding and casting will involve a small percentage of shrinking compared to the original. Are there drawing with dimensions for the bearing blocks? I could print it and then make detailed measurements and reverse engineer all the critical dimensions. But it would be a fair amount of work, so I thought I would ask first.

[@mattvelardes8072]

How about a separate video about the rotory positioner/cutting. Thanks

[@jdsgarage701]

We did a video about this in the past. There are also videos in the plan package that go into more detail on this.

[@alexthompson8307]

Have you any afterthoughts/improvements you would make on the design, such as an alternative drive mechanism instead of the belt system?

[@billnoname8093]

I like those end stops, where can I get those, I would like to put those on my cnc router. I booked marked you website so when I'm ready I can build this. Thanks edit : also with the plans are the circuit board plans there, for the one you made near the end of the video. Height controller I believe you said

[@lukasschmatz8546]

What tolerances did you use between bearring and tube

[@youmebornfree]

Great videos give an explanation of what the video is going to be about with an image of final build (or at least a final image) then shows the steps to the get there. Otherwise great video.

[@WDMtea]

Just purchased the plans. How can long does it take to receive them by mail?

[@tbrun1000]

uses the machine to make another functional part for the machine

[@tuanhung5464]

How does height control work?

[@Pfanny_John]

Anyone else have issues with 1/4-20 tap busting through the side of the bearing block? On the real thin side.

[@Genx4]

Every time my plasma cutter lights to start the cut the arduino disconnects from open builds. Plasma just stays on and doesn’t move. Any idea what could be causing this?

[@danielreborn4707]

You must have , High Frequency Arc start on you cutter, or Chinese fake Non High Frequency Start .In this case , you have ground frame of the machine and the cutter , put electronic in metal enclosure and also ground it, and keep as far away from cutter and torch as possible, use also shielded cables all arround . Also dont use USB , connect to grbl remotelly via bluetooth . After all this You still may have occasional hickups ruining Your jobs. Also warning ground I mean electrical earthing /bonding NOT plasma cutter work clamp !! As it is positive-but commonly called ground clamp.

[@stevengoan6490]

What make of plasma cutter. I that

[@jdsgarage701]

The plasma cutter is a Lotos LTD5500D. The table is our design the plans can be found at the first link in the description.

[@agguilarmetalwork4494]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🥳🤘🏻🤜🏻🍺

[@hitopro]

how about accuracy

[@jdsgarage701]

We did a video on this the machine is capable of 0.001" accuracy but the plasma cutter itself is not as accurate.

[@romoalex]

Please use a blade guard on that angle grinder and a face shield. Ive had one break on me and roll off my cheek. I got very lucky lol

[@gusbuzinski4499]

This guy is so budget, he can't afford a chop saw!

[@Bennetts_Fabrication_Welding]

Chop saws arent necessary if you have a plasma machine and angle grinder with a cut off wheel. I literally build war ships for the navy, and closest thing we use to a chop saw is a bandsaw.

[@charlesbauer1747]

Freecad (save as SVG)- open builds cam- open builds sender. In open builds cam you will need to choose your inside and outside sketches and you can only do a 90deg lead in, but it is easy to use and looks like it will work fine (testing tomorrow).