Plasma Cutting Table on the Cheap?

-
G

gzig5

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 3, 2018
Messages
2,832
Reaction score
3,798
Location
Mequon, WI
Seems to be a clever and frugal bunch of folks around here.
Has anyone come up with a small, preferably portable/store-able, plasma cutting top from found materials or reuse of something else? I'm familiar with the one Eastwood has, and have seen some kits you put together but before I commit $$ I wanted to see if I was missing something. Around 24" x 24" would suffice and if it could sit on a water-filled metal bucket to catch sparks, that would be a bonus. I don't have much room to store it or even put to use without moving project vehicles around. Steel to build one from scratch is significantly more expensive than it used to be.
 
We use a steel grate for our torch tracer.
Something similar to floor grating. 1/4 bar about 3 inch wide. Similar to this
NDS2415-square-galvanized-steel-grate-for-24-basin__40759.1512052843.jpg


Many scrap yards may have that as a drainage culvert or laying around as floor grates. Talk to the right guy and may be able to get it by the pound
 
dodgedifferent2 said:
We use a steel grate for our torch tracer.
Something similar to floor grating. 1/4 bar about 3 inch wide. Similar to thisView attachment 1715944549

Many scrap yards may have that as a drainage culvert or laying around as floor grates. Talk to the right guy and may be able to get it by the pound
Click to expand...
How about all the drive mechanism and the computer electronics?
 
When I was training welders at the utility company I worked for, we had a 55 gallon barrel with one end cut off. We placed grating like you see in post 2 over the top and the barrel caught the sparks and molten metal. You would not need the barrel but it was extremely clean and reduced sparks from flying all over the shop.
 
toolmanmike said:
I thought the OP was thinking CNC.
Click to expand...
Nope, this is for a manual setup or potentially something with a linear guide setup. Main thing is I need to be able to break it down for storage. I don’t have 2’x2’ of floor space to dedicate to it.
 
dodgedifferent2 said:
We use a steel grate for our torch tracer.
Something similar to floor grating. 1/4 bar about 3 inch wide. Similar to thisView attachment 1715944549

Many scrap yards may have that as a drainage culvert or laying around as floor grates. Talk to the right guy and may be able to get it by the pound
Click to expand...
That would be perfect but I’m not aware of a scrap yard around here that lets you rummage in the pile. All drop off.
 
So I've been noodling on this for a couple days and have a couple of paths to pursue outside of commercial units. Saw a guy on youtube put one together with angle and flats, but he used a small hotel pan to hold the water. It could be mounted to the side of a bench or simply set on top and sized up or down based on the pan. About $30 into it which fits my budget.
upload_2022-6-21_10-19-59.png


I've also considered making a round slat grate and setting it in my old Weber kettle grill with a big SS salad bowl underneath for the water. That solves the storage issue but I'd have to drag it around to the front of the garage to use it. Could do something similar with the Solo stove fire pit.
 
If you want to make a burning table is very easy
make a table stand out of angle iron. For the top get some 2x2x1/4 flat bar and some 3/8 sq stock
The frame of the top of the table is made with the flat bar, cut notches in that frame maybe a inch and a half or so apart at both ends in equal measurements about 1/3 of the way through
Now cut the remaining flat bar to fit into those slots with a inch or so extending on each end
Use the sq stock as stops on both ends
As the flat bar gets destroyed you replace it
Ive literally made a dozen tables of all sizes using nothing more that a stick welder and a torch
You can use any dimension steel you want but do not use galvanised
There are many different versions or ways of doing it
Its simple easy and effective
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top