Arc droid

[toprecycler]

New arcdroid showed up today as scheduled. I didn’t get too much time with it, but took it out to shop after getting home from grocery shopping (date night with wife). I should have just gone to bed, but excited to open box. Figured I should at least make sure it arrived in one piece, in case I needed to contact the company for some reason.

In less than 30 minutes, I had a sample piece drawn up in the handheld screen, and had it “cutting “ it out.

Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get a bit of time to actually get the plasma cutter set up and working. I do have to do some hot wiring, since I have not got the hypertherm CNC cable. And I don’t have the patience to wait to order it.

I just need to slice in two wires to the torch trigger, so the arc droid will start the plasma when needed.

So far, I am impressed. Some of the parts are not finished as much as I expected, I’m surprised that some printed circuits boards are exposed, but if it works, that’s what counts.





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[Ironman]

The new tool smell is impossible to resist

[dubby]

Originally Posted by Ironman

The new tool smell is impossible to resist

Good... thought it was just me there for a minute

Excited to see how this goes!

[Whitetrash]

This thing is like someone read my mind and said "Here is what you need" I watched a couple videos of guys that have been using it and are adept with the whole package. The one guy made a holder/adaptor to keep his Arcdroid controller out of harms way by mating it to some sort of small TV camera swivel arm mount. Takes a few measurements with a steel rule of the controller and the arm. Walks over cheats a little has his plate squared up on the table. lays out holes with the rule and corners. Takes the stylus plots his holes and snaps lines for his outline and throws on the torch.

[Whitetrash]

So, no feedback yet on the "New Toy" ??? Inquiring minds want to know?????

[toprecycler]

I was hoping Friday would be playing with it, but that’s the day Well guy had Excavator company come in to dig up church well to find leaking saddle on well casing. Since it was buried 7’ under the earth, a nice birch tree and Juniper plant had to go. Pastor was sad about that.

Then getting water turned back on lead to more problems with faucet plugging up and needed changing. It was a long day before I got home at 9pm. And another day of lost at work.

However the well guy said it’s probably been leaking a couple years.




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[toprecycler]

So Saturday, I decided before playing with the arc droid, which I very much wanted to, I should better focus on getting oil heater back into the shop for winter and setup. That meant rearranging equipment. I managed to fill in the room I added on meant for the air compressor and RPC, since I haven’t taken time to finish inside yet, with tools that can wheel in and out easily, yet don’t get used often.

I got heater inside, and fired up. It was being cranky. I managed to move an 275 gallon fuel tank half full of oil to outside of the wall where heater is placed. My goal this year is to run a line directly to heater from this tank, and stop using the temporary 5 gallon bucket on top of the heater for oil.

And then I took a photo opportunity with my car inside the shop, with the door closed. Just to say it was possible. Just short of a miracle to have this much room in the shop.

I finally got around to hooking up the plasma torch. I don’t like how it is designed to be hooked up, but did it how they designed it just to see it work. I plan on making a different mounting plate. I want to be able to change the consumables without removing the torch from the mount. And right now, since the mount is holding the threaded nozzle part, the handle can unscrew slightly. And I’m afraid of breaking the cup. They tend to be expensive for hyperpherm plasma cutters.

Great news is I did manage finally to get a few test cuts! I had a bit of trouble doing the. Calibration moves that aligns the machine tracing stylus to the plasma torch, but finally got it. Then some other little troubleshooting errors, and I managed to get severel little cuts. I just used the hand held screen to draw couple holes and had it working.

I will have to come up with a way to hold the torch cable up for taking the weight off the arc droid arm. Since I using an older Powermax 1000, the torch and cable is really big and heavy, I also have a leather protector shield on it. I guess I might take the leather sheid off to try lightening it up.

I can see where a straight machine style torch would be ideal for this machine, but I’m not wanting to spend a $1000 for one for this machine. Who knows, I just might spring for another smaller cheaper plasma.

But I will get some more time with it, and see which way I want to go. Will depend on how much I actually decide to use it. I have grandiose plans for a lot of uses, but it could just end up like my 3-d printer. I only have turned that on in once or twice in almost a year.

I will need to acquire / make a cutting table setup. And a fume filter, if I want to use it in the colder months inside the shop. I’ve been thinking about this anyways when I have done a bit of welding in the winter time.
After welding , I lift my hood and see half the shop filled with smoke. And I don’t want to open the doors and loose my hard earned heat.






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[Whitetrash]

Oh, yeah I'm liking what I see. I've pretty much settled on this Plasma Cutter from Primeweld and they offer a CNC torch that uses Hypertherm consumables for another $400https://primeweld.com/products/cut-6...-plasma-cutter I think it's the best bang for my buck and they have a decent warranty

[mccutter]

How much was the ArcDroid and other than a plasma cutter, what else did you need?

Maybe you could 3d-print a straight torch housing for it? Maybe easier said than done. I don't know about your plasma torch but with the Hobart I just replaced the air line in, the torch housing incorporated recesses for the cup and tip switches. They had to be positioned "just right" for the housing to go back together flush.

[toprecycler]

Basic arcdroid machine 2499. I added the X2, track that will allow the droid to slide side to side and double the x cutting range.
Instead of 15x24”, can do 15”x 48” capability roughly. That added $400 ish.

Shipping $300. Which I thought was steep, but it showed up in working order, in the time promised, which was 1 week from ordering date.

I also got their square centering piece, and center punch centering jig.

All in right now I have 3303.00 in the arcdroid pieces.

I added some new tips and pieces for my plasma torch. But I and trying to save a few bucks here and found some cheaper copies off Amazon. That might come back to bite me.

I might be open to looking into a new torch, that works with my plasma cutter. Or since I’m a machinist, maybe I can make my own custom torch utilizing standard consumables. I’m used to copying parts already in my main job. Why can’t I do that for a plasma cutter?

After I get a bit of time and practice, I’ll let couple shops know I have this capability, and maybe I can get a few side jobs to help pay for torch upgrades.


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