Myths and Facts.

There are a number of myths that we have heard from many different sources and want you to be informed of the FACTS.

Myth: The machine looks big and strong so it must be able to work longer hours.

Fact: Our system was designed with 24 hour – 7 day operations in mind.  All our electronics are fan cooled with heat sinks installed as well to keep electronics happily operating.  The system is designed with near zero stress placed on the motors and motions to keep them cool and in operation.  All bearing surfaces require no lubrication and only an occasional “blowing off” of the dust to keep them happy.  This system is designed to run.  I recently visited a site in Florida where the “Big Wally” machine the company had, was down because it needed new linear bearings.  This was anticipated by the company and they were having it done at a $5000.00 cost.  Holy cow! that is over 1/3 the cost of an entire machine of ours.  I have systems in operation for 7 years and better that have had NO REPLACEMENT PARTS NEEDED.  This is what we build.

All the extrusion we use has 3 times the load capability it needs.  O.k. sorry for that last statement.  I just pulled out my handy dandy deflection calculator for our frame and the moving gantry we have weighs about 16 lbs.  Our frame member that supports the moving gantry with a load of 160 lbs will deflect only .0053 inches so allow me to correct the statement that the frame is capable of supporting over 10 times the load and still will only deflect about the depth of a sheet of paper. all the screws used have a Minimum 5000 lb pull out strength.   The extrusion has a 2 degree draft angle at the connection locations to act as a locking mechanism for the screws and slots to keep tight.  The fact we use a steel screw which burs against the aluminum frame causes the screw to tighten under vibratory load rather than loosen. All things you need have been considered and we have the most sensible solution.

Myth: Welded frame is stronger and better than an assembly of bolted parts.

Fact: If this were the case then I wouldn’t want to get in my car and drive home this evening.  For the automobile industry bolts almost every part of your car together.

The reality is that when a system is designed it is sometimes even more than acceptable to bolt parts together.  When we designed this system we originally fell into this same trap and discovered that welding actually makes most material warp and bend, and the final drive system is then BOLTED to the frame.  Look at anyones system and you will discover the same.

Myth: Machine drive screws are better than belt drive systems.

Fact: Again lets look at our friend the automobile which has been for decades  using timing belts to keep the valve timing running properly.

Drive screws are great for extremely accurate positioning and we have made many systems using them.  Using a ball screw the counting mechanism will position you at .000035417 inches per count.  WOW that is accurate.  The system we will provide you fro wire cutting will give 0.000567685 inches per count.  So let’s see that is not as good as a screw, correct, but it still is the same as dividing the depth of a sheet of paper 5.762 times.  Folks you can’t see that movement it is measurable but cant be seen.

The system we build uses only the best Kevlar reinforced timing belts with Acetal and Polycarbonate pulleys.  We chose these for their durability and accuaracy.  You won’t be replacing our belt or pulleys ever unless you try to destroy them yourself.

Myth: We need a large table for position accuracy.

Fact:  4 axis foam cutters give you the ability to locate the wire to your foam and then cut based on the foam location rather than the table location.

Location is only relevant to 2 points in the universe  the intersection of X and Y if you will.  With our system we have a re-set-able 0,0 location which gives you the ability to cut and locate from any  point on the foam.  Many other systems only work from a given and specific home position and this requires you to move the foam or part to it.  This has been and will continue to be a problem for those systems to be worked around.

I have built tables for machine a number of times and can tell you this the only things I always discover is that the table offers very little reward for the difficulty it creates.  One of the other machine manufacturers touts a smooth melamine surface for your table top.  Over time this will warp and require you to either replace it or as the manufacturer suggests placing a  suggests sacrificial foam piece and using the machine to cut it.  Well there you have it  that table cannot be trusted.    Our suggestion is to use the foam you already are cutting from as a table and use the machine to true it prior to  cutting your part and there you go presto a table you can trust.

The difficulty come in when you must move this beast or you need to place the towers closer together for the purpose of  difficult geometries such as severe tapers.  Imagine if you will cutting  a tapered planter that has a large end of 24″ and a smaller end of 16 inches over a 20 inch length.  This is fairly common sizing  in the planter world.  Now a machine with a 9 foot span between the towers will require you to have profile sizes of near 50 inches on one side and zero on the other but if you push the towers in just 18″ on each side you get profiles of 34″ and 6″ respectively.  This gives 4 or 5 times the detail resolution for this design based on the wire motion and gives you 4 to 5 times better cutting result over all.  Try this with fixed towers and you will see.

Myth: We include a computer and cad program to make it easy for you.

Fact: None of these machine manufacturers make computers and nor would you buy one from them if they did.  They are buying a computer and charging you for it.  The same goes for the CAD program.    We can buy one for you and sell it with our system as well and make extra profit by this as well.  The fact is most companies have an older computer lying around the office already and this in most cases is more than enough computing power for our needs.  Why buy one when you don’t need it.

As far as CAD is concerned Many differing needs in drawing  is something that will require many differing solutions.  We assist everyone in getting the drawing program without requiring you use something you might never use elsewhere.  Some machine manufacturers send a graphic program that really isn’t suited for accuracy in drawing and this we felt is a dis-service to you in the long run.  Many high powered cad programs are available for $50-$80 that are more than compatible with all of the CAD systems out there.  There are many open source programs as well that even the U.S. Army corp of engineers use for their designs.  Open Source is Free.  Let us help you get the Drawing program that most suits your SPECIFIC needs and not is one we made a “DEAL” with to make it “convenient” for you.

So buying a $399.00 computer and a $300.00 drawing program and upping our price $1500.00 is a possibility like the rest of them do, or help you make the smarter buying decision and keeping your $1500.00 for your self is what we chose to do.

Remember, $14,000.00 versus $24,000.00-$36,000.00 or more.  You do the math.  I think for $10,000.00 savings you could find a computer.