Messages

1

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: Mach3 Plasma Z axis move after firing torch M03

« on: February 23, 2022, 12:04:54 AM »

Adding the StartTHC() and EndTHC() seems to work for allowing the machine to first move to cut height before THC is active

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: No built-in THC DELAY in Mach3 ???

« on: February 23, 2022, 12:04:13 AM »

Adding the StartTHC() and EndTHC() seems to work for allowing the machine to first move to cut height before THC is active

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: No built-in THC DELAY in Mach3 ???

« on: February 21, 2022, 08:46:08 AM »

What I have been finding is my pierce delay works but my movement begins from pierce height instead of moving to the cut height first. It seems to only do this when THC is ON. Tomorrow morning I am going to try using M667 (EndTHC()) after M3 (torch on) and the M666 (StartTHC()) after the Z move to cut height to see if does what it should.

4

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: Mach3 Plasma Z axis move after firing torch M03

« on: February 21, 2022, 08:24:32 AM »

I'm going to try using StartTHC() in M666 and EndTHC in M667 to see if it will do the Z moves. I have added M667 just after M3 and then M666 after the Z move to the cut height. Will update once I've cut something.

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: No built-in THC DELAY in Mach3 ???

« on: February 21, 2022, 05:11:05 AM »

Hi all,
Did you ever figure this out? I've noticed that my machine seems to ignore the Z move from pierce height to cut height after M3 when THC is activated. I think this is similar to what you were describing.

6

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Mach3 Plasma Z axis move after firing torch M03

« on: February 16, 2022, 04:58:04 AM »

Hi all,

We have a self built plasma cutter. It uses a PoKeys57CNC Ethernet controller as well as their PlasmaSens unit for THC. We are using a Hypertherm Powermax 45XP source. I'm creating the toolpaths in Fusion360.
Today I was tweaking our machine and noticed that the machine seems to ignore a Z move after firing the torch, below is the sequence that I noted:

• Z probe executes.
• Moves to piece height and fires the torch.
• Waits for the pierce delay, but skips the Z movement to cut height of 1.5mm.
• Machine begins X,Y movements from pierce height and does not first lower to cut height, the height is corrected after moving around 5mm, I assume from the THC input.

When I dry run the machine with THC disabled it functions as expected. If I dry run the machine with THC enabled then it pauses at the M03 command. If I toggle the Torch ON/OFF button it continues and lowers the Z as expected.

Here is a snippet of the G-Code. If you are wondering why there is a 1 second delay before probing we were having issues that the Z axis would frequently move up instead of down when the probe command was executed. Not sure if it is EMF from the motors stopping suddenly, but the 1 second delay solved it.

Code: [Select]

G90
G71

(2D Profile2)
G0 X72.53 Y82.5
G4 P1.
G31 Z-100. F500.
G92 Z-1.7
G0 Z17.3
G0 Z3.8
M3
G4 P1.
G1 Z1.5 F4000.
G1 X68.2 Y80.
G3 X91.8 I11.8 J0.
G3 X68.2 I-11.8 J0.
G1 X72.53 Y77.5
M5
I'm not sure if the THC is somehow interfering with the instructed Z movement once the torch has been fired, not sure how to get around this. I also noticed that I can't really change the Z feedrate without using the 'Lead in' and 'Lead out' feedrates in Fusion360. This also affects the short distance when entering the cut and not the Z movements alone.
Thank you for any help in advance and hopefully I am posting this in the correct section!