QTPlasmaC Remove Z axis for Tube Cutter

Hello, this is my first post in the forum. Have used it a lot to set up my machine to the point it is currently at.

So far I have it all pretty much set up and good to go with the QTPlasmaC UI, but I need some help removing the Z-axis movement from the machine.

The machine is a 2 axis plasma tube cutter, one for the rotary motion, and one for the linear. The rotary axis is actually treated like a linear one. with some clever sheetcam post processing I have created something where you can input a flat profile of the tube, and get prompted to input the tubes diameter that will do some maths to get the correct feed rate at the surface of the tube, depending on the tube diameter that was entered.

My problem starts when the plasmac software tries to home the Z-axis, even though there should be no z-axis instructions in the g-code. Then when the g-code runs it sort of gets stuck at the homing of the Z-axis, that shouldnt exist....Is there a good way to remove it entirely from the machine, and maybe even the qtplasmac UI? 

I have tried to comment out all the Z-axis parameters in the .ini and .hal files, but then i just get errors when opening up the cnc software. This is for a school related project so go easy on me!  (I have added a screenshot of the machines design in cad)
Thanks! 

Hey snowgoer, I tried to implement these into my sheetcam post and while i can see them in the g-code that is output, it still seems to try and home the z-axis.

Is there no way to just entirely remove the z-axis function from qtplasmac?

Thanks again!

We just didn't think it was necessary for a tube cutter, and at the start of this whole process we thought we were making it easier on ourselves by omitting it entirely. Also to save some money on all the electronics that go along with an additional axis, as we are working with a tight-ish budget.

Its pretty much only designed to do 1in OD because its for our universities FSAE team, to make the chassis in house, but should be capable of 0.75" - 3" tubing.

There is a Z axis technically but its manually adjustable just to set torch height for different size tubes. Also there is a front chuck of sorts that holds the tube about 2inches from the torch so the material is well supported up to the torch.

Is there any way you can think of to take out the Z-axis related ops? I was trying to figure out how to contact you directly actually because you are the one person I have seen do tube cutters in this forum.

Let me know if you have any advice for us...

Thanks.

Alright I think that puts us on the right track.

I wasnt really too attached to QtPlasmaC, I just saw the word "plasma" and selected it. Also thought it looked nice.

I did previously create a config with Axis GUI as well but it was more so for testing the motors out, so I will switch back to that and see what I can do.

Thanks! Hopefully my next post is of a finished machine.