Anybody put casters on their table?
Hey Nicholas,
There is a reason that the CrossFire includes casters whereas the PRO includes stationary leveling feet; due to the CrossFire PRO machine’s weight, there is too much tension while moving the table when using casters directly inside of the leg tubes. The tension causes the inserts in the leg tubes to pop out, resulting in the PRO machine tilting over and dumping the entire contents of the water table. Additionally, the larger cutting surface of the CrossFire PRO is more difficult to level than the smaller original CrossFire. Because of these two factors, we found that the best user experience was to have the PRO machine be stationary.
If you must have the PRO be mobile, we recommend assembling it onto a rolling platform that can support the weight of the machine. Here’s an example of such a platform:
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I built a roller base with square tube in each corner for pro leg adjusters to sit in and adjust table on roller base. Table is free floating on base so nom distortion or twist on table, make sure to get castors that will support weight of table with water and weight of heaviest max weight of material table will hold.
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Sure.
Here’s what I did, if you want to gather some ideas…
Casters, levelling feet and 3 shelves underneath for sheet material storage.
Original legs slide into 2.5" square tubing to lock them in place. The substructure makes it insanely rigid compared to the original design.
-TM
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@TortillaMan that is a nice setup with the shelves and especially how the legs slide into the tubing and lock in place.
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So your table just slides inside of the 2" tubing above the casters?
The corner tubes are actually 2.5” x .250” wall to allow space for the original 2” legs to slip fit inside them.
-TM
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I love this design. I will be making this. Thanks.
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I think that thing needs a motor. Maybe a V8, painted red… got anything like that laying around?
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That turned out great!
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Thanks.
Certainly took a lot longer than I wanted but I’m almost ready to make my first test cuts…
Built the roller setup to keep it portable, and after studying a bunch of designs on here I came up with a setup that would also allow me to mount the plasma cutter, gaming PC, and 15-gallon water tank and leave room underneath for large sheets of 14GA / 16GA / 1/8" and 1/4" plate… really hate having to lean that material against the side walls of the garage and it made a lot of sense to just keep them with the machine where they would get cut anyway.
The water tank was plumbed with a ballvalve to allow rapid drainage, and a small submersible aquarium pump to allow the water to be pushed back up through the drains to fill it before a cutting session. A 6" marine access panel allows for access to the pump and cleaning out of the tank if/when it gets dirty.
The final piece of the puzzle is a small water shield off the back of the water table to prevent any splashing water from getting into the Langmuir control box or PC.
In my shop, it is really important to keep everything portable so that it can be moved around and pushed against a side-wall when not in use to maximize available floorspace. The CrossFirePRO has long rails on either side that waste a lot of space behind the water table when it’s up against a wall… so I took that wasted space and used it to mount the control box, PC and water tank. It cost me nothing in terms of the footprint of the machine, and freed up all the space directly under the water tray for the sheet metal storage that was important to me.
Of course, now I also need to install the Limit Switch Kit that arrived after Thanksgiving… so that will delay my big cutting debut by a few more hours!!! 
-TM
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You did a great job on the project.
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I made inserts that leveling casters bolt to, works great for moving around and tucking away when not in use (less frequently that I thought it’d be.
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The most underrated part of your setup are those leveling/stationary legs. Are they rigid enough to match the rest of the platform? It’s so convenient you can just use an electric ratchet to raise/lower
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Heck of a thread necro there Manoweb. Although bringing this back to the top of the heap, I haven’t seen this setup of TM’s, and I rather like it.
Any plans for it by chance @TortillaMan ?
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@toolboy has a similar setup, I also made a similar one as I described above. It took me over a year… and it’s still not 100% done. I still need to add the expanded metal shelf. I probably should have just bought the leveling casters as @TortillaMan suggested but I have a disease that makes me think I have to reinvent/or make everything. It was a fun project.
I put all the plasma cut components and a description on fireshare. It has been working well. The control box does get in the way a little on the one corner but I can still get the impact on it.
Edit: should have said leveling feet… not casters. Thanks @manoweb
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Hi Guys.
Appreciate the kind words. The leveling feet are definitely a nice addition. No drawings or plans, but I will suggest that you think carefully about a few things that will help:
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Gussets. By the time you get the leveling screws far enough away from the frame to get an impact gun on the top bolt there will be a substantial amount of leverage working on those mounts. Build them accordingly.
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Screw Length. There is nothing worse than building a clever retractable leveling foot setup than realizing that they do not lift high enough to actually clear obstacles on the floor. (bumps, tapered concrete, etc). Make sure they are out of the way enough that the casters can do their job properly.
Cheers.
-TM
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Did you have any kind of filtration system between the bed / drains and the sump? Would figure you wouldn’t want all those plasma splatter BBs getting into a mag driven sump pump…
And on the note of magnets, I figure some kind of “pass over” containment with magnets (or electromags) that would catch or divert those BBs to keep them away from said pump might be nice too.
My table has the larger drains installed and the solution for debris was just a small coupon of red scotchbrite pad in cut out for each drain to filter the debris.
Honestly, the entire capture / sump / storage system is not something I would bother to do again. Although I really like my CNC table and having this capability in my fab shop, I don’t use it enough to justify all of that water management complexity. For those times when I need to use it, I will just quickly fill the table from the garden hose… make my cuts for the day then drain the table completely and dispose of the water.
-TM
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It is highly improbable I will consider those leveling casters I’ve seen around. To me they seem the worst of both worlds:
- tiny wheel that won’t move well - In my experience, casters smaller than 4inches are just an exercise in frustration.
- limited range leveling action that is slow and awkward to actuate - I would prefer to set the leveling feet with a powertool for quick action.
- high price
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