Another plasma component...

tommylight wrote: I also did a retrofit on a plasma that had an air powered drill, it had manual controls and electronics, single output would turn the air on, drill would start turning and moving down. That delay to get to the material from 12cm above was enough for it to get up to speed. Not powerfull enough but very usable for holes up to 5mm.

Thats a pretty cool Idea Tommy, Something like this would be so easy to mount.



From one of my Usual Tool Shops

Was it driven down with an air ram too?

Yes it was with a regulating valve to adjust the pressure/speed of moving downwards. It was one of those with a small screw to set it and a nut to lock it in place.
Just checked the price, how much is that in US pesos ?
I can get those air powered grinding thingies for 20 Euro a piece, they do 30000 RPM ! The noise is unbearable !

tommylight wrote: The noise is unbearable !

Ear plugs should be included in the price

Well maybe this upgrade will take a few more cups of coffee.

I set up a new run in place alongside my working version and called it “Darrens-Plasmac”, that all went fine as expected. I then Copied over my working hal and ini files.

On starting Plasmac I got an error regarding IHS so I commented out that line, the next attempt opened gmocappy very very slowly took a minute or more and never fully populated the screen. When I clicked to turn the machine on nothing happened other than I eventually get an error stating a limit switch was tripped, the only switch that is activated is my torch breakaway which is normally closed on the working setup, assuming it got reversed somehow in the new version.

I did also notice that in the gmocappy folder the majority of the files are just symbolic links, not sure if this is as it should be

I have not tried to run the configurator as I cannot get a working config to start from.

Should I be able to use my existing config files or do I have to start from scratch?

I have attached the file I use in my working version

Well maybe this upgrade will take a few more cups of coffee.

I set up a new run in place alongside my working version and called it “Darrens-Plasmac”, that all went fine as expected. I then Copied over my working hal and ini files.

Does this mean that you created a new clone of the LinuxCNC repo and then compiled it?

On starting Plasmac I got an error regarding IHS so I commented out that line, the next attempt opened gmocappy very very slowly took a minute or more and never fully populated the screen. When I clicked to turn the machine on nothing happened other than I eventually get an error stating a limit switch was tripped, the only switch that is activated is my torch breakaway which is normally closed on the working setup, assuming it got reversed somehow in the new version.

Your original HAL and ini files won't work if they are just copied to a newer version.

I did also notice that in the gmocappy folder the majority of the files are just symbolic links, not sure if this is as it should be

Yes, later versions use links.

I have not tried to run the configurator as I cannot get a working config to start from.

I am not sure how you got the links without running the configurator.

Should I be able to use my existing config files or do I have to start from scratch?

I am pretty sure they could be upgraded. You would need to make a copy of your config directory as a backup then run configurator in upgrade mode on your ini file.

If the files you have posted are from a working config I can edit them for you so you could use them as a base for a new configuration.

Hi Phill

phillc54 wrote:

Well maybe this upgrade will take a few more cups of coffee.

I set up a new run in place alongside my working version and called it “Darrens-Plasmac”, that all went fine as expected. I then Copied over my working hal and ini files.

Does this mean that you created a new clone of the LinuxCNC repo and then compiled it?

Yes that’s correct

On starting Plasmac I got an error regarding IHS so I commented out that line, the next attempt opened gmocappy very very slowly took a minute or more and never fully populated the screen. When I clicked to turn the machine on nothing happened other than I eventually get an error stating a limit switch was tripped, the only switch that is activated is my torch breakaway which is normally closed on the working setup, assuming it got reversed somehow in the new version.

Your original HAL and ini files won't work if they are just copied to a newer version.

I did just copy them to the newer version

I did also notice that in the gmocappy folder the majority of the files are just symbolic links, not sure if this is as it should be

Yes, later versions use links.

I have not tried to run the configurator as I cannot get a working config to start from.

I am not sure how you got the links without running the configurator.

They were just there after I completed th clone and compile

Should I be able to use my existing config files or do I have to start from scratch?

I am pretty sure they could be upgraded. You would need to make a copy of your config directory as a backup then run configurator in upgrade mode on your ini file.


If the files you have posted are from a working config I can edit them for you so you could use them as a base for a new configuration.

Yes the files I have posted are from my working earlier configuration. If you could edit them that would be great as I am a bit lost as to what to change.

Thanks
Darren