Cutting holes in pipe on plasma table

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franciscraven
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Joined: Wed Sep 23, 2020 3:03 pm

Cutting holes in pipe on plasma table

Post by franciscraven »

Aloha guys!
Been beating my head against the table to figure out how to get my plasma table to cut a hole in a pipe while simultaneously getting Z to go down an 1/8" of an inch at the apex of the circle on the downward slope of the pipe. I don't care to spin the pipe or use a rotary, I just want the plasma torch to do a normal hole cutting operation while going down on the side, back up to the top, back down on the other side and ending on the top. I'm shooting for a one inch hole. Any help would be extremely appreciated!
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Les Newell
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Re: Cutting holes in pipe on plasma table

Post by Les Newell »

Do you have THC? If so you the THC will probably do the work for you.
Is this a one-off or are you likely to be doing it often?
franciscraven
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Joined: Wed Sep 23, 2020 3:03 pm

Re: Cutting holes in pipe on plasma table

Post by franciscraven »

That's worth trying! I intend on cutting several hundred holes though and was really hoping to use G Code or something of the sort. I'll go throw a tube on there and see if my THC works that way.
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Les Newell
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Re: Cutting holes in pipe on plasma table

Post by Les Newell »

Many moons ago I wrote a post for someone who regularly cut holes in large tanks. It generated the Z axis moves you want but it only worked for cutting holes on a round surface that is on a fixed center line. It wouldn't work for instance if you have multiple pipes on the machine at once. If the THC does not work out let me know and I'll see if I can find it. If I remember correctly it was for Mach3.
franciscraven
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Re: Cutting holes in pipe on plasma table

Post by franciscraven »

Thanks for your assistance Les. When I turn on the THC it keeps driving it into the pipe on the up stroke. I don't think it'll work.
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Les Newell
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Re: Cutting holes in pipe on plasma table

Post by Les Newell »

I had a hunt for that post I mentioned and couldn't find it. It was a pretty niche application and it was a long time ago.
How many pipes would you be cutting at one time? I could have a go at re-doing that post but as I mentioned before it will only do one pipe at a time.
franciscraven
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Joined: Wed Sep 23, 2020 3:03 pm

Re: Cutting holes in pipe on plasma table

Post by franciscraven »

Les, it would help us out so much if you could. I'm fine doing one at a time because I have a bunch of different dimensions per piece anyway. What we're thinking is breaking the arc into four points around the circle and going down and up around the arc of the pipe. The OD of the pipe we're using is 1.900" and the hole we're cutting is 1.050" centered.
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Les Newell
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Re: Cutting holes in pipe on plasma table

Post by Les Newell »

What post processor are you currently using?
franciscraven
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Sep 23, 2020 3:03 pm

Re: Cutting holes in pipe on plasma table

Post by franciscraven »

Inkscape> Sheetcam> Mach3

I'm running the latest Sheetcam but wish I hadn't upgraded because now Sheetcamremote.dll doesn't work on Mach3.
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Les Newell
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Re: Cutting holes in pipe on plasma table

Post by Les Newell »

Which Mach3 post are you using? If you aren't sure look in Options->machine->post processor.
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