Messages

61

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Post Processor for Plasma in Fusion 360 and a ESS motion - Cant Find One

« on: May 15, 2023, 07:49:13 PM »

Hi,

are you suggesting using the Mach3 Plasma post in Mach4? Or are you saying simply use Mach3 and forget, using Mach4 all together?

My intent was to say use Mach4 but just use the Gcode file that was generated for Mach3. In 99.999% of cases a Mach3 file will run in Mach4 and vice versa.

Craig

62

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Post Processor for Plasma in Fusion 360 and a ESS motion - Cant Find One

« on: May 15, 2023, 07:29:19 PM »

Hi,
OK, I have used the Mach3Plasma post, and it works. Why not just use that?
You may have noticed that Mach3 toolpaths, with very few exceptions, run in Mach4 and vice versa. The only time Mach4 fails to run Mach3 Gcode
is when one of the shortcuts for which Mach3 was famous for is invoked and Mach4 refuses to play ball. It usually means tweaking the Gcode so that it meets
the more formally defined Fanuc21i for which Mach4 is almost a dead ringer.

Craig

63

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Post Processor for Plasma in Fusion 360 and a ESS motion - Cant Find One

« on: May 15, 2023, 07:09:24 PM »

Hi,
I had no trouble generating a Plasma Toolpath but it fails when going to post. This usually means that some feature in the post is turned off.

This happened to me when I was trying to post four axis toolpaths. I had to go into the post and define the fourth axis, it was already there, I just had to turn it on
with the appropriate data. I suspect that this issue will be the same thing. That is to say you need to go into the Mach4 post and define certain things, in effect turn
the Plasma feature on.

This is a slam dunk for the Post Discussion board on the Fusion Forum. Ask there and you will get the info you need to turn on the required features.

Craig

64

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Post Processor for Plasma in Fusion 360 and a ESS motion - Cant Find One

« on: May 15, 2023, 06:43:56 PM »

Hi,
ask yourself whether its likely that Fusion cannot produce code for Plasma, Waterjet etc. This is a company worth hundreds, maybe billions of dollars
and sells hundreds of millions of dollars worth of software annually....do you suppose they would ignore things like Plasma, Waterjet and Laser? I rather think not.
That suggests that there is capacity to do things that you and I are unaware of but exist nonetheless.

It's probably worth a posting a request for information about Plasma (Cutting) specific features on the Fusion Forum. If there are features you can use, and I've already seen a couple
of them, and feel bound that there is more then someone will gladly tell you what they are and where you can find them.

Craig

65

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Post Processor for Plasma in Fusion 360 and a ESS motion - Cant Find One

« on: May 15, 2023, 04:59:58 PM »

Hi,
digging around a bit more and I found this already in Fusion. You can modify it to suit your needs, but its already there, you have to take advantage
of what Autodesk has already loaded into Fusion.

Craig

66

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Post Processor for Plasma in Fusion 360 and a ESS motion - Cant Find One

« on: May 15, 2023, 04:52:09 PM »

Hi,
if you look on page 6 of the Mach4PlasmaConfiguration PDF in Mach4Hobby/Docs you'll see that m3, conventionally means StratTheSpindle, but in the Plasma ScreenSet
it means StartTheTorch with the settings applied as stored in the registers, things like PierceDelay and TargetCutHeight.

It would appear that the m3 macro is already there and available.

Now all you have to do is have the post insert m3 to start the torch, and an m5 to stop it. Posts do that normally anyway, given that m3 means StartTheSpindle and m5 means StopTheSpindle.

I am really surprised that no one out there using Mach4 has not developed a  post processor for plasma cutting.

The Fusion Mach4 Post Processor is written by and maintained by Autodesk. Its covered by intellectual property law....it belongs to Autodesk. Autodesk encourage you to use it
and modify it to match your needs but at all times it remains Autodesk property. The post itself takes the underlying movement code, an Autodesk proprietary protocol, and then generates
the Gcode according to the post. Note that while the post is published the underlying protocol is not. If you wanted to write your own post then you would have to reverse engineer the Autodesk
protocol...and I would NOT expect Autodesk to help you, although I don't think reverse engineering it would be considered an infringement.

Have you seen the Plasma Tool Select screen of Fusion.
When you go to choose the tool for Manufacture, select Cutting rather than Milling and you'll see Waterjet, Laser and Plasma as options. May I suggest you experiment with those and see what sort of
code Fusion generates as is before you worry too much about modifying the post.

Craig

67

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Post Processor for Plasma in Fusion 360 and a ESS motion - Cant Find One

« on: May 15, 2023, 12:45:23 AM »

Hi,
Ok you've made some points.

but I would think that needs to be built into the pose processor because most machines use THC

That's what I'm have said before THC is not, nor can it be anything to do with the post. Remember the post produces Gcode....but THC is not driven by Gcode, it's a realtime
voltage control loop, that is a realtime hardware control that if you like 'overrides' the Gcode file.

As for some of the rest:

Basically it needs to turn the plasma torch on and off. Because there is a time delay with the plasma torch coming on,  there needs to be a G4 dwell of a couple seconds before any G1 moves.

This is best handled by a macro. Call m101() for instance. Anytime m101() is encountered in the Gcode file the torch will turn on, with the required delay and NOT proceed with any
subsequent Gcode UNTIL the macro is complete.

In Mach3, the Plasma post processor initially  moves the torch up .5” before the first cut is made.  After a cut is made the torch Is again moved up a half inch as the torch  moves to the next cut position.

These too would be perfect candidates for macros, say m102() and m103().

Now you have three macros to control the behaviour of the torch now all you have to do is induce the post to insert in the Gcode file the macro calls at the required time.

There are a number of possibilities. One that I have used for defining a 'Safe location' in four axis toolpaths is called Pass Through. In Fusion/Manufacture/setup/ManualNC you'll find some
useful methods to insert code into a Gcode file, including Pass Through. All of these option can be automated.

I would suggest that you start by defining exactly the steps that you want the machine to take, for example the Torch Start sequence above. Code that sequence as a macro....then insert that macro
into the Gcode either manually or in automated fashion. There is no Gcode instruction to Start the Torch, so a post can't really do that, what it could do is insert a macro, which is just one line,
in this case m101, and you code what you want to happen in that macro.

Craig

68

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Post Processor for Plasma in Fusion 360 and a ESS motion - Cant Find One

« on: May 14, 2023, 11:08:26 PM »

Hi,
what is it that you need the post to do?

Craig

69

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Post Processor for Plasma in Fusion 360 and a ESS motion - Cant Find One

« on: May 14, 2023, 10:52:38 PM »

Hi,
but what is it you want the post to do?

THC is realtime hardware controlledprocess, its got nothing to do with Gcode.

A post, any post, can only ever produce Gcode, that's what it does. But there is NO Gcode that says 'go up a little or go down little', that is THC and is not
part of the Gcode file at all.

Craig

70

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Post Processor for Plasma in Fusion 360 and a ESS motion - Cant Find One

« on: May 14, 2023, 04:28:41 PM »

Hi,
no doubt you'll want this:

https://cam.autodesk.com/posts/posts/guides/Post%20Processor%20Training%20Guide.pdf

A breezy 288 pages, all in a good days work.

Craig