Messages

1

Spanish / Re: Problemas con motor hibrido paso a paso y mach3

« on: July 21, 2020, 07:59:49 PM »

Tu motor y uno tradicional son iguales, solo que el tuyo tiene encoder, si tienes otro driver de características similares pero que no tenga conector para encoder puedes hacerlo, con el driver que tienes solo puedes conectar motores a pasos con en encoder, si ya revisaste el cable del encoder es posible que el encoder del motor esté dañado, no se te ocurra desarmarlo porque en la mayoría de los casos es peor, si tienes otro motor para probar intercámbialos para ver si se soluciona el problema.

2

Spanish / Re: Problemas con motor hibrido paso a paso y mach3

« on: July 21, 2020, 06:40:29 PM »

Me suena a un problema del encoder, es posible que el cable que usas para encoder esté flojo, desconectado onque esté conectado con los cables interiores en una secuencia equivocada, si mal no recuerdo ese cable debe tener 6 o 7 hilos, descarga el manual del driver y del motor, ahí aparece la secuencia de los cables y asegúrate que tu cable del encoder está igual que como indica el manual, hay versiones de esos motores para America y otros para Asia, los motores son idénticos pero la secuencia de los cables del encoder son distintas. Suerte!

3

Mach4 General Discussion / Mach4 - Square tubing cutting with plasma (4 axis) G-code sample files

« on: July 03, 2020, 10:14:34 AM »

Hello,

I am building 4 axis CNC machine for cutting square and rectangular tubes with plasma using MACH4, I have not yet purchased a CAM software, but I would like to do some simulation tests to see how everything looks.

Can any of you share some G-code files compatible with MACH4?

My machine looks like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8Vq6vw5Gto

4

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 can do Arc voltage sampling for a CNC plasma table?

« on: June 28, 2020, 12:20:02 PM »

Hi Johnny
I would like to apologise - I didn't mean to be rude and rereading what I wrote I could see that it could be taken other than the way I meant it as being inexperienced. I take it you are experienced.
I have not seen Mach 4 do this but you probably could if you were into lua. 
I am sorry but just don't see why you would want to bother with this. You have to use a cam program to cut all but the simplest item, just tell it what the material thickness is and it will set the cut voltage you need.
I would be very interested to learn the advantage this system would have over what we do now. I love to learn new things.
Steve

Steve, don't worry, all comments are welcome, my CAM software is Hypertherm's ProNest LT and it already has cut-off tables built in, but I always have to manually set the reference voltage using the data from the operator's manual for my plasma source.

The information in the plasma operator's manual and ProNest tables is not always very precise, so most of the time I end up modifying all or the vast majority of the cutting parameters to obtain a better cutting quality.

I have zero experience with the LUA language, so without the help of someone else, I very much doubt that I can configure this by myself, so I understand that at the moment this function does not exist in Mach4 unless someone programs it. If any kind soul had this programmed and wanted to share it, it would be great.

I will continue working as I normally do, Thank you all.

5

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 can do Arc voltage sampling for a CNC plasma table?

« on: June 27, 2020, 02:11:26 AM »

Maybe I haven't explained myself well, or maybe you don't know what I'm talking about, all THC do a sampling of the voltage, yes I know how it works I have worked with plasma cnc equipment for last 10 years, the function I ask for is something different, I have only seen it in very advanced CNC controllers such as the Hypertherm (EdgeConnect) and Lincoln Electric (Torchmate), described in detail in the video I shared and in the Jim Colt text fragment.

I have also seen this function in some standalone THC but I have never seen this function in mach3 or 4 and I was curious to know if it could be achieved or not.

All your comments are well received, but no one has answered my original question, it can be done in Mach4 yes or no?

6

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 can do Arc voltage sampling for a CNC plasma table?

« on: June 19, 2020, 05:09:47 PM »

Thank you guys for the help.

Recently I built a new CNC plasma table, this one have a CSMIO motion controller form CS-LAB, this motion controller have analog input on it (0-10 V), I send to this port the voltge from my plasma source (Powermax65) divided 50:1 by the CPC port of the plasma source.

It is works well, but I have to change the "target voltage" every time I need to cut diferent tickness metal. (see attached image)

I hear about the "arc sample voltage" option in some machines, it is why I'm looking if it possible to have this opption in Mach4 with my actual setup or know that I have to change in my machine to have it.

With this option I do not have to set a "target voltage" every time it changes thickness, since this is done automatically.

7

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 can do Arc voltage sampling for a CNC plasma table?

« on: June 18, 2020, 12:52:20 PM »

Thank you guys for fast response. but I still have the question of whether it is possible to use the method called "Arc voltage sampling" to set the correct plasma cutting height?

It is possible tho do this with the mach4 script based THC or with an external THC?

8

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Plasma move Z+ after cut

« on: June 07, 2020, 02:06:40 AM »

Yes, you can do it by adding some lines of G-code in the M5 marco or whatever macro you use to turn off your torch. I doo this in Mach3 some time before and I think it works too in Mach4.

Simply add a g-code line to tell Z rise some units, for example 100mm or whatever you want. You can create a new DRO for this propuse too for make quick changes on the fly.

Hope this helps.

9

Mach4 General Discussion / Mach4 can do Arc voltage sampling for a CNC plasma table?

« on: June 07, 2020, 01:31:14 AM »

Hello everyone, it's been a long time since I wrote anything in this forum, today I have something to ask.

I have two plasma cutting tables, one of them 100% operational with Mach3 and an independent THC. I am still manufacturing the other table, I want to control it with Mach4, I am going to use the analog THC function "and I have a question about it.

Is it possible to use the method called "Arc voltage sampling" to set the correct plasma cutting height? Has anyone done it or knows how to do it?

For those who do not know what I am talking about, in this link there is a video of Lincoln Electric with a very clear explanation of this https://youtu.be/-OT8UWz69s0 and here is an article written by Jim Colt from Hypertherm in other forum https://www.plasmaspider.com/viewtopic.php?t=20551, where he explains very clearly how this method works.

Arc voltage sampling is an accurate method of setting the torch height using a physical height input instead of dialing in a specific arc voltage.
Not many height control systems use this....though they all should! Arc voltage sampling was first used about 25 years ago on high end ($100k plus) industrial cnc plasma cutting machines as a way to make height control systems easier to use and more accurate...critical to good cut quality and long consumable life.

Here's how a conventional (non sampling) plasma height control works:

-Operator hits start button...z axis moves torch toward material to be cut.
-Initial Height Sensing method (torque sensing, ohmic sensing, stall force sensing, limit switch sensing (also known as "floating head"), inductive sensing and more) locates the surface of the material.....then the torch retracts to the suggested pierce height.
-Torch fires.....stays at the pierce height until pierce delay times out (suggested by torch manufacturer for material being cut)....then indexes down to an operator set "cut height" (from the torch cut charts).
-x and y motion starts....and when the machine accelerates to near programmed cut speed....the arc voltage feedback height control takes over to maintain a constant distance between torch and material. This feedback circuit reads the actual voltage between the torch electrode and the material.....and compares that voltage to a voltage set by the operator (from the torch cut charts).....if the read voltage is higher than the operator set voltage....then the z axis motor drives the torch closer to the plate until the voltages both match (actual voltage vs pre-set).

The problem with this method is that a lot of things affect the voltage reading.....if you change cut speed you need a different voltage to maintain the correct physical cut height, if the cut air pressure changes....you need a different voltage, as the consumables wear you have to set a different voltage, and more.

A system that uses "Voltage Sampling" is easier to set and use....as the operator does not have to set the arc voltage. Here's how it works with the differences in bold:

-Operator hits start button...z axis moves torch toward material to be cut.
-Initial Height Sensing method used is ohmic plate contact...because it more accurately locates the material surface as compared to any other method. It electrically locates the surface of the material.....then the torch retracts to the suggested pierce height.
-Torch fires.....stays at the pierce height until pierce delay times out (suggested by torch manufacturer for material being cut)....then indexes down to an operator set "cut height" (from the torch cut charts).
-x and y motion starts....and when the machine accelerates to near programmed cut speed....the actual arc voltage is read by the THC electronics.....which "lock onto this voltage (does not have to be set by operator) and the arc voltage feedback height control takes over (using the sample voltage) to maintain a constant distance between torch and material. This feedback circuit reads the actual voltage between the torch electrode and the material.....and compares that to the sample voltage. If the read voltage is higher than the sample voltage....then the z axis motor drives the torch closer to the plate until the voltages both match (actual voltage vs sampled).

The advantage of this....the operator only sets cut height (physical height) and the electronics locks onto the voltage sampled at that height. This calibrates the height control voltage / height relationship before every cut cycle.....and compensates for speed changes, air pressure changes and consumable wear...maintaining constant height. Ohmic contact is required with this based on its accuracy at setting the correct physical pierce height and cut height...as it uses a very light touch without deflecting the material as the other Initial Height Sensing methods (torque sensing, stall force sensing, limit switch sensing (also known as "floating head"), inductive sensing and more) do.

- Jim Colt Hypertherm

10

VB and the development of wizards / MacroPump code for custom "antidive" feature activated with slow velocity

« on: December 02, 2016, 02:11:43 PM »

Hello,

I have a cnc plasma table with a stand alone THC, when I cut any shape, the torch dive in each corner or when the speed slow down in complicated shapes, my THC have one input to disable the automatic feature, this input is NC.

I read about antidive feature in Mach3, but, after many attempts I never make works, so I decided to write some code in macropump.m1s, but still dont work, this is the code I write:

Code: [Select]

velset = GetOEMDRO(818) 'This is the DRO when I set the cutting speed or set velocity
velact = GetOEMDRO(816) 'This is the DFO that shows te real time speed of the machine or actual velocity
autooff = GetUserDRO(2224) 'This is a custom DRO, I put the percent of the speed for disable the AUTOMATIC FEATURE of my THC, for example 70%
velpercent = ((velact / velset) * 100) 'This is the percent of the real time velocity compared with the set velocity
plasma = IsActive(OUTPUT1) 'I use te OUTPUT1 for activate the plasma torch
If (plasma = true) Then 'If the plasma torch is on then...
If (velpercent <= autooff) Then 'If the "velpercent" is less or equal than the "autooff" then..
DeActivateSignal(OUTPUT2) 'Activete OUTPUT2, this is the output I use for a relay for activate/deactivate te AUTOMATIC FEATURE of my THC
SetUserLED(555,1) 'This turn ON a custom LED for see when the AUTO FEATURE is disabled
Else
ActivateSignal(OUTPUT2) 'Deactivete OUTPUT2, this is the output I use for a relay for activate/deactivate te AUTOMATIC FEATURE of my THC
SetUserLED(555,0) 'This turn OFF a custom LED for see when the AUTO FEATURE is active
End If
End If

Can any one tellme what is wrong with te code?

Thanks