> If one was to cut lots of shim, say for production, I would look > seriously at a low power laser. > Dave
+1 A power supply for a small home made plasma cutter would be easy. Designing and building a reliable, high accuracy home made plasma torch would be much more difficult. The final result would probably only be useful from an experience point of view, as opposed an output productive project. I'd definitly go with a small laser if you want to do thin shim work. You can buy suitable used CO2, or better yet, ND:YAG lasers on eBay quite cheaply. If you live in the US, you're lucky enough to be able to make best use of the US eBay, something I certainly wouldn't waste if I lived there! There are truely criminal deals on the US eBay everyday. Even industrial lasers are designed more towards high speed and high accuracy on thin work like sheet or thin plate. It's nature of operation defines it's most fitting application. Plasma behaves a lot like a normal high pressure flame. I thought about filing for a patent on an idea I had for focusing plasma. However, the idea is perhaps a bit complicated for home application. I also discovered another company was already using a similar idea they claimed to have patented. Although I had been unable to find their patent application, disclosure of a similar idea is enough to make application very tricky. John Addresses: FAQ: http://www.ktmarketing.com/faq.html FILES: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO/files/ Post Messages: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Moderator: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [Moderators] URL to this group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO OFF Topic POSTS: General Machining If you wish to post on unlimited OT subjects goto: aol://5863:126/rec.crafts.metalworking or go thru Google.com to reach it if you have trouble. http://www.metalworking.com/news_servers.html http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jobshophomeshop I consider this to be a sister site to the CCED group, as many of the same members are there, for OT subjects, that are not allowed on the CCED list. NOTICE: ALL POSTINGS TO THIS GROUP BECOME PUBLIC DOMAIN BY POSTING THEM. DON'T POST IF YOU CAN NOT ACCEPT THIS.....NO EXCEPTIONS........ bill List Mom List Owner Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
