February 16, 2009
Introducing the Hal-o-Matic
11 years after I first bought a really crappy CNC kit, I've finally rebuilt my plasma table into a nearly professional machine. With parts from Ebay, including a used Hypertherm 1650, this thing cranks out metal over 4 times faster than my old Esab (and without the nasty RF noise problem that zapped my computer). When I get the time, I will add torch height control and a drill now that the gantry is so butch.The control software is EMC2 (the Enhanced Machine Controller), running on the Ubuntu flavor of Linux; both open-source and free. It's a treat to use, especially after enduring DOS and floppy disks for the last 11 years. The EMC project distributes a CD disc image, "EMC Live", for both the EMC software and Ubuntu. You can install from the CD, or just run it without installing for testing. The most recent version (as of today) is here, if you want to try it.
EMC with the Axis inferface:
Posted by Hal Eckhart at 10:38 PM
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