Hi everyone,

After having finally bought an Everlast PowerPlasma 60S in April 2016, registering for a forum account then and "lurking" about the forum to get information and read what others have done and discovered, I decided it's time for me to introduce myself. I'm originally from Oklahoma and moved my family to Colorado in 1984. While my income earning career has been in the fields of electronics (first part of my career) and IT (for the past 15+ years), I've long had a desire and somewhat frequent opportunities to stretch my skills, knowledge and capabilities in the area of metal work and fab. The fact that my father was a steam fitter for 30+ years and seeing what he could do with a welder and related equipment always impressed me, so I think this imprinted this interest in working with metal in me. Me, my wife and kids were also very involved in a 4-wheel drive club for several years here in Colorado and that also expanded my interest and knowledge in fabrication, as everyone was, without really knowing it, in a friendly competition to make their off-road vehicle better than before and better than others at the same time (swapping out and rebuilding engines, transfer cases, suspension and axles and building many other things such as roll cages, nerf bars and such). Fun stuff and we got a much better understanding of what makes a vehicle tick and work better. I'm the kind of person who generally isn't afraid to tackle most any new project or problem, whether it be home repairs/upgrades, vehicle repairs/upgrades and of course computers and networks and other stuff - what many call a JOAT (jack of all trades).

Anyway, now that I have a plasma cutter (along with a Lincoln PowerMig 200 welder and 80-gallon 2-stage air compressor among other tools) I'm now getting serious about building a CNC table to incorporate the plasma cutter and possibly a router with. This will be somewhat of a hobby project initially, but my hope and intent is this will become more than that and will be an additional source of income shortly and continue after I retire in a few years. I plan to spend time getting very familiar with all aspects of this project - gantry and table build, integration of plasma cutter with motion control and torch height control, software used to run and coordinate the whole system, etc. I'm sure I'll be chiming in to threads on the site to ask questions and hopefully pass on any knowledge that can help others in areas that I can.

Steve