As the title says we will be having a Metal Shop Committee meeting March 14th at 7 pm in the Lecture Hall. The point of the meeting is to get the final vote on what machine we want. If you can be there, please do so. You can proxy your vote if you can not be there.
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Reminder that the meeting is tonight.
This is an example committee work at it’s finest and as a member you can have your greatest impact. If you use Metal Shop, please show up.
If you can’t be there, provide someone your proxy if you have a preference for one machine over another. Tim has done an incredible job ferreting out, collecting, and summarizing their features.
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Finally able to post the minutes.
Meeting commenced at 7:09 pm (19:09)
In attendance was
Chair Chuck Graf
Myself, Tim Bene
John K (Hard to make out full last name)
Ryan Caldwell
Brad Simc ( I think that was a C)
Art Givens
Bill Gee
Alex Rhodes
Malcolm Galland
Steven Martin
Luke Strickland
Chris Wischkowsky
Coul
David Kessinger
Thom Stewart
John Gorman
Kris Anderson (did not vote on CNC Plasma)
We discussed all of the machines that were in the the running.
This included
Torchmate 4400
JD2 MAD 4x4
Forest Scientific HSPB 4x4
Multicam 101iP 4x4
Dynatorch SuperBee 4x4
ShopSabre Sidekick 4x4
We discussed all the pro’s & cons of the machines.
Up for the Vote
Torchmate 0
JD2 1
Forest Scientific 0
Multicam 1
Dynatorch 12, counted 11 but Art had both of his hands up, he had proxy for Steve Martin, realized after the meeting was over.
Shop Sabre 1
Dynatorch SuperBee was ultimately chosen.
Discussed the kiln & doing long glass fusions. We agreed to give temporary power until a permanent power source can be achieved after enough interest is generated. This temporary power can be 1 of the welding plugs, again only temporary.
Meeting closed at 8:15pm (20:15)
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Please do not commit to the 4x4 table until the issue of expanding next door is settled.
Myself & Chuck were having this conversation this afternoon. The difference between the two are minimal. I’m curious as to how long this will be in flux.
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Thank you Tim for taking the lead on this. You did an awesome job!
Was there any discussion about what we want to do with the existing machine (realising we don’t own it)?
Thank you also to the participating members. I wish I could have been there, but it simply did not work out for me, even though it was on a night I usually have available. I did not send proxy, as I did not think there was a clear winner in the running (or to put another way, I didn’t think there was a “wrong” choice).
First, from the horse’s mouth:
Just to recap what little I remember from the discussions prior to the meeting, the Dynatorch is the one that allows expansion of the table (if we get more space, powers willing! 
) for minimal outlay (in today’s $$), which is new longer cables, and a whole new table.
The quote was with a Hypertherm Powermax 85 (which uses some of the same consumables as the existing Durmax Torch Retrofit, with the caveat that most consumables sold for the Duramax torch only go up to 65A, whereas the 85 consumables are rated for 85A). hypertherm_consumables_ref.pdf (48.8 KB)
DXF files are the preferred input (if I understood that correctly) so virtually any drawing program should suffice (we’ll see!).
I’m happy with that choice. Excited for the change. I say “order up!”. Though I have once again managed to severely limit my free time over the next couple months, I want to help this move forward with any contribution I can make. Lemme know if I can do something. 
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I did find out that the machine uses standard G-code. It comes with Sheetcam & another software that runs the machine. The Dynatorch software has a converter in it as well.
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