Another plasma component...

Guys

I had a good go at getting this branch to run this evening. Still have some work to do. What works:
1. Machine comes out of e-stop and turns on.
2. Machine homes on all three axis.
3. Pendant mostly (as much as I use it) works for jogging X & Y axis. I had to do a bit of a hack on plasmac.hal to add some OR2 instances to share program command halui inputs. Didn't try any of the MDI buttons.
4. Manual jogging works on X&Y axis with correct DRO function.
5. Really couldn't get a clean connection to my hardware input pins in plasmac.hal. Had to net 7i76e input pins in another .hal file and then use those nets in plasmac.hal. Output hardware pins worked as expected. Note that I do use the ...-not pins to get true logic and that seemed to be the problem.

What doesn't work at this point:
1. Jogging z axis(manual or pendant). If I jog a very small distance from Z home a soft limit error occurs. My Z soft limits are +.25" and -3.65". My Z home is .050" below the soft limit. Normal work piece zero will be about -2.9" to -3.5" machine position. My machine is like a mill in that machine Z zero is at the top (away from work piece) of axis travel.
2. Z DRO does not respond when jogging. Back plot screen graphics show Z jogging movement. Z DRO shows movement while homing. Z DRO follows work piece (G54) offset adjustment.
3. Editing and updating material and configuration files doesn't seem quite right. Still can't get addition materials to display even though they are in the file. Some of the GUI values don't save to the files, always get the old defaults on startup.

How do I do a test probing so I can check how well the IHS is doing? On my present system where everything is controlled through Gcode it have short program to do this.

I will have to change the plasma control glade panel so that it is on tabs behind the back plotter (more GMOCCAPY like) to free up more space. I am pretty sure I will end up needing to change the functions of the current home axis buttons, that is something I never have a reason to use.

John

Phill

Thank you for your continued interest in my trials.

I am running from a copy of the ~/plasmac/configs/sim/gmoccapy/plasmac directory (clone from git) that is in ~/plasmac/configs/myplasmac. I believe I fixed all the broken links from the copy. I am thinking that I really should be using a local copy of plasmac.hal because I have changed it to work with my hardware and pendant. I am using the imperial configuration.

I have the correct Z accelerations and velocity (2X) for an OFFSET_AV_RATIO = .5. I have had several goes at the EO branch in the past.

I am not too concerned about the configuration and materials files right now. I only need to set one set of cutting conditions to do line tests for checking THC performance.

A test probe button from one of the setup tabs will be ideal. The result should be that the torch probes at it's present location and ends up at either the pierce height (what my current system does) or at the cutting height. That way you can measure under the torch with a gauge block and/or feeler gauges to check the distance. I actually like to roll a cut off drill bit as a gauge, I have three that span just too short, just right and just too far. That is a nice thing about the HT torches is you are at .150" or .090" for pierce height.

The go to position buttons aren't a big deal for testing. For operation a Z to top of travel button will be handy if the plasmac.comp doesn't place the torch at the top of Z travel at the end of a cutting file and during an error condition so you can inspect, clean or change consumables. Another handy button is a go to material loading position because it often isn't the same as the home position, Z to top of travel then X & Y to correct (user defined) position. In my world it may be better if the dry run button was actually a torch enable button that was ANDed with torch on to allow the torch to fire. Then for a dry run the component will just check to see if this is false. I had a nasty burn on my hand before I had this button from an assistant "clicking around" when I was checking consumables one time. Good thing it was only the pilot arc as the torch was at the top of the Z travel or it would have been much worse.

I will not have a chance to look further at what is presently going on until this evening.

The Z homing to the top of travel is a pretty big deal because you need to be able to home the table without having material on it. Then set work piece X and Y G54 offsets after placing it on the table and aligning the work piece with table motion (getting work piece square to table motion if needed). The work piece top surface (Z G54 offset) will be found by probing. You will understand about this the first time you have a $400 bill for new torch parts because the homing missed the material and slats then tried to move.

Thanks again for all the hard work on this branch.

John

Phill

Ok, I found my bonehead error in my hal file so Z axis appears to work correctly now. Seems to Ferror out due to acceleration problems easily especially when when using pendant (rarely used for Z). Almost like OFFSET_AV_RATIO isn't being applied. I will have to wait till later to test what is happening with halscope.

Float Switch works, Ohmic Test button works. Torch Pulse works.

Problem, if float switch is activated by jogging you can't back off, you must turn off machine then re home. If you press Z to home button jog panel goes away and an error message posted.

Plasmac.hal needs this line added to set THC mode from .ini:
Axis to Home buttons move at quite high speed. Z axis Ferrors almost instantly ( most likely my problem).

Almost ready for probing and line tests to start tonight.

John

Phill

The float switch reaction isn't simple. I like to think of it as a Z min. limit when not engaged in probing. Normally when hitting a limit switch when using gmoccapy you have to stop the machine and check the ignore limits box and switch it back on to back off the limit. I guess that the reality space of this is it shouldn't happen in normal operation. I was forcing things to check input functions when I found it. The Z is weird in plasma, we generally have have the Z soft limit at the lowest top surface of the slats but want the Z min. limit (float) switch to trigger when hitting an obstacle on top of the slats.

I see that the axis to home buttons activate MDI commands. As such they are only good for use when not in auto mode. So using the Z to home while paused for an error isn't going to work.

I am not sure that getting rid of using the links to files is that good of an idea. I like the concept of only one copy of a file to need to work with. If one needs to customize a file for their system they can always make a local copy.

I will go out later and see if I can make some progress. Thanks for all the good work.

John