Newbie- THC setup

[brogger00]

Hi All,

Extremely new to cnc. I have a plasma table at work and am having difficulty setting up the THC in Mach3.

I have everything running except the THC. Essentially, my boss wants the torch to come down and touch the material, then raise itself and begin to cut. I have it so far as the torch limits are set up but cannot figure out how to get it to raise back up on its own and maintain its height above the material.

I searched quite extensively throughout the forum and cannot seem to find the answer.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Tensaiteki]

Assuming you are using a CandCNC THC and Mach3 (you didn't bother to specify in your post), the height sensing/touch-off is handled in the g-code.

Since the CandCNC setup assumes that the torch touch-off switch is the z-axis home switch, the g-code usually homes the z-axis, zeros the axis, backs the torch off so the tip of the torch is just touching the top of the material, zeros the axis again, then moves to the pierce height to begin cutting.

[brogger00]

Hi Tensaiteki,

You are correct in assuming a CandCNC THC in Mach3.

Ok, I did not realize that the whole command was done through the G-code, I thought that it was a combination of the THC button, the cut profile and z-limit in Mach3.

I am very new to g-code (the only thing I know is G00 and G28). Is there a simple method to executing the various commands which you listed?

Thanks,

Brendan

[brogger00]

Ok, I was able to get a simple G-code with a zeroing command and got everything working correctly. The only other issue I am having and I am sure this is a simple fix is whenever I come out of reset mode in Mach3 the torch fires.

Is there a simple way to turn this off? As when I run the g-code the torch is on the whole time which defeats the whole purpose of setting up the THC correctly.

I looked in Config > General Config and checked the "Ignore M code during loading" but that did not fix the issue.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Brendan

[Mike 1948]

Originally Posted by brogger00 Ok, I was able to get a simple G-code with a zeroing command and got everything working correctly. The only other issue I am having and I am sure this is a simple fix is whenever I come out of reset mode in Mach3 the torch fires. Is there a simple way to turn this off? As when I run the g-code the torch is on the whole time which defeats the whole purpose of setting up the THC correctly. I looked in Config > General Config and checked the "Ignore M code during loading" but that did not fix the issue. Any ideas? Thanks, Brendan

Brendan,
I use Sheetcam to generate cut paths for Mach3 and it has a built-in postprocesor for the "touch and go" type torches. It does everthing automatically. Well worth the$175.00 compared to hours of time trying to figure that stuff out.

Mike

[brogger00]

Originally Posted by Mike 1948 I use Sheetcam to generate cut paths for Mach3 and it has a built-in postprocesor for the "touch and go" type torches. It does everthing automatically. Well worth the$175.00 compared to hours of time trying to figure that stuff out.

Hi Mike,

I completely agree with you, it is probably much easier to just upgrade to SheetCam, based on what I have read. I have BobCadCam on the computer to generate code but I was just trying to get everything all setup in Mach3 as I am completely new to CNC before I began really cutting anything.

I found some g-code that came with the software which has the commands for torch on/off but regardless of what is written in the g-code the torch fires when I come out of reset and am not sure how to bypass this.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Mike 1948]

Originally Posted by brogger00 Hi Mike, I completely agree with you, it is probably much easier to just upgrade to SheetCam, based on what I have read. I have BobCadCam on the computer to generate code but I was just trying to get everything all setup in Mach3 as I am completely new to CNC before I began really cutting anything. I found some g-code that came with the software which has the commands for torch on/off but regardless of what is written in the g-code the torch fires when I come out of reset and am not sure how to bypass this. Thanks, Brendan

Maybe your pin setup in Mach is wrong. You could reverse the settings for Torch On and Torch Off and see what happens.

Mike

[brogger00]

Originally Posted by Mike 1948 Maybe your pin setup in Mach is wrong. You could reverse the settings for Torch On and Torch Off and see what happens.

I had thought about that in the beginning but then I made copies of the default profiles and they all are doing the same thing. I will go back and check on it.

Thanks,

Brendan

[brogger00]

I checked my pin setup and it seemed ok to me, then again I am no computer wiz. Here is what I have:
-Output 1: port 4 pin 8
-Output 2: port 4 pin 3
-Output 3: port 4 pin 4

In the ports & pins option under the Spindle setup I have CW (M3) going to output# 1. In my Diag screen none of the lights are lit except for ArcOK/UP/DOWN but that is only when I trip the z-limit.

Is there another place that I should be looking? In the motor outputs tab in ports&pins I have x/y/z/a enabled nothing else. I was thinking perhaps I had to enable the spindle in order to get the torch to function properly, but the spindle option was always disabled.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Torchhead]

Originally Posted by brogger00 I checked my pin setup and it seemed ok to me, then again I am no computer wiz. Here is what I have: -Output 1: port 4 pin 8 -Output 2: port 4 pin 3 -Output 3: port 4 pin 4 In the ports & pins option under the Spindle setup I have CW (M3) going to output# 1. In my Diag screen none of the lights are lit except for ArcOK/UP/DOWN but that is only when I trip the z-limit. Is there another place that I should be looking? In the motor outputs tab in ports&pins I have x/y/z/a enabled nothing else. I was thinking perhaps I had to enable the spindle in order to get the torch to function properly, but the spindle option was always disabled. Thanks, Brendan

If the table uses our DTHC then it HAS to be running with our MP3000 and it HAS to be using our profiles in MACH. Ports & Pins settings are critical and if you mess with certain outputs you will have all kinds of strange off and on problems. We control 8 outputs with 3 actual MACH outputs. Get even one of them set wrong (or the wrong polarity) and you will have a mess on your hands.

I am not sure what you are talking about on the "manual torch button" on the "aux panel". Only torch button on our system is on the screen. The code stopping on an M03 (torch fire) may be because it is not getting an ARC OK. I don't know why you would get a message to press the torch on/off button. We don't have that in our code anywhere.

Pin 17 on the physical port is Charge Pump not the torch.

CNC Cutting Solutions used our MP3000 and DTHC (perhaps on a dozen tables or less) and have bought (I think) just one complete controller. i don't know too much about their backend electronics but I do know our hardware needs to run with our plug-ins, screens and MACH profiles.

I sounds like the setup for MACH is not correct or some critical settings have been changed.

You need to determine if the unit has our UBOB III in the MP3000. If so you can download a recent Install file that will put all of the settings back to default. You can then enter your motor tuning information from the old profile.


The torch firing is just another output. It has nothing to do with the spindle settings (other than what M code controls what output). If you don't have control of the torch from the screen button then there is no way you can do it from software.

TOM caudle
www.CandCNC.com

[brogger00]

Hi Torchhead,

Thanks for the reply

Originally Posted by Torchhead If the table uses our DTHC then it HAS to be running with our MP3000 and it HAS to be using our profiles in MACH. Ports & Pins settings are critical and if you mess with certain outputs you will have all kinds of strange off and on problems. We control 8 outputs with 3 actual MACH outputs. Get even one of them set wrong (or the wrong polarity) and you will have a mess on your hands.

The table does use the CandCNC DTHC, I know that works fine as I had asked you about it last week and everything worked fine. Doing the self-test on the mp3000 the UP/Down/ArcOK flashed three times followed by a spike in the tip volts on the screen from 100 to 150 and then the whole thing repeated itself.

I would imagine the problem is the ports and pins but I am not sure where I may have gone wrong. Which outputs overlap between the controller and MACH?

I am not sure what you are talking about on the "manual torch button" on the "aux panel". Only torch button on our system is on the screen. The code stopping on an M03 (torch fire) may be because it is not getting an ARC OK. I don't know why you would get a message to press the torch on/off button. We don't have that in our code anywhere.

What I meant was the button on the screen has no effect. The button can be clicked on/off but it physically has no effect on the torch.

Pin 17 on the physical port is Charge Pump not the torch.

Ok I had read that in several other threads regarding the torch on/off command

CNC Cutting Solutions used our MP3000 and DTHC (perhaps on a dozen tables or less) and have bought (I think) just one complete controller. i don't know too much about their backend electronics but I do know our hardware needs to run with our plug-ins, screens and MACH profiles.

I am using an mp3000 with a dthc not a complete controller. I have followed the dthc and mp3000 manuals as well as I can, including the plugin config. I have the three ccc_ plugins enabled and the correct power supply chosen.

I sounds like the setup for MACH is not correct or some critical settings have been changed. You need to determine if the unit has our UBOB III in the MP3000. If so you can download a recent Install file that will put all of the settings back to default. You can then enter your motor tuning information from the old profile.

The mp3000 has UBOBII. I have previously reinstalled the MACH software along with the profiles and all the profiles I do use are clones of the defaults. The default profiles also show the same symptoms of firing the torch when I come out of reset and then do not respond to the g-code.

The torch firing is just another output. It has nothing to do with the spindle settings (other than what M code controls what output). If you don't have control of the torch from the screen button then there is no way you can do it from software.

I guess the best question to ask here is what would be the correct output configuration for the torch?

Thanks,

Brendan

[brogger00]

I fixed the problem. Reading through the DTHC manual addendum there is a table which gives the various ports and pins which are used by Mach, the computer, and the THC.

Turns out I had the THC lined up with Port 4 which in reality it should have been Port 8 and then from there it was setting up the outputs correctly which were the same as those from the DTHC-ubobII default profile.

One thing I have to ask, not sure if anyone knows why, the default profile utilizes outputs 1-8 for port4 and then outputs 18-20 on port 1. What exactly is the purpose of outputs 18-20. The only thing I can think of is they would be communication between the THC and the interface (mp3000 in my case).

Thanks for the help,

Brendan