Advanced Search

I forgot to ask if I do set the Hypertherm to 20:1 and set it to 10v scale is there a resistor or something that needs to go in the loop on that? I've seen so many diagrams lately and can't remember which was what.

Ok that kind of makes sense, I'm still digging around in halshow. i was able to verify my Prox-Box is wired up correctly through it the other day. I finally got my panel mounted yesterday so I'll be soldering up all the wire connections i was holding off on. Hopefully this week I'll be running real tests.

Lol Hopefully people won't get offended by my Mach 4 references. It's the only reference tool I have right now. lol

This is linuxcnc. The thcad will be a far more robust and accurate instrument than your volt meter. I would bypass it altogether. You can debug torch voltage by checking the encoder velocity and then the calculated voltage in halshow. Its very easy to isolate faults.

For best accuracy, Please set your divider in the Hypertherm to 20:1 and use the 10v scale on the thcad. This will give you a 200 volt full scale. This gives the maximum resolution possible. Any excursions beyond this limit will be on piercing when we don't care. Remember the thcad can handle 500 V overvoltage indefinitely....

I finally got the enclosure finished and all wired in to use the THCad2 as my height controller. as you can see in the images, I've attached I installed a DC volt meter to measure the output voltage for the 50:1 divider from the hypertherm. My reasoning for this is just past experience in using a faulty Price CNC height controller in Mach 4. I was able to determine the read out on the Price was faulty and doing bad math as the voltage coming out of the hypertherm was the correct cut voltage. 

So my question is in attaching the volt meter in the manner I did am I creating any risk as in the possibility of reducing the voltage out or rather just the output (pulses) I cant remember how it out puts the info for the voltage for the THCad2 I dont think in doing this will damage the THCad2 but Im not 100% in that thought so I thought I would ask the people who are a little more versed in this board. 

So today I installed MX Linux on the PC I had, and manage to install LinuxCNC and have the computer recognize the Mesa card. I followed this tutorial : forum.linuxcnc.org/9-installing-linuxcnc...indows-users?start=0 by snowgoer540

I'm not too sure what I did thought. I could'nt find the qtplasmac option under "by_machine" in the linuxCNC configuration, only under the "sim" category. I'm not too sure what it means, is it a simulation of a real machine ?.

I also had to edit the .ini file to change the "USER_M_PATH" because I kept having an error about some M190 file which couldn't be found and caused linuxCNC to crash. The error message told me that this file existed in another path so I just changed it for the one with the file in it and It worked.

I'm not too sure what's the next step now. I'd like to try the 3 axis movement without the THCAD nor the plasma connected. Is it possible ? Should I make a new configuration in linuxCNC unrelated to plasma cutting just to test my motors ?

I'm still waiting for some shielded cable and different colors cable and I can start this machine for the first time

Found one on amazon. Just did my last cuts in Mach4 did 104 circles for a customer. time to tear down this table and start installing the new parts and hopefully fire up Linuxcnc next week sometime.

I think I saw the drawing for the resistor in the Plasma primer but Ive seen two versions of it with different resistors in place.

Get something like netplus.com.au/products/usb-wifi-adapter...ith-external-antenna
and a SM4 bulkhead cable (get the connectors right). Then you can relocate the antenna to the exterior. DOne this a few times now.

I still want to get wifi and bluetooth working in 6.1 Kernel they work in 6.6 kernel but not sure if ill run into latency issues like i did in 6.5kernel. But yes when I have wifi working the reception is cut in half when the cabinet door is closed.

Set the thcad2 to use a 5 volt range and it is all still applicable.

Forget calculators. We let hal do the calculations.
I've attached a later version with a seperate hal file you can add to your ini.
This requires an additional resisotor if on a water table. I can't share that as I don't have access to Google Drive from here.

Yes Saw it shortly after my post this morning. Ive got it wired up just dont have the 24v going to it yet. I do have a few questions concerning the Ohmic Hypersensing post. How much of that still applies to the THCad2. I thought I read its the same card only difference is in which position W1 is in.
Also in the 7i96s does W1, W2, W3 need to be changed for height sensing and OHMIC?
Most of my build is finished so Ill be moving into the software to install some of the files I downloaded the other day and try to get it all configured.

Oh! almost forgot a link from here is the THCAD Calibration Setting Calculator For PlasmaC. it only list 10 and 300 to get the correct numbers will it still work for the THCad2?

For file transfers, a short USB extension will be fine. There are some nice  IP67 industrial connectors with dustcaps. Not so sure about HDMI as it implies a long term connection.
Personally, I would add a Wifi dongle with external antenna and transfer files to Linuxcnc via the network.

There is a diagram in the Plasma Primer document.
Its not wise to apply 24 volts to the 5 volt logic side. It will be costly!

FlaredFins wrote:

I do have a 32 inch LCD that on occasion I throw the screen up to when I'm not babysitting the table and haven't had an issue on that one.

This
www.youtube.com/shorts/P2xzqh3M9Rc