Another plasma component...

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PlasmaC update history

I am in the process of building a very small plasma table (600mm x 600mm or 24" x 24"), during this build I have pored over many forum articles and was impressed with the Toma configuration that tommylight uses.

I have written a configuration called PlasmaC ("Plasma Component" for want of a better word) which includes a single hal component and I think (hope) that it does all that the Toma configuration does plus a few extras.

An HTML User Guide is in the LinuxCNC HTML documents and a PDF version is within the LinuxCNC documentation that is available in your machine with a full LinuxCNC installation.

If you think that something is missing, incomplete or incorrect, please leave a reply on this thread.

The PlasmaC configuration requires LinuxCNC v2.8 or later for full functionality.

It can be installed either as a package from the LinuxCNC buildbot which is recommended for most users or as a run in place installation by following the Building LinuxCNC document.

Also included are sample Axis and Gmoccapy configurations which utilises all the functions of the component.
The example configurations can be accessed from the LinuxCNC Configuration Selector:
Sample Configurations/by_machine/plasmac/ then either axis or gmoccapy.
There is a choice of either metric or imperial configurations.
Example gcode files can be loaded from nc_files/plasmac.

Feel free to try it and if you do I hope it works for you, I am open to suggestions if there is anything I have missed or have got wrong.

For new to plasma users, here is a good CNC plasma primer written by Rod Webster (rodw on this forum)

Cheers, Phill

Axis


Gmoccapy

I have to say, i am impressed !
Thank you.
I will try to make some time in the near future to give it a run.

Phill, thank you.
Just did a quick test and everything looks good from the included sim. In a few days i will have a machine to test with.
Regards,
Tom

Thanks guys.

Rod, thanks for the link, I will try to incorporate that patch later today.

Mauro, this component should have no effect on hardware so as long as your current hardware runs LinuxCNC comfortably there should be no problem. All my development and testing has been done using Stretch.

Tom, I will be very interested to see how it goes, I have no idea when I will have my table ready for testing.

I have just noticed one issue that will require further investigation (obviously my previous testing was not quite enough...):
When running the 'squares' gcode if I pause along a segment then reverse to the beginning of the cut then resume, the acceleration for the first segment is abysmal, when the next segment is hit the acceleration returns to normal.
If I only reverse partially then there is no problem.
If I run the 'circles' gcode (under nc_files/plasmac) there is no problem.
If I run the 'line' gcode (under nc_files/plasmac) there is no problem.
One difference is 'squares' uses straight lines (G1) and circles uses arcs (G2)... BUT 'line' also use G1.
Another difference is 'squares' uses a subroutine and 'line' does not... BUT 'circles' also uses a subroutine.
I have no clue at the moment.

Cheers, Phill

You have to follow the instructions for downloading and installing from git, just change the git address from linuxcnc to phillc54/linuxcnc-plasmac.
Then do the autogen and make commands, then setuid and if you want to have a deb package follow the instructions at the bottom of the page to create the deb.
Install that deb. Done.
Use that deb to install on other computers that already have preempt-rt kernel.
You can find the plasmac.comp file and do:
sudo halcompile --install plasmac.comp
but when you try to use that config it will complain about missing eo ( external offsets ).