Jerry Walker’s homebuilt CNC plasma cutter has reached a useful milestone: after a long spell of reliability testing, it has made its first cut in steel. In the 5 November video, Walker moves the machine from pen plotting to a workshop test and cuts a circular hole in 1.5 mm sheet.
The preparation is the interesting part. Walker says he ran repeated pen plots to check that the motion system returns to the same position, then used the machine to draw large schematics for his Z80 computer project. Those longer runs exercised the electronics, guides and moving cable runs before a plasma torch was attached. In the workshop he first checked the motion and torch control without cutting, then tried the steel.
Walker calls the first hole round and correctly sized, though he says the cutting speed still needs adjustment. The table also lacks its planned material supports, water tray and extraction. This is a first-cut demonstration, not a finished machine—but it shows why testing a homebuilt tool as a plotter can expose motion and reliability issues before the noisier, hotter work begins.
Watch Jerry Walker’s “CNC Plasma Cutter Part6” for the setup and first cut.
