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New Langmuir Crossfire Pro, looking for tips

JohnnyJ

Low Range Drifter
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
169
Messages
643
Loc
SE Michigan
This spring I ordered up a Langmuir Crossfire Pro table, and a few weeks ago it arrived. I've got it 99% assembled and ready to start testing, and I know I will have to find a spot for in the shop. For those of you with limited space, any tips? My thought is to not bury it in the corner, and giving some access on either side of the machine if i need to get to it. I haven't tired out the water table to see if under table storage & mounting of the plasma cutter there would be viable.

I picked up a small PC that I can use for CAD and controlling the table. I need a stand or table. I don't want something collecting shit and taking up precious floor space, so I was thinking of something like the link below. We have similar setups in our labs at work, but of course they are heavy duty and cost way more. I may even run down to see if i can pick up some scrap and put something like this together, but something tells me I'd end up spending more time and money with minimal better functionality.


If there's interest, I can provide my experience. Back in the 90s I worked with Mazak 3 and 6 axis laser cutters. I also have some experience with a similarly sized early Bulltear/Starlab CNC plasma table that a friend has had for 10 years or so. But this is my first time messing with one from scratch.
 
I have the exact table. Been running it for 4 months now. Few things iv done

Under table shelf to hold the plasma n stuff
Attach a hook to coil the ground up to when done
I keep the back off he wall a little bit so you can push a 4x4 sheet out the back rather then in the way hanging out the front
I use a laptop to run it and just push a tool box over over as a table when I want to run it. I try to do batch cuts so I'm not running it daily

Langmuir website has tons of great free cut files too if you havnt seen em yet and etsy is a great place to buy artwork files for less then a few bucks
 
Good tip on keep off the wall a bit. glad to hear a shelf underneath is working good. That seemed the most obvious place to hide the plasma cutter.
 
There's a CAD file for making a laptop stand off of one of the uprights. I can find it and post it here in a few days if you'd like.

Keep the way rails clean, or else the machine's rollers will catch on stuff and lose position pretty easily. It's not so bad you have to clean during cuts, but definitely wipe them down before your runs of the day.

I've had mine for about a year and a half. It's been awesome, no regrets.
 
I have one too, been sitting for the last 10 months assembled but not used beyond testing it without out a plasma, due to a last minute decision to sell and move 6 hours from my home town, Finally adding on to the workshop at the new place so I can get it up and running.

I know cool story, just here for any tips on these machines. :flipoff2:
 
Are you using Fusion or some other CAD and SheetCam?

With the past 2 plasma tables I've interacted with, I used really old versions of autocad (maybe 2012 or 2014) and sheetcam. Today was my first day messing with fusion trying to take a file and post it. I'm nearly positive I might spend the money and just go the sheetcam route.
 
Fusion 360 here. It's a way more powerful program, invest the time in learning it.
 
I ended up going Qcad and sheetcam. I’m comfortable with both, and still learning the machine. At some point I may mess with Fusion if I plan to make an assembly.

I have the Razorcut that they sell with the machine, and I’ve been happy with cut quality so far using the parameters from the forum. THC seems to be working well. Overall happy experience so far.
 
Fusion 360 here as well on a Langmuir Crossfire XL. I took the time to get a handle on F360 and its well worth it. We built a shelf underneath with expanded metal and put the water table cleaning supplies and shop dry there. It gets messy when you are burning close to the edges of the table.

At first, we cut a shelf to fit along one side of the table to put the laptops on. We had coolant splash from the table getting on the laptops. Next we bought a long USB extension and ran it over to the laptops on the fixture table to burn. That keeps the expensive laptops away from the coolant splash and burn fumes.
I don't have the words to describe how cool it is to be able to make custom parts when you need them. :beer:

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Edited to add picture of burn table shelf.
 
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I have been contemplating buying a Langmuir small table, I already have a Hypertherm PM 900
I have little to no experience with a cad program, the table comes with Fusion 360 cad/cam software
Where do I begin, probably won't be doing a ton of parts but occasionally I can use one or two odd parts
at $1500 it seems like an OK deal for limited use.
 
I have been contemplating buying a Langmuir small table, I already have a Hypertherm PM 900
I have little to no experience with a cad program, the table comes with Fusion 360 cad/cam software
Where do I begin, probably won't be doing a ton of parts but occasionally I can use one or two odd parts
at $1500 it seems like an OK deal for limited use.
YouTube has tons of great tutorials, I spent a lot of time watching vids while mimicking it in fusion to get the hang of it
 
Gonna put my table changes here because why not. This is a tips thread after all.

So I'm fed up with the leaking shitty waterpan that langmuir provides with the crossfire pro. I bought a piece of 16ga 304 brushed sheet and had the edges folded up. Plan to weld the corners, then put tabs on the bottom to secure it to the plasma table structure instead of the dumb through-screws so that aside from the drain I'm going to form in it, there are no penetrations through the pan. Finally, the top edges of the table will have a pinch welt on it to help protect both the pan and my fingers.

Question for the folks. If you were making a water pan from scratch, what features would you include? How would you make the slats? Open to ideas and suggestions.

1706630500682.png
 
Gonna put my table changes here because why not. This is a tips thread after all.

So I'm fed up with the leaking shitty waterpan that langmuir provides with the crossfire pro. I bought a piece of 16ga 304 brushed sheet and had the edges folded up. Plan to weld the corners, then put tabs on the bottom to secure it to the plasma table structure instead of the dumb through-screws so that aside from the drain I'm going to form in it, there are no penetrations through the pan. Finally, the top edges of the table will have a pinch welt on it to help protect both the pan and my fingers.

Question for the folks. If you were making a water pan from scratch, what features would you include? How would you make the slats? Open to ideas and suggestions.

1706630500682.png
Only suggestion is if you decide to put a drain in it is to not put any heat in it to do so.
I totally barfed my washer pan welding the sink drain flange to it. I almost machined a die to dimple it and didn't cause I wanted it smooth and to drain fully.

In hindsight setting the flange flush with a simple die would have been much smarter.

I do like how the drain is far away from the most common cut area X 0, Y 0 so the metals has time to settle before being drained, I believe based on the amount of debris I sweep out after it dries that system is working well (zero prior experience).

For slats I planned to have the slats at the same level as the water pan so larger material wasn't a problem but I found that's not really possible with common flat strap so I just used 2" strap on some 1/4" thick angle iron I gang cut in the chop slow for the slots.

That works excellent and puts the slat a 1/4" below the flange which would allow me to cut stainless etc. submerged :smokin:
But since I warped the pan so bad the rear around the drain is now sagging 3/8 of an inch totally defeating the purpose.
If a level slat to pan surface was desired you could just add 1/4" shims under the angle iron runners to raise the bed in the pan.

Best pic I got
1000011077.jpg
 
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I am glad you guys shared the die method with to put a drain in instead of welding, because I was definitely going to weld it in. Putting the drain in the far corner too, great idea.

Does cutting the plate submerged help prevent the cut edges from becoming so hard or help prevent slag from sticking?
 
How’s your die setup work?
Drill hole. Half that has the bolt through it goes face down in the direction you want the dimple. Gussetted plate goes on the bottom through the bolt (there's gonna be a corresponding cup on the other side of that gussetted piece) and a nut put on. Whole shebang gets tightened down till a dimple exists.
 
I would think for a simple drain a carbide holesaw could be used and a larger socket or similar could be used to dimple down a tad, then a camper sink drain or something small. I would have had the water table cross creased for strength.
No I haven't bought a table yet...lol
 
I used 'bar' drains, they needed 3/16 or so of a dimple to be flush. And they have a odd thread, not same as 1-1/2 drain fittings.
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Only have to open/shut the one large valve to fill/drain. There is a check valve between tank and pump so pump doesn't just circulate. Had to lower/ modify spring pressure to make it work. Table fill back through drains. takes 1.5 min. The small valve allow pump out. 15 gallon tank.

Fucking pan seam leaks.
A1JI83UfXv0nMVg=w1271-h953-s-no-gm?authuser=0[img].jpg
 
If you were making a water pan from scratch, what features would you include?
I've been thinking about it a lot, I hate the screwed together halves. Why?!?

I want to come inside the frame rails (which hold the slats) and taper it down in the back to a single drain, then have it pump from 4-6 spots in the front towards the back. Leave the pump to run to keep the fluid clearing.... forgive my shitty phone drawing....

1706630500682.png


This way all the brown bubbly crap gets pushed to the rear by the drain.

Here is my Drain/Fill/Filter setup:
IMG_9778.JPG
IMG_9777.JPG

  • Small pump in the tank, switch on the left, fills table in about a minute
  • 3 waybill valve (Fill, Drain, lock)
  • Filter back to tank, takes about 8-10min to drain with no real slope in the drain pipes)
 
You like the pump as opposed to the pneumatic fill method?

I thought abiut sloping the drain but the way the slats have to sit on the pan to get the weight transfered to the frame means you cant really put the drain in the front. Unless you do that only inside the table frame, which is a good idea....

Wonder how I could form some channels in the pan. Probably need to do that after it's mounted to the table with tabs, before I cut the drain hole.

A bead roller could do it if I had one, lol.
 
You like the pump as opposed to the pneumatic fill method?
Yea it was cheap and easy. Also added a temp fish tank heater to my tank because its been in the single digits the last few weeks.

My FIL has a 40' table at his company, they ditched the water and went to a down draft which I like better. It would involve removing the water table and enclosing all the sides and bottom for everything to fall into. If I didn't need that space for storage I'd rather have that vent out and not mess with fluid at all.
 
:flipoff2:

100% truth ... Because my wife doesn't like sticking her hand in it. It's also why I'll be switching from the blue cutting fluid to the green thats easier to see through :shaking:

She has a big CO2 laser that she does crafts with and plans on working metal into some of her stuff. But it's gross :laughing:
 
:flipoff2:

100% truth ... Because my wife doesn't like sticking her hand in it. It's also why I'll be switching from the blue cutting fluid to the green thats easier to see through :shaking:

She has a big CO2 laser that she does crafts with and plans on working metal into some of her stuff. But it's gross :laughing:
ok then
why have a drain if you are not going to use it?

I raise water
cut
drain water
get your parts
repeat

no one likes fishing in that water
 
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