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Hi everyone,
First off, huge thanks to the @meister for the amazing work on RioCore and Rio Flow. It makes FPGA-based configurations for LinuxCNC much more accessible and structured!
I’m currently setting up a machine using RioCore with a Touchy interface and a physical control panel (hardware buttons, safety relays, etc.), and I have a couple of architectural questions regarding custom HAL management:
1. Loading Custom Real-Time Components in Main HAL (e.g., ClassicLadder)
Is there an intended workflow or plans to allow custom HAL code injection inside Rio Flow?

• Use Case: I need to load and thread ClassicLadder (

  loadrt classicladder_rt ...

  , 

  loadusr -w classicladder my_logic.clp

  ) to handle auxiliary machine logic and map FPGA inputs/outputs directly to 

  %I

   and 

  %Q

   points before the motion thread starts.
• Currently, modifying generated main HAL files requires re-editing them after each export. Would it be possible to have a persistent "User HAL Block" or a dedicated non-destructive include file in Rio Flow?

2. Managing Custom PostGUI Nets Without Being Overwritten
How should we best handle GUI-dependent nets across exports?

• Use Case: Connecting physical hardware inputs mapped in RioCore to GUI-specific pins like 

  touchy.cycle-start

  , 

  touchy.single-block

  , or 

  halui.machine.on

  .
• Since these pins only instantiate after the display loads, they must live in the PostGUI phase. However, each time Rio Flow regenerates/exports the setup, the auto-generated PostGUI call chain (

  postgui_call_list.hal

   / 

  custom_postgui.hal

  ) gets wiped/reset.

Is there a recommended way to structure user-defined pre-GUI and post-GUI files so Rio Flow leaves them untouched, or is native support for custom code injection / user PostGUI nets planned for future releases?
Thanks in advance for any insights or tips on how you guys are handling this!

Is it performing the touch-off and arc lighting when you start the program? Torch goes down, contacts the plate (depending on your touch-off sensor), goes back up to striking height, lights the arc, at which point the THC can start reading arc voltage. Is it doing any of that?

Sorry I missed the analog stuff in the hal file.

One thing you might do is (with LinuxCNC running)

1. Without gcode running:

halcmd show pin plasmac  > nogcode.txt

2. With gcode running:

halcmd show pin plasmac  > gcode.txt

and then compare the two files.


 

If a lot of your outputs are related to some sort of logic that "just needs to run in a background program" you can control any or all of them using a custom hal component. There is also classicladder plc logic in LinuxCNC.

have you chosen the correct mode in plasmac? refer docs

How do you want to command your outputs? There are a myriad of ways to control them with in Linuxcnc, custom M-codes being just one. In fact you could command up to 32 outputs with just a single custom M-code with the addition of a binary variable (M100 Pn) where n= an integer number that is written to a hal pin (Bitslice Hal component) who's binary value sets the value of each output pin. You could add another 32 by adding a Q variable to the M-code for a total of 64 outputs with a single M-code command. Now remembering all of your possible binary integer commands to turn on/off the correct outputs might be a bit of a trick, but that shouldn't be hard for a computer to do. I've done this before myself, but for only about 16 outputs.

I looked at the code I was using and the thc enable gcode is there, the thc enabled light is on, but not the thc active light thats what confuses me, what are the requirements for it to activate?

What does your G-code for the above move look like? The answer might be as simple as adding another line of code, or moving the line where the G41/42 is issued.

voltages sound about right. Nice to know ethercat is so simple to install for plasma machines.

I'm a bit rusty, it can be a bit cantankerous  on non standard setups, Check the thc is not disabled in the gcode which sounds a likely place to look

You could use ethercat. Start with a EK1100 coupler
www.beckhoff.com/en-en/products/i-o/ethe...-coupler/ek1100.html
and then add 32 output EL2407 modules as required.
www.beckhoff.com/en-en/products/i-o/ethe...l-output/el2407.html
6 would give you 192 outputs and an  EL2008 rounds it off to exactly 200 inputs.
the EK1100 can supply for 2 amps but the power bus is can handle 10 amps. If you need more power you can insert a EL9410 power supply module between modules on the bus.
www.beckhoff.com/en-au/products/i-o/ethe...x-system/el9410.html

 

Im using a beckhoff 3102 +-10v analog input so im dividing the arc voltage 30:1 inside the powermax 65, and after the first tests with a bench power supply I realized that the beckhoff module outputs a float value between -1 and +1, given the range I assumed it relates the voltage and the float output value 10:1, so in qtplasmac i combined the two ratios to be 300:1 the cut voltage appears to display right in the tests i have done so far, 200 something volts at ark start and stabilizing at about 130V and that agrees with hyperterm's tables for the parameters im using

edit:
and as I said before thc is working fine when doing a manual cut with the jog keys
 

There is 
net plasmac:arc-voltage-in <=  lcec.0.3.ain-0-val
so the voltage is provided by an ethercat analog input
and I see the GUI settings of
Arc Voltage Offset = 0.0
Arc Voltage Scale = 300.0

How do you scale the input back to volts?
Do you see a Voltage being displayed?
What I'm seeing is you are multiplying the input value by 300 which does not sound right. 
I would have thought you would be using the voltage divider factor from your plasma cutter. eg if 20:1 you'd multiply by 20.
The other approach would be to scale the voltage outside of QTplasmac and use a scale of 1 which I have used before.
Need to get your voltage correct before looking at thc

tommylight wrote:

I am not moving to USA !!! It has become unbearable, even on TV !
Sorry for hijacking the topic.

If you can't bear the US, don't come to Australia!
My son is in Texas after a stint in Europe and I quite sure he'll never come back home! 

Hi all,

It's been quite a while since I was here last..

A year or two ago I installed and configured the 5-axis version of QTDragon (the one that has jog buttons for A and C axes as well), but I can't for the life of me remember where I got it from   

I found Jim's profile but it seems I can't message him from here.

Help appreciated!

I made a simulation html with claude