Automated oxyfuel flame cutting machine

The study presents an automated oxyfuel flame cutting machine of which the cutting path is determined by X-and Y-movements using two mechanical carriages. The carriages are driven by DC motors which are interfaced to a microcomputer. A feedback system using optical shaft encoders is employed to monitor the cutting path. Two-dimensional shapes such as rectangles, circles, triangles, or any other shape that can be approximated by lines and arcs may be constructed through a Line-Art Graphics (LAG) software. A separate and related module, called the Cutting Software processes the LAG files into signals for input to the motors. Such signals are directly correlated to the required cutting path for the torch