esab ultrarex retro fit plasma / flame cutter

hi john still having issues with this ive gotten round the arc ok input buy linking that to the inversion of the gpio (the in_not pin)

as i had issues with the pin not exsisting and such or that the pin was already linked to another

but with the the led showing an output status i cannot do the same and cannot get it to work without error on starting axis

It would be helpful if you included the reported error here.

thanks for all your help john i will have to look tomorrow when i can get to the shopw

hi again guys the machine has been running like a champ with various little tweaks here and there

one thing that i do want to change is currently i use o words to start and stop the torch ( it runs the hight control timing pierce delay and such)

and it just calls for a digi output to be turned on and waits for its arc ok on an other digi input - currently works fine

the issue ive found is that very now and then for some reason the hight control has just drifted up away form the plate (mainly due to a buildup around the sensing ring and cables - capacitive hight control)

im in the process of building a new height control axis for this machine that will be voltage controlled

for now im wanting to have it so if the arc stops for any reason the machine will pause and for some reason im thinking ive read somewhere that if i wire the arc ok signal to the spindle is at speed pin that it will pause motion if this signal is lost ?

if this is so am i right in thinking that in my o words i can swap the g64 and g65's for m5's and m3's ?

also on a side note how do i pass a variable from an on screen spin box to a o word ? as in setting pierce delay ether from software or the on screen spin box and is it possible to have the spinbox be set buy the gcode (asin if the sofeware will spit out the delay this will then change the value on screen in the spinbox and then as the program is running if the delay is too much or not enough it can be changed while the program is running ( i know this will not change the value till the next arc fire)

thanks guys

thanks andy as i see it on a plasma all the motion is stopped until the arc is transferred, then the pierce timer will start so would there still be a need for any cleverness ?

having thought about this some more you mean the G0 moves when the arc isn't on don't you i think well have to look at using an OR to connect the motion.feed-inhibit, arc ok and arc on signals somehow

also if using the spindle pins will behave no different to how u use the machine now then ill stick to my o word routines because they have saved my ass a few times and have saved me rewriting my post processor for the nesting software (i find it easier to writing subs then looking through the posts configs and saves the endless amount of walking the 50 meter walk to and from office to machine)

if i was to upgrade to the latest linuxcnc on debian will the current configs just transfer over to the new install ?

the spin box i'm after using is to set the plasma pierce delay, is it possible to have it so i can change the spin box but later down the line if i sort my material tables in my nesting software to have it tell the machine what to set this value to ?
eg could i pass a variable at the beginning of a gcode file and have the spin box update to that value

hi guys it been i a while with this machine and i will be the first to admit this had to be retrofitted as the controller died and once it was more or less usable it hasnt really been polished off and given it a chance to run as nice as it could do (its a shame but machines are there to be used and kind of running for how often it gets used is good enough most of the time)

anyway enough excuses

couple of things ive been using the profiler a fair bit lately and feel i can improve on the tuning one thing i have noticed is that there is still an issue of no response low down in the motion range (as in when the machine sets off hal scope looks like there isnt a response until at least x amount of volts input on the drive) is this where the deadband comes in or am i getting that wrong and if it is what im looking for how is it scaled

i think looking at the machine as it is tuned now that the amount i can change P and still have it move nicely confuses me slightly but on the other hand it looks like the ff1? (cruise error) looks to be the same or nearly the same figure regardless of P

also i have noticed that the machine doesn't respond the same ether side of zero v signal ( pnc wizard generating out put and dc meeter on servos tach showed a different speed for the same commanded signal in different directions) i set the offset too 0.025 from memory and the centered the voltage from the tach vs commanded output from linuxcnc as in 0.5 out of control showed 3.38v and -3.38v in both directions respectively i i done the right thing here ?

on a more positive note i did find some backlash in the encoder drive gear that cannot have been helping matters in the machines running so is magnitudes smoother than it was

also i have to say big thanks to any and all that has helped me along the way with this one andy jon t and pcw to name the main ones

i think the machine would thank you guys too as it possibly got save from the scrappers