Plasmac 7i96 and thcad setup

Hi gents, now i have a working machine with AXIS, i'm in the process of setting up Plasmac

So Plasmac is installed, and the install window pops up
I found the working ini files, but now i'm lost again........
No Ohmic sensing, but float switch

_with THCAD, what mode to choose from ? 0-1-2
_what pin ? i know it's on the ENCODER input, TB2 pins 7-8-10-11 , ENCA+ ENCA- ENCAB+ ENCAB- , i need all 4 from THCAD F0+/- FR0+/- but in the MESA i activated the encoder input so i guess it's good

_Torch on is the output pin for activating the relay ? (activated with spindle on/off in MESA configurator) was i correct or i chould choose flood pump or similar ?
_Float switch is on TB3 pin 4 INPUT3 (activated in MESA configurator)

Tnx in advance

BTW i'm no LINUX geek so it's sometimes embarassing to have a halt because i'm at lost

i reply to myself as a follow up

for the plasma enable, i use "hm2_7i96.0.gpio.003.out" as i found in the hal file

and it seems i need to add lines for the THC

The THCAD connections only require:

FO+ --> ENCA+
FO- --> ENCA-
+5 --> +5
GND --> GND

ok i'll try that tomorrow,tnx
But how do i declare the thcad, type 0, 1 or 2 ??

jay1st wrote:

ok i'll try that tomorrow,tnx
But how do i declare the thcad, type 0, 1 or 2 ??

Have a look in the ini file at the top.

# sets the operating mode, if not specified the default is 0
# 0 = use arc-voltage-in for arcOK and THC (no need to connect arc-ok-in, move-up-in and move-down-in)
# 1 = use arc-ok-in for arcOK and arc-voltage-in for THC (no need to connect move-up-in and move-down-in)
# 2 = use arc-ok-in for arcOK and move-down-in + move-up-in for THC (no need to connect arc-voltage-in)
MODE = 0

forum.linuxcnc.org/27-driver-boards/3659...hcad?start=20#134364

Powering thcad and connection 7l96

Since I don't own a 7i96 verify connection pls. And read complete thread.

All Mesa terminal block encoder connections are identical regardless of hardware

That is, if you made a 6 pin THCAD to 8 Pin Encoder cable for a 7I96, it would work on
any Mesa terminal block encoder interface.

ok, so all is connected, opened the plasma cutter,added a resistor to the THCAD10, and a relay to replace the trigger
I can start stop the plasma from AXIS

Now the shitty bit
I'm following the PlasmaC userguide, running the PlasmaC configuration and when i launch it there is an error about the encoder, and it seems other stuff as well
Had a look at the HAL file, and there is still
_ FLOOD instead of the Plasma ON, so i replaced/renamed it
_Put the extra text for the THCAD input/divider ratio
_Probe instead of FLOAT etc......

So when i make a working configuration with the PNC_Conf wizard for MESA cards as it runs AXIS, i choose FLOOD for enabling the pinout for the plasma ON, used Probe for the FLOAT switch input, and the SPINDLE encoder for the THCAD10 encoder input.........is that correct as it states "Base machine configuration means a complete working system without the Plasmac configuration. All axes should be working and tuned for best performance and all home and limit switches if installed should be operating correctly." ??

When looking in the original HAL file i could not find anything related to the ENCA+/ENCA- inputs used for the SPINDLE encoder...???

Attached are the original HAL and the one created by the PlasmaC configurator (original untouched), as for the encoder input i used hm2_7i96e.0.encoder.00 and cant find it in the HAL file..........and no idea if it's correct as THCAD used ENCA+ and ENCA- so 2 pins

The HAL file would access the encoder hardware with hm2_7i96e.0.encoder.00.velocity
and perhaps other hm2_7i96e.0.encoder.00.xxxx pins and parameters, not the A pins as they
are changing too quickly for LinuxCNC to interpret.

What start-up errors do you get?

Starting LinuxCNC from a terminal window should allow you to copy-paste them