Hi Friends!

[IronToad]

Hello,

I'm a knife-maker who just got access to a CNC plasma table at my local makerspace here in Baltimore, MD. I took the class a few months ago and am headed to the makerspace to try it on my own tomorrow to see how much I've forgotten . Sadly, the makerspace has a "no weapons" policy, which means I can't cut out knife profiles, but there's a lot of potential for tools and jigs I can make with it. Anyways, I was happy to see there's such an active community here and am looking forward to learning!

Cheers!

[djreiswig]

Knife shaped artwork?

[IronToad]

"Oh my friend has a knife shop called '12 knives' and I'm making him a new sign every month."

[djreiswig]

Or your magician friend that performs a knife throwing act.

[DieselFumes]

Welcome to the site you must be very excited, I hope
It goes well for you. Do you have your cad drawings complete for what you intend to cut? Would be nice to have that out of the way ahead of time.

[IronToad]

CAD drawings are complete and I've prepped the drawings in Torchmate. I have a 4 hour reservation on the machine and plenty of extra material to make mistakes on. I'm cutting out a very much experimental modular work rest for my 2x72 that I dreamt up at lunch along with my maker's logo.

[adbuch]

CAD drawings are complete and I've prepped the drawings in Torchmate. I have a 4 hour reservation on the machine and plenty of extra material to make mistakes on. I'm cutting out a very much experimental modular work rest for my 2x72 that I dreamt up at lunch along with my maker's logo.

IronToad - one thing to consider might be to use a sharpie pen holder attachment fastened to the plasma torch and draw (instead of cut) your test pieces to check for mistakes. Once you have your program dialed in, then start cutting. You will not waste so much expensive material.

David

[DieselFumes]

Great suggestion by David with Sharpie marker, great to practice with. Best of luck and see see what you come up with.

[IronToad]

Thanks for the suggestions. That is a great idea, but I didn't see it in time.

It actually went pretty well. I botched one out of three small cutting jobs (the one was due to me accidentally bumping the feedrate to 150%), but then it started having some z-homing issues that I nor the onsite technicians could resolve. However, I was able to cut a test piece and my 2x72 tool rest idea, so I'm happy. Attached image shows the tool rest next to the one I 3d printed to check the fit.

[acourtjester]

You may describe your Z homing issue here and maybe a member can help to solve it, there are many users with lots of experiences with many tables.
Just list the table manufacture and software it uses and why there was a problem.

[adbuch]

Thanks for the suggestions. That is a great idea, but I didn't see it in time.

It actually went pretty well. I botched one out of three small cutting jobs (the one was due to me accidentally bumping the feedrate to 150%), but then it started having some z-homing issues that I nor the onsite technicians could resolve. However, I was able to cut a test piece and my 2x72 tool rest idea, so I'm happy. Attached image shows the tool rest next to the one I 3d printed to check the fit.

IMG_1810 1.jpg

I think your result looks great! Very much the same as the 3D printed part. Keep up the good work.
David

[DieselFumes]

Nice! Glad your session was a success. Your part turned out great and I would say for your first time out you should be very pleased. Well done!