Advanced Search

Screenshot of the settings page?
In the meantime, disable:
-auto volts
-void sense/void lock
-set the arcok high to 160V
-set the arcok low to 60V
-set VAD to 60-65%
-set the cut voltage to (in your case) 100V
-set the feed rate to 2000mm/m
-set the jog speed to roughly 2000mm/m
-press F9 to fire the torch
-press an arrow key to jog
-watch the LED's on screen for arcok/up/down
Material for testing, 2-3mm thick, current set to 40-60A
Make some test cuts, check the under side of the cuts for dross and how easy it is to remove it, adjust feed rate/ air pressure (only while air is ON) and cut voltage till you get nice clean cuts with little dross.

backyardengineer wrote:

It has somehow to do with the enabled stepper motors. As soon as the drive gets the enable signal the pins don´t change anymore (viewed them in hal config). Wen i check with the multimeter, the signal seems to be switching between 0.2V an 24V correctly (both with stepper enabled/disabled). Maybe it is an issue with those cheap breakout boards ?

That is almost always an interference/wiring/grounding/shielding issue, and cheap BOB's with optocouplers are very slow so will limit speed a lot, the ones with input buffers should be OK.
But, 24V? What encoders are those?
Upload some pictures of the wiring here so we can have a look.

That is a version of BL-Touch sensor for 3D printers, usually 5 wires, +5V, 2XGND, sense pin and a servo pin that drives the sensing bit up/down.
Should be pretty easy to make it work, the "push sensor down"/"pull sensor up" logic should be similar to RC servo, but i never bothered to check, despite having several in use on Voron's i built.
Precision is quite high and temperature drift is quite low, but i doubt it is precise enough for a mill, should be more than enough for most routers.

www.amazon.com/MicroProbe-Leveling-Print...ruders/dp/B0C89G7YH2
Colleagues, here is a device. Electrical connections: 5 wires. 
Connector: 5-wire, compatible with BLTouch:
    Black — GND (ground)
    Red — +5V
    Yellow — Servos (rod control)
    White — Probe (output signal)

Has anyone tried this? I'd love to hear about your experience using it as a probe. The ad highlights a very appealing feature—the
trigger weight is only 5 grams.

 

It has somehow to do with the enabled stepper motors. As soon as the drive gets the enable signal the pins don´t change anymore (viewed them in hal config). Wen i check with the multimeter, the signal seems to be switching between 0.2V an 24V correctly (both with stepper enabled/disabled). Maybe it is an issue with those cheap breakout boards ?

As I said, change of workpiece length, or as you say, change of depth.

Found this post,  sounds similar to what you need.

Hello All,

New to the forum and first of all would like to thank you for the valuable information you guys post, it has helped so much me moving ahead with my build. id appreciate your help with my issue where it cannot activate the thc even when all the settings (that i know of) have been properly adjusted. first my setup:
-LinuxCNC QTPlasmac table
-Rpi5 with image LinuxCNC 2.9.8 Raspberry Pi 4/5 OS based on Debian Trixie
-Mesa 7176s over ethernet
-THCAD2 + 3M resistor array enclosed near the plasma source, F+/F- routed to mesaboard encoder input A with shielded microphone cable grounded at control side, also used a more simple twisted pair for testing.
-Used Pnconf for setting thcad2 trimming and ratio
Tested for correct voltage measuring for example, hooked a power supply from 39 to 56 volts and Main screen voltage readings coincide very accurately to multimeter reading.
-Flaring 65 plasma source with no cnc interface. (HF piercing) voltage probing connected to torch (-) and clamp (+) leads.
-For testing im using a straight line of 100mm at full speed so thc is not affected by speed reduction  (tested from 400 to 1800 mm/min)
-THC is enabled
-Mode 0 is used so arc ok is derived from voltage readings
-setup plasmac.arc_lost_delay =.3 as was having some issues for getting it to start cutting due to initial spike/valley.

I took the follwing HALSCOPE trace where:

 

1)torch on triggers,
2)probe voltage goes to 260 for piercing, then falls, then recovers to around 94v
3)Arc OK signal goes to true
4)Pierce delay elapses
5)Movement starts
6)THC active never goes up and of course  no correction

as Far as I can see voltage is "stable" once cut starts and there is no variation that could lead to deactivation as the tresholds are LOW=39 HIGH 990 (for testing purposes), samples 10 and threshold voltage 10.

has anyone had this issue or any lead on what to look at?

Create a (physical)button, so you can read pin signal, and if 0 do... if 1 do...?
There is no parameter screen where you can watch/change parameters, would be nice do.

Could you elaborate what you want to change while milling?
Only thing i could think of is change off depth?

Maybe an electrical issue, if you do a  very slow commanded move
do the parallel port inputs pins used for reading the quadrature encoders
toggle as they should?  (in halscope)

That sounds pretty awesome. Does it interface similar to how the MESA cards do, with a HAL file and firmware that is written to the card?

Would you share the hardware info for the X1 connector, so I can design a card that could plug in? (I can probably buy a main card from you as soon as you're ready to sell it, and I may be able to be helpful with the firmware but I've not done FPGA programming in over 20 years)

Is there any practical method to input a variable while a g-code program is running? For example Pause, Request input, Resume, and then use that input.

Currently using 2.8.4 with the Axis interface.

I know multiple ways to change variables when a program is not running, but I have never seen any method for temporarily modifying a running program.

This would allow a single program to process workpieces with different sizes, for example.

I understand this could be dangerous, stupid, or worse. Not planning to be a pioneer.

I searched the forum and the documentation, and I could not find any mention of this topic.

Gene

Ok, thanks PCW.

Thanks guys. I will see if I find time to try a 2.9.8 install on a second drive (I have an SSD laying around awaiting that I do the same task on the Maho, which is still on 2.7). I am not using any Python or glade code, other than Andy's Lathe Macros.

I might start off trying to halcompile the most current version of carousel.comp
Cheers,
Mark

A Week of Python Purgatory: My Colorlight 5A-75B Still Thinks It's a Paperweight!
The Config (JSON files): I’ve attached my current JSON setup (j1.jpg and j2.jpg). I’ve spent a week tweaking these pins for my 6-axis setup, but I’m not 100% sure if LiteXCNC likes how I’ve named things or if my GPIO mapping is actually valid for the v8.2 board.

The Environment: My pip list shows I’m in a clean venv with LiteX-2025.12.

Questions for the Pros:

JSON Review: Can someone look at my modules and instances in the attached JSON? Does the way I defined axis_x through axis_c look correct for a 6-axis machine?

Watchdog: Is my timeout: 10000000 in the JSON too high, or is it okay for a standard setup?

Buffer Chips (v8.2): Based on my GPIO pin choices in the JSON, will I run into trouble with the buffer chips on this v8.2 board when connecting to 5V drivers?
The Current Setup:

OS: Debian 12 (Bookworm) with a Python Virtual Environment. (Debian is no longer silently judging me, but my Mini PC is).

Board: Colorlight 5A-75B v8.2.

Toolchain: Yosys and Nextpnr-ecp5 are installed.

Goal: A 6-axis CNC beast, controlled by Ethernet.
I have my pip list showing the full LiteX-2025.12 venv. Can someone please review my synthesis log to see why I am not generating a bitstream, even with yosys and nextpnr installed?

I’ve attached the evidence: my pip list, terminal outputs (json_1.png and json_2.png for the JSON files), and my which python3 output (proving I’m not crazy). Any advice from someone who’s survived a week in "Python Purgatory" would be amazing!

Thanks,
Jaae