CNC Torch Table 2/Research Development

Progress / To Do

Developement Board

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Notes

My (Dan Benamy's) understanding as of Oct 2013 is that there were various paths for control hardware being considered. We'd like to use the Steppernug open source stepper motor driver. The folks behind it are amazing and we love open source. For the short term it looks like we'll try to get the version 2 table up and running with the RAMPS system so we can get something working and build momentum. Then we can quickly iterate to version 3 where we switch to the Steppernug. Lots of info on the control systems at CNC_Torch_Table_2/Control_Overview.

Further development involves test-driven design with Cool DRV, RAMPS, DRV-based Pololu.

Some other things that may need doing are the Arduino stepper controller, Height Controller for oxyacetylene and plasma torches, endstops, and CNC toolpath toolchain.

In the future it'd be great to build towards a universally scalable stepper controller.

Design

More information about the control system in CNC Torch Table 2/Control Overview.

Additional discussion at TorchTableModularTooling

Files

Github, mostly solidworks - [1]. - DXFs of motor mounts. - Sketchup files

Additional Notes

• As a large x-y-z coordinate table, the Torch Table has potential applications with other tooling besides a cutting torch. One limitation is that the drive system is not powerful enough or stiff enough to support heavy cutting-tool forces.
• A modular tool mounting (possibly dual mounting, so two tools could be available simultanously) would facilitate tool changeover.