Torchmate 4X4

[Torchmate]

Originally Posted by Chairmnofthboard

Well, on top of that the machine is just shaky. Every time the torch changes direction the machine wiggles and that kills the smoothness. I got one of your very first Torchmate 3 (there wasn't even instructions when I got it). Because of that my gantry is setup like a "T". That's part of the problem right there. Plus I have the stepper motors with the factory "belts" instead of a gear box so there's backlash.

I can't see my model being all that great for detail work (signs, artwork, etc), unless you sloooooooow it down to a crawl. For what we do, it works fine. We use it daily, sometimes all day.

Did you cross brace the legs? That is pretty key with the Extruded Aluminum Tables over 4' long. The instructions were on the CD with the Driver Software to run the machine. We have also made some pretty serious strides in regards to the instructions over the years. Can you email me your contact information? I will get the most recent version to you if you would like. There should be no backlash even with the belts as long as they are tight. Scootek's table on here uses the same belt drive system. Backlash will only really come into play if you don't have the gear meshed enough into the rack. The only thing the gearboxes did was lower the maintenance required and make it easier to assemble. We have also improved the design on the TM3 T Section to now be a four point gantry instead of three points like yours. Of course, when we added the gear boxes and the new T section we raised the price to cover those costs. I will get those improvements to you at our cost if you would like. Again, just email me your contact information at bill@torchmate.com.

In any case, the cross bracing on the legs should solve 90% of the problem with things being shaky. Just cut some straps out of .125" mild steel that are 18"x1" with holes at either end. Then bolt them on from leg to frame all the way around. I will try to find some pictures. Many people end up skirting the entire machine for downdraft purposes and that is just like cross bracing.

Please shoot me an email. I will do everything I can to help you improve things. There are thousands of that exact machine in the field now. We have fine tuned everything since you purchased it. It is a great machine and with the above improvements, I would put it up against any machine on the market even at three times the price. Again, I will help you upgrade things at cost if you are interested.

Bill

[Chairmnofthboard]

Originally Posted by Torchmate

Did you cross brace the legs? That is pretty key with the Extruded Aluminum Tables over 4' long. The instructions were on the CD with the Driver Software to run the machine. We have also made some pretty serious strides in regards to the instructions over the years. Can you email me your contact information? I will get the most recent version to you if you would like. There should be no backlash even with the belts as long as they are tight. Scootek's table on here uses the same belt drive system. Backlash will only really come into play if you don't have the gear meshed enough into the rack. The only thing the gearboxes did was lower the maintenance required and make it easier to assemble. We have also improved the design on the TM3 T Section to now be a four point gantry instead of three points like yours. Of course, when we added the gear boxes and the new T section we raised the price to cover those costs. I will get those improvements to you at our cost if you would like. Again, just email me your contact information at bill@torchmate.com.

In any case, the cross bracing on the legs should solve 90% of the problem with things being shaky. Just cut some straps out of .125" mild steel that are 18"x1" with holes at either end. Then bolt them on from leg to frame all the way around. I will try to find some pictures. Many people end up skirting the entire machine for downdraft purposes and that is just like cross bracing.

Please shoot me an email. I will do everything I can to help you improve things. There are thousands of that exact machine in the field now. We have fine tuned everything since you purchased it. It is a great machine and with the above improvements, I would put it up against any machine on the market even at three times the price. Again, I will help you upgrade things at cost if you are interested.

Bill

Thanks for the response. My table is not aluminum, there wasn't a complete steel table at the time we bought out Torchmate. That's why we went with torchemate so that we could make our own heavy steel table.

We never received any real instructions. I guess I was one of the very first TM3 customers. I remember they emailed me a PDF with partial instructions.

It's definitely the three point design that causes all the shaking. My table is insanely solid, but the gantry shakes every time the torch changes direction.

My machine burned a "motor driver" again a few weeks ago and I mentioned the problems to someone at torchmate. They recommended that I switch to the gearbox "to solve the backlash, for better accuracy" and to buy the four point part of the gantry. The person on the phone recommended that I switch to the new motor driver so that I can stop burning up motor drivers. I believe the total was about $3000.

Here's my email information. Chairmnofthboard@gmail.com Thanks!

[Torchmate]

Perfect! I am getting a better understanding of what you have now. The four point gantry will solve the shaking for sure. The old driver cards used to blow out if they were connected or disconnected with the power on. That was their only real weakness. The new ones don't do that. My guess is that if you are having ongoing issues with blowing drives, then there is probably a loose connection or one that becomes loose only in certain gantry positions. I don't think it is worth upgrading the whole setup just for that. It is easier to figure out what is coming loose and causing it to blow although there have been some pretty significant software upgrades over the past few years that you could benefit from by upgrading some hardware.

I will send you an email and we can talk that way. Thanks for posting!

[Chairmnofthboard]

Originally Posted by Torchmate

Perfect! I am getting a better understanding of what you have now. The four point gantry will solve the shaking for sure. The old driver cards used to blow out if they were connected or disconnected with the power on. That was their only real weakness. The new ones don't do that. My guess is that if you are having ongoing issues with blowing drives, then there is probably a loose connection or one that becomes loose only in certain gantry positions. I don't think it is worth upgrading the whole setup just for that. It is easier to figure out what is coming loose and causing it to blow although there have been some pretty significant software upgrades over the past few years that you could benefit from by upgrading some hardware.

I will send you an email and we can talk that way. Thanks for posting!

Thanks, but I don't think I'm going to spend $3000 upgrading my machine. I'll probably just buy another one and keep the TM3 as a backup or run them side by side. Maybe a waterjet this time around. Wont be for a couple of years.

I'll wait for your email, Thanks!

[Torchmate]

Originally Posted by Chairmnofthboard

Thanks, but I don't think I'm going to spend $3000 upgrading my machine. I'll probably just buy another one and keep the TM3 as a backup or run them side by side. Maybe a waterjet this time around. Wont be for a couple of years.

I'll wait for your email, Thanks!

Email sent. And I agree, I wouldn't spend that much upgrading it either. I don't think you need to. Like I said before, I will make it easy. At this point I would just like to see you getting the most out of what you already have.

[Chairmnofthboard]

Originally Posted by Torchmate

Email sent. And I agree, I wouldn't spend that much upgrading it either. I don't think you need to. Like I said before, I will make it easy. At this point I would just like to see you getting the most out of what you already have.

Like I said before, for what we do, it works very well. We cut .120-.375 all day at a high speed and it's accurate enough for us. The CNCplasma definitely helped us make a superior product compared to our local competition. It was a well worth investment. But I would like to get it a little more accurate for when I'm working on my cars and making parts for them.

[fabcam]

Originally Posted by Chairmnofthboard

Like I said before, for what we do, it works very well. We cut .120-.375 all day at a high speed and it's accurate enough for us. The CNCplasma definitely helped us make a superior product compared to our local competition. It was a well worth investment. But I would like to get it a little more accurate for when I'm working on my cars and making parts for them.

Give Bill a call, he will take care of you.

[Chairmnofthboard]

Originally Posted by fabcam

Give Bill a call, he will take care of you.

Talked to Bill, he took care of everything. I'm ordering the upgrades this week.

Thanks for the support.

[Chairmnofthboard]

Where did this thread go???

Well anyway. I got it figured out and did a thread on possible problems.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/torchm..._overhaul.html

Thanks to Bill at TM for the help.

[Torchmate]

Saw the pictures. Holy moly! I have never even see spur gears that worn down. that machine has seen some action. Make sure the weight of the gantry is not sittng on the gears and tat the load is being carried by the cam followers. I am glad we worked though it. that machine is going to run like a dream now. :)

[Chairmnofthboard]

Thanks for the advice. I'll check to be sure the gears are not carrying the load (I bet they are).

The machine is already running great! I can't believe it was those little things causing all the problems. It should be as good as new once the cassette comes in.

We use our machine a lot. At least 4 hours a day 6 days a week. Sometimes even more. I'm not really surprised that some parts wore out. It's been a hard 5 years on the machine, that's for sure.

Maintenance guys. I hope these threads help the next guy.

[ScooteK]

This machine is still running great. Have made lots of stuff. It paid for it self along time ago. I have been to busy for a while to make stuff. However this morning I ordered the plate marker for this machine from Torchmate. Im fealing that excitement knowing something new is coming soon. Im sure I will be making some time to enjoy this. I will share each step when it arives.

[ScooteK]

Well I got it and its freakin sweet.
Was well packaged and came quick. Most of it was together already. Only had to put in 4 bolts, give it power and signal and air.








I put in a "T" to the clean dry air coming to the plasma to supply the platemarker aswell.




Pluged in the little black box that activates it




I contacted Torchmate to help me set it up and ended up getting ahold of Jake. He is the one that came to my house back when. He is the best. He sent me the instructions and gave me some tips. I started to get it going, and a few hours later Jake contacted me to see how I was doing. Jake ended up spending a couple hours with me on the phone walking me through each step. From inputing the settings to a full design and test. He explained everything to me and took time to answer all my questions. I feal as though Im 6 months ahead from what he taught me. Torchmate is the best.
Today I started trying to dial some things in. Started with a simple 3 circles in a square. Then made adjustments to get the circles round. Then added the multitool action to have the plasma cut it out after. Its f-in rad to watch.

[ScooteK]

I put some new slats in, gave them a bow, and lowered them to have the water closer. I had straight loose slats before and this was bad for the platemarker. To much movement. Now with the bow its much better. With the water at the plate the noise is way less too. I then began more testing.









The plasma settings are getting better, this plate had 0 dross. I did nothing to this plate after it was cut out.



I will continue to dial in the settings to have a consistant line.

[ScooteK]

Ive got some video and will post it up later.

[TheBandit]

<- jealous

That is sweet. What are you going to make with it?

[ScooteK]

Originally Posted by TheBandit

What are you going to make with it?

What am I not going to make with it!
I have wanted this for a couple years. There are a few projects Ive had in mind for some time. Just being able to add this feature into the projects is sweet. There are tons of uses for this from marking bend lines to bolt holes. Dash component info to enhancing the artwork side of things. Its only limited to the imagination.

[ScooteK]

$hit! Im even going to make my buisness cards with this!

[ScooteK]

So excited I forgot to put water in the table.




Click to play



Click to play

[Shox Dr]

mwaaaaaaaaaaar I want one