Hello from North Texas

Just joined the community and wanted to say hello.
Hoping to gain some CNC knowledge along with some do’s and don’ts. I have wanted to add a cnc plasma table to my arsenal for sometime now. I am looking at the crossfire pro. But i know absolutely nothing about using a CAD program and converting to a format that can be used with the cnc table.
Just this week through watching many videos I’m am in the process of trying to learn fusion 360. I bought a new laptop and downloaded the hobbyist version of 360. So far I have been able to draw some basic tabs and some multi hole flanges to the point of running a plasma cutting simulation.
I have also downloaded the fire control programs. I converted a file to g code. I tried to open file on fire control but wasn’t successful. Thinking maybe fire control has to be connected to a table to work?
Looking forward to getting to know some of you and hopefully learning from you.
Thanks,
Devin

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Glad you are here. Yes you are correct for fire control to function you must have a connection to a table.

Learn all you can about cad and cam. That is 90 percent of the work. You will also need a very good supply of dry clean air. You can’t just grab a compressor and go.

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Welcome to the community. You will find a wide range of users of the Langmuir tables from serious production to the occasional use hobbyist. @Phillipw is right that CAD and CAM is 90% of the work once you get your table set up and running. There are lots of people on this forum who will help you through it.

Since you are talking about Fusion 360, you will want to make a “body” of your design before you go to the CAM (Manufacturing) portion of Fusion. While in the design tab, most advise to the “close the sketch.” Now you can press “E”, which will bring up the Extrude dialog box. When you select you object in the sketch it will ask for the thickness. I usually pick “0.25”. Hit enter and you should now have the “body.”

Move into the “manufacturing” tab (click on the tab that probably is still saying “Design”) and change it to “Manufacturing.” Now here is where you will probably need to set up the Langmuir table (data set) on you computer for this to really work. Look at the Langmuir help videos on setting up the table in Fusion 360. You will also need to set up a “tool.” Once those are set up you will pick your “body” and Fusion 360 should do the rest. If you need more detail, ask for more.

Once you have the path for the cutting process, you can watch an animation of the cut. If you get this far then all you need is the table set up properly with the cutter, air and fluid in the table and you are ready to cut metal.

Edit: Apparently, you can go to the Manufacturing area with just the sketch, without extruding. Fusion has been making some changes/updates over the last 30 days and I am needing to re-learn some of this. If you do get into a sticky part that is hard to figure out, seek out some of the videos and postings of @TinWhisperer. He is who many of us reach out to. I think there is a tip jar at his office door if you wish to contribute (just teasing!!!).

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Thanks
I have been learning some of the hot keys and have used E to extrude. I have also been able to run the simulation of the cut paths.

I have used google scketchup for several years for drawing up projects.
I am just trying to get around the learning curve of F360.

I am just trying to make sure I understand all I need to know before actually purchasing the table.

Just in the last hour of reading through this forum I have found many answers to some of my questions.

Thanks again for your reply.

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Don’t be afraid to ask if you can’t find your answer. The only dumb question is a unasked one.

Be sure you do your research on plasma cutters consumables and air supply . So many on here will agree you will be happier knowing ahead of time. There has been some say oh it will be alright then they cut corners and wonder why they can’t get quality cuts.

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