Do we need a Plasma Touch Off HAL component ?

BigJohnT wrote:

It still needs to be tested and is not ready for master yet.
JT

John, thanks, I had noticed that Dewey kept pretty much up to date with master. I worked out how to rebase this branch with master so I'm ok now. If others are watching, this is what I did
The more people who play with this stuff the better as it will provide fresh insight and more ideas to make plasma fly on the wings of LinuxCNC

John, thanks thats fine for experiments but those of us using gmocappy need access to the latest version in master AND Dewey's external offsets which is the point of the GIT commands I posted.

What version/branch are you using on your plasma cutter?

Hi

I not sure about what Rod is using right now but most of the most recent new work for plasma tables has used the dgarr/external_offsets branch from the master. It appears to be quite up to date if you want to use the newest branch for plasma tables. Follow Rod's posts as his code is the cleanest, I am nearly ready replace my old controller. My code is really just a rambling kludge but is working so far. I will post a working version in about a week if I get the time. It is really unnerving to replace a working control with a new open source one.

John

John, thanks for your comments about my code. Please expect some updates once I get a working plasma table.

But yes you are right, like you I am using the dgarr/external_offsets branch written by Dewey Garrett with a mesa 7i76e and THCAD10 card and gmoccapy GUI. Eventually, I will document how all of the components I've written should be tied together. I have to say though by using the components I've shared, my hal files are so much cleaner than they were previously.

ksgeek, if you are just starting off with a gantry machine, you need to be using master to get the joint axis features that are not in 2.7. So from there it is a small step to use an alternative branch

Thank you for the info.

Our group table is building/debugging a 4x4 dual shaft x gantry plasma cutter with 2 parport pc control. Using the Proma Compact THC. We are running trivkins motion just to get started(motion seems fine in initial simple tests.

I have gotten the thcud hal component running. We are running NS gmoccapy plasma gui. I think I have all metric user interface buttons converted to imperial. It is working currently with modified touchoff macro inserted into the gcode. We are still working the bugs electric/mechanical/ect...

What several other people are requesting for the less technically minded members is a seamless M3 start of the touchoff/pierce cycle.

Has there been any progress since March creating a touchoff/pierce component? I did not see a component in my brief code search, but I don't know what the comp would be named. Even if it is not ready for prime time. I would be happy to beta test it.

I just built the master/dgarr/external_offsets branch from src on a home computer last night. I will give it a try on the table.

Tom

Hello

You will not need to use the dgarr/external_offsets branch if you are using a Proma THC. The external_offsets branch is for using a torch height control (or any other offset) method that closes the loop inside Linuxcnc.

John

Hello

Sorry I should have added that user tommylight has posted working plasma configurations that use a Proma THC or other external THC.

John

There has been no work done on this touchoff idea. It is not a high priority until I get a working table as there is so much to do and the existing gcode approach is quite workable.
Islander261 was referring to this configuration which includes the touchoff built into hal
forum.linuxcnc.org/49-basic-configuratio...t-works?limitstart=0
It will work nicely with your Proma torch height control. It does not use THCUD.