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Author Topic: Physical buttons for plasma  (Read 154343 times)

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Offline Davek0974

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Re: Physical buttons for plasma
« Reply #130 on: January 27, 2016, 04:33:40 PM »
I guess it would have to be an advanced standalone THC that drives the Z directly then, this would bring all the needed parameters under one roof;)

Ah well, it was just an idea....

Offline BR549

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Re: Physical buttons for plasma
« Reply #131 on: January 27, 2016, 04:36:18 PM »
NOW IF you were using teh Mach3 THC plugin with a LPT  MAYBE it could work at teh plugin level as you would have knowledge of both at teh same time BUT I am not sure IF that Plugin even actually works. I don;t know of anyone that has actually even tried it to see IF it works.

(;-) TP

Offline Davek0974

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Re: Physical buttons for plasma
« Reply #132 on: January 27, 2016, 04:46:34 PM »
didn't know it existed :)

Personally, i think a standalone THC would likely be the best option all round, something that can devote 100% of its life to maintaining the torch height without worrying about cpu load, buffer capacity, parallel port speed and so on. :)

Offline Hood

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Re: Physical buttons for plasma
« Reply #133 on: January 27, 2016, 05:06:56 PM »
I wonder, my THC and all other commonly used one with Mach, I would imagine just send a signal out for Up or Down. So if I were to have a Z axis on the plasma but in addition have a small servo on the torch that could raise or lower the torch via a second small slide, I could possibly control that servos drive via my THC Up/Down signals.
 In the screenshot below you can see I can configure the drive to presets, basically what that means is when a signal is seen it will do the RPM configured.
As you can see I have just entered a number of 1000rpm for Preset 1 and -1000rpm for preset 2, (Preset 0 is the default when no inputs are active, thus it is set to 0rpm) Accel and Decel can also be set there.

Will try and test this theory out in the next while but before I waste my time does anyone see anything wrong with my thoughts?

Hood

Offline BR549

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Re: Physical buttons for plasma
« Reply #134 on: January 27, 2016, 05:21:33 PM »
Some of the THC use a pass thru Z axis signal. When NOT in thc mode it uses teh MACH3 Z axis pulses for position control BUT then in THC mode they pulse the Motor seperately Then resync back to  Mach3 Z when it is done.

YOu do have to be able to resyn to Mach3 to make SURE it knows where Z really is position wise. Otherwise CRASH.

Putting an encoder on Z ( linear or rotary) or using a servo would make that easy enough to do

(;-) TP



Offline BR549

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Re: Physical buttons for plasma
« Reply #135 on: January 27, 2016, 05:36:30 PM »
HIYA Hood I would get in running in a NORMAL mode first . Then when all is working well have at it.

(;-) TP

Offline Hood

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Re: Physical buttons for plasma
« Reply #136 on: January 27, 2016, 05:40:38 PM »
Well I could probably do quite a few things to re-sync, for example I could set it up as the A axis in Mach/CSMIO and have it home to the Index pulse of the encoder. To do that all I would need to do is set the drive up so that its Primary Control method is Step/Dir and the secondary is Presets, just one input to switch between the two.

I have the ideal motor to use, it was on the X axis of the wee lathe and it could shove that along no problem so a torch and light axis would be a walk in the park for it.
Think I am going to test this out when I get a chance.

Hood

Offline Hood

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Re: Physical buttons for plasma
« Reply #137 on: January 27, 2016, 05:41:35 PM »
Ha ha TP, got to build the table yet, in fact I have to work out where I will put it and wherever that is I will have to clear a space, that will take me weeks if not months to do :D
Hood

Offline Hood

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Re: Physical buttons for plasma
« Reply #138 on: January 27, 2016, 06:02:27 PM »
Just looked at the servo drive I have for that wee motor, it is an Indexing drive. That means I wouldn't even have to set it up as an extra axis to home it as it is capable of homing to an index pulse itself.
It could also be set up to home to a current value thus negating the need for even a switch, just drive it to a hard stop and then have it back off a set amount, half axis travel for example.

I would imagine the Homing would only be required at the start (or end) of code as you would just use a G31 or something during the code itself, would that assumption be correct?

Hood

Offline BR549

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Re: Physical buttons for plasma
« Reply #139 on: January 27, 2016, 10:24:19 PM »
Ok I have never setup a CSMIO for plasma so I would only be guessing.  A to teh G28.1 or G31 that will depend on HOW to what to run your table.  Many use the G28.1 to reference the TOP of Material (TOM)and set it to work Zero. Others Use the G31 to reference the TOM and set work Zero.  

There are pluses and minus to each way .

You will only need one axis for Z not 2.  Just set every thing up as you would a gantry router.

(;-) TP