Another plasma component...

phillc54 wrote:

I have pushed some updates.

Changes to plasmac.comp so you need to run make.
A change to the kerf crossing calculations for anyone who is game to try it...

Some minor changes to:
configs/by_machine/plasmac/axis/metric_plasmac.ini
configs/by_machine/plasmac/axis/imperial_plasmac.ini
configs/by_machine/plasmac/test/plasmac_test.py
nc_files/plasmac/imperial_wrench.ngc

Cheers, Phill

ARE this files now in master
or only on the git

pl7i92 wrote:

ARE this files now in master
or only on the git

These files will never be in master until the reverse run branch is in master. That is the only reason why Phill is forced to keep his private repository. BUt he keeps it current with master branch

Anyone know why it would start cutting round corners. I was cutting sheets out and stopped to run to town. Came back and I tweaked some cut speed settings. And it started doing this. I don’t have a G02/G03 any where in the program. I closed LinuxCNC and still doing it. I also dropped cut speed to 50%. I changed feed rate from 100in/min to 200 in/min in the program file. This also brings up another weird thing. It seams to be running off the feed rate in the program not the feed rate set in the settings. And sometimes it’s still not using the THC. It touches off and just takes off but never adjusts the Z.

JTknives

My guess is that you are not setting your G64 correctly. Look in the docs!

I use G64 P0.010 Q0.005 for most plasma work.

John

All my machinest experance centers around lathes and mills. I am quickly realizing plasma is a diffrent beast. I have never used G64, I will play with it.

JTknives wrote:

Anyone know why it would start cutting round corners.

And sometimes it’s still not using the THC. It touches off and just takes off but never adjusts the Z.

John has set you straight on the rounding. When I first got my table moving, I drew a large square at maximum speed and it rounded the corners by many inches. So i put it in the startup code (which in plasmac's case is in a .ngc file in the config directory)

If you have feed rates in the gcode, they will be used. To use the one set in the plasmac gui, you need to addwhere Pn contains the plasmac tool number. If you have a lot of tools (50 or so), you might need to increase the Q1 to Q2

Phill

Ok, I made newbie mistake and didn't save the whole plasmac branch directory.

So I had a little time waiting for the boss to respond to a design proposal this morning and thought well my Plasmac is well out of date and has several known issues. So I blindly plowed ahead :This was more like a fresh clone than an update. I think every source file recompiled and linked.

Well it seems the whole directory structure has changed.

So went to build a new configuration after testing a sim, ok.

A new directory for my stuff and fixing all the broken links, the sim still works. I still couldn't get an actual configuration to run on hardware. After much fussing around I found that it worked by removing this from the .ini file:
# required for remapping gcode f word
#REMAP = F prolog=plasmac_feed_prolog ngc=plasmac_feed epilog=plasmac_feed_epilog
So is this bit now redundant?

I found the changes in syntax for defining the user button actions. It really is one of the confusing parts of LinuxCNC where the syntax changes for doing the same thing from file type to file type.

The next thing is the material file. When I start up there is only the default material available. I can edit it and save it but still only the default. I couldn't add to it either using the GUI or text editing the imperial_plasmac_materials.cfg file. How do I add new materials? The Kerf width spin box is broken.

The nice color coding of the torch enable button appears to be gone. Well I thought I'll just edit the glade file, no. Some how the button as setup doesn't let you set the active/not active colors.

Thanks for all the hard work, I know I should have kept up with the daily updates.

I still need to make a new PP to support multiple materials. Figure out how I enable/disable the THC (I am sure my old hack is broken).

John

If you specify a feed rate in gcode say F2000 then if that is less than 99.9% of the displayed materials cut feed rate then cornerlock will stay locked because the machine will not reach the displayed materials cut feed rate.

Phil, a clear case where the state tags branch would benefit Linuxcnc immensely as plasmac would always know the current feed rate as its passed to motion where we can see it. If only it was merged into master...

I found that it worked by removing this from the .ini file:
# required for remapping gcode f word
#REMAP = F prolog=plasmac_feed_prolog ngc=plasmac_feed epilog=plasmac_feed_epilog
So is this bit now redundant?

John, yes, this is redundant (ask me how I know?). Its important to review your ini file against the current one in the sim while its still evolving. And yes, I learnt the hard way...