Looking for the cheapest plasma cutter that will work with Mesa THCAD

It is very humbling when first starting out, I was the same but thanks to the guys on this forum I found my way.

And thanks to the hard work of RodW and others the Plasma Primer is a big help. I just think we need to do a better job of promoting it somehow so the new people can easily find it.

You are the Man!! ok so i did the 9v test, worked like a charm. the THCAD-300 is working!! (or at least im pulling the frequency from the card and it matched my calcs) So happy!! ok, onto getting Linux CNC programed with the 7i96 and the THC intergrated. Saw some hal files that show all the user interfaces for torch height (arc signal on, etc) and then get those pre-built homing commands, we are cooking with oil now!

Im super happy with where this thread is going, just post your config when you get it all working

Thank You
C

It seems you have the THCAD input reversed, Plasma cutters are always electrode negative, so the torch is negative and the ground clamp is positive.

thefabricator03 wrote: And thanks to the hard work of RodW and others the Plasma Primer is a big help. I just think we need to do a better job of promoting it somehow so the new people can easily find it.

Pretty humbling seeing guys refer people to specific chapters in the Primer I wrote. I think for these plasma with raw arc voltage brought out to the case, the last sentence in 16.3 will be relevant. I'd check the resistance between those pins and the terminslas and allow for that in your scaling resistors.

I did write some additional content for it one night but have not got back to it to get it updated.

rodw wrote:
I did write some additional content for it one night but have not got back to it to get it updated.

When I get a chance Ill format my notes on motor selection so they can be put in if you want.

I have also got a lot of notes on controller design I have been sorting out that might be useful as well.

Ok so great news, got the GUI setup, thank you to who ever posted PlasmaC user guide, SUPER helpfull, only issue I had was the Hal pin for 7i96, struggled with that for a few hours, only to find out (once you have a working standard file) Hal Meter in Machine drop down has them all listed in hm2_7i96.. welp I feel dumb, but eh, it's all working like a charm! I did see some posts about the TTL mode on the 7i96, but when I put the jumpers in that mode it always reads 0, sooo I'm sure something is not configured right. But I got it working!! Onto hooking up a plasma to this thing tomorrow, or maybe sat. Still need to move the motors to the machine and get my z-switch wired in.. also side note, with the THCAD-300 had to change to voltage scale to .01, when I hooked up the battery it went to 900 volts instead of 9 lol

BlueManRising wrote: Ok so great news, got the GUI setup, thank you to who ever posted PlasmaC user guide, SUPER helpfully,

Glad you got it going,

Philc54 is the author of PlasmaC and he created the user guide. I still look at it every now and then when I am stuffing about with my config and I agree it is very helpful.

thefabricator03 wrote:

rodw wrote:
I did write some additional content for it one night but have not got back to it to get it updated.

When I get a chance Ill format my notes on motor selection so they can be put in if you want.

I have also got a lot of notes on controller design I have been sorting out that might be useful as well.

You will be sorry you said this. I've shared my master of the plasma primer in Google drive with you and Phill, so feel free to add your content into the document and once we are happy, Phill might agree to update the docs and we should hve covered off on a few more FAQ's including some content relating to what has been discussed in this thread.

can we add the port number addition from here as well
forum.linuxcnc.org/plasmac/38158-problem...2-9-on-clean-install

it cost me a few days and 3 clean installs before I sorted it out

Thank you
Calvin