No Juice, well there is for a Split second

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07 May 2024 23:22 #300078 by FlaredFins
Finally firing this thing up and I'm getting less than a second of flame time. I've been through the qtplasmac manual to the extent I know where to look for torch settings. I can Pulse the torch and have no issues drop it down to cut height and pulse again and it seems like a nice healthy flame for 12ga. volts run up to around 110 -120. So all seems good on the torch end have not changed out consumables since its fire manually with no issues. 
my probe might be off a little bit but from running the probe test it looks really close to where it should be.

Only issue I can see is I am pulling 12volts off the ARC ok input. But its not appearing to be enough to trigger the arc ok light in qtplasmac just enough to have a dim LED on the 7i96s. When the torch fires the arc ok light pops up on the screen and bright on the 7i96s. 
I attached the hal and ini files below
Attachments:

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08 May 2024 10:03 #300103 by FlaredFins
Up early this morning to get back at this and while in qtplasmac I don't have the arc ok light lit on screen, but it is signaling Plasmac.arc.ok.in. So not sure if this is creating issues. I am set to Mode 1 for qtplasmac so wondering if with the THCAD2 do I really need the arc ok in signal?

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08 May 2024 10:19 #300106 by tommylight
Until yesterday, my main machine had no arc ok signal, mind you with 2 different plasma sources, so yes it works perfectly well without it, it just might need a bit of tests to set the high voltage for arcok so it does not activate if say the torch fires in mid air and there is no transfer.
In use for 4 years.
Had it set at 170V as testing showed that is OK even for thin material where the voltage raises quickly after arc transfer, and did not allow arcok to come on when pilot failed so no transfer but voltage shows 260V.

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08 May 2024 12:03 #300112 by rodw

 I am set to Mode 1 for qtplasmac so wondering if with the THCAD2 do I really need the arc ok in signal?

Which leads me to query why the mode is missing from your ini file?
If you have an arcOK signal built in to your plasma (Which you have) I recommend mode 1. Using Synthesised ArcOK can create spurious signals that can cause the symptoms you describe if not set up correctly.

Specifically, on piercing, the voltage does not climb constantly. It often dips down. If the ArcOK has been enabled  this can be sensed as a loss of ArcOK (Although I believe QTPlasmac has some settings now that are supposed to work around this).

Its much better and safer to rely on what the plasma cutter is telling you than guessing no matter how smart the guessing algorithim is....

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08 May 2024 12:49 #300117 by FlaredFins
I am not sure why its missing. I set it in PNCconf. Right now, I'm trying to locate some mystery voltages that are showing up.

All my connections are soldered in, and each connection has heat shrink around it to ensure no rogue connections would be made at the plugs. I'm not ruling any of that out. I've gone through to verify (even though not needed) my power source is the same for E-Stop, ARC OK and the Proximities. Double, triple checked that I'm grounding back to the same location.

I have noticed that arc.voltage.out is giving a reading of about 13vdc when the connection is together. And when not connected it outputs -24 volts. readings from halshow.
So I'm Not sure if I have the W1,W2 and W3 set correctly I have read the Doc for the 7i96s and honestly the portion that covers W1 - W3 might as well be Greek. lol

I'm going to go look at my ini file and see if sent the right one, as I've made changes when i realized something wasn't right

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08 May 2024 13:46 #300124 by FlaredFins
You ever do a whole bunch of things and than decide ok lets test it? lol well I have no Idea what software adjustment I made or wire I tweaked. But it decided to fire the torch and cut the file, granted HC is clearly going to need to be dialed in as it cut around 60-70 on 12ga and at one point drove the torch down far enough to trigger my probe switch.

which leads me to another question. if theres an arc out or probe trigger If I hit that Rev button its going to rev the code back to the last M3 command. which in this case was like 12 inches back. is there a way to just rev .25 inch to where the probe hit and start there? it left a small .25 inch tab when i hit resume cut.

Soooo..... any good resources to read up on in dialing this in?

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08 May 2024 23:47 #300169 by phillc54
Using the REV button allows the torch to move to any position between the current position and the last M3 position.
Using the FWD button allows the torch to move to any position between the current position and the end of the job.

The doc doesn't really explain that... 
linuxcnc.org/docs/devel/html/plasma/qtpl...#plasma:cut-recovery

 

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08 May 2024 23:56 #300170 by tommylight

The doc doesn't really explain that... 
linuxcnc.org/docs/devel/html/plasma/qtpl...#plasma:cut-recovery


 

Also no link to "plasma primer", should be at the top.

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08 May 2024 23:58 #300171 by FlaredFins
Ive been using it a lot today while I run through dialing everything in. Its like a dream compared to Mach 4. The only thing Ive noticed and it might be something on my end but it doesn't allow rev to the last M3 command it only allowed a certain number of lines. I was doing an outside cut arc went out and decided well for sheets N grins lemme run this bad boy all the way back and nope.

Also If I'm way off on volts specified it only lets me make adjustments +- 9 volts and 1 volt on mine is .004 so that's not much lift or drop when dialing in lol

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