Awesome! What did you change other than the caster type?
I’m sure Abner will happily make one for you. It worked out perfectly.
I just used a piece of 1.5" aluminum angle to support the drag chain instead of channel. I felt like the drag chain is rigid enough that it won’t jump off the side. The casters are the factory wheels and adapters. I liked that I am able to adjust them a bit, my concrete isn’t even. Hope they will continue to support the weight. I have a local place folding up a stainless water tray, next will be figuring how I want to do the slats and holders.
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With the stainless it would be tough to do the slats the way I did them
You could do what a guy on a welding forum I’m on did which is he welded an angle iron picture frame and put pegs on it to hold the slats.
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I was thinking of doing the slats parallel to the Y axis so that when I have to replace them it’s a smaller piece of material?? There was a guy that cut his slats with points to support the material to help with keeping them alive longer. I do like the idea of using the pins to keep the tension.
Anything will work. You could even ask Langmuir to purchase another set of their holders and use two rows of those.
Tons of options but with the crossfire it’s especially important to keep it flat.
I’ve only done the one but let me know when you’re ready and we can talk about another for yours.
Thanks.
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Finished the support arm. Cut new pieces to match the angle it’s at and swapped out all the hardware to socket head screws (i like how they look).
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Just ordered my second xfire. I’ll be making that one just like yours. thanks for posting. gets me pumped. Iv been way to busy I don’t have a second to spare. be hard to even get my table done but with the help of this thread it will def make it that much easier. great work.
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Why two crossfires? Whats the second one for?
Ordered the linear slide for $118 to support the gantry arm. I don’t know if it is going to be what I am looking for, but made a couple sales so I am gonna reinvest it in the machine…
Slowly working towards a Z-axis setup. I will need to make a height adjustable side offset bracket for this that I have no designed as of yet. Shouldn’t be too difficult though.
If it interests anyone this is the rail I purchased. I was torn between the 15mm and the 20mm and after reviewing the size of the actual carriage, the 15mm is basically a toy…
I purchased a 1500mm rail with standard size mounting carriage and will have to cut it down to 50" myself. The carriage on mcmasters dimensions is just shy of 1.75" so it should be perfect on top of the 2" tube rail. I am hoping that the slide is relatively friction-less as my biggest concern is creating drag and slowing down the X axis motor. If that happens, my next move will probably be a NEMA 24 in place of the NEMA 23 that came with the machine.
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several reasons for two. 1. if anything happens to my machine I can’t afford any downtime. no joke I’m always booked up weeks worth of orders for what I do. 2. I want to make it a 2x4 so I can do other things on that. My current setup I only cut 1x2’ pieces at a time to be honest. I have multiple reasons for that. So in short, the 2x2 version will house the 30amp plasma for 1/8 and thinner. other machine I’ll cut thicker stuff and be able to cut longer pieces when I need. I looked into building one and still may, but I don’t have the time. I like supporting this company also.
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We think everyone should have two CrossFires!!
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hahaha, well maybe I’ll have 3 someday while everyone else has 2!
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I have one twice the size of a normal one.
It’s kind of 2.
I considered trying to buy a second gantry bearing assembly and having a dual motor setup but the cost at that point didn’t make sense
I’ve thought about that. That would be about as big as I would want. Bigger means bigger material and then I’d have to setup some kind of material handling system. 4x8 or 10 or 12 foot sheets is heavy. Not to mention bulky and awkward.
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Linear slide came today. It moves smooth fully but Hopefully it isn’t a strain on the motor.
Guess we’ll see. I have to cut the rail down and then drill and tap holes. I think the 1/8” tube should be enough for a fine thread socket screw of that size to grab.
Will need to have a height adjustable bracket from the slide to the gantry arm which I’ll have to design.
- List item
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Kewl…!
Maybe an adjustable pillar similar to the torch height stanchion.
Are you finding that the torch height is lowering further out the same from end to end to negate this modification?
'Brett
No, not any noticeable amount. I’m sure if i went overboard and put a dial indicator on it that it would naturally have some play but the imperfections in material to be cut with no THC probably far outweighs it.
However I am slowly working towards a full size aluminum THC and it weighs 5-6 lbs so i have no doubt it will become a concern.
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Apologies for the lack of content as of late, I have been a bit busy with other work that actually pays the bills.
Not too much to see here however I did start working on mounting the linear slide. I need to pick up the actual screws and set up my mag drill for hand drill bits to make the holes. (pain in the ass to convert the chuck)
There is no way I am putting a screw in all 21 holes. I will probably do every other hole. The rail is very stiff to begin with.
Also had the water table powdercoated finally.
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