3mm will as awemawson say will warp if doing a lot of cutting to it but even with heavier stuff you can get problems if it is not totally flat on the table.
I never really bothered about making my table flat for two reasons, one I was in a hurry and also I was putting a THC on, still wish I had made it better though and probably will at some point.
Anyway getting back to things, even the dross on the slats could raise a plate by quite a few mm which could cause issues when cutting as the cut hight is fairly critical and usually 3 or so mm or less, so if you had a sheet on the table and were doing a long cut then the chances are you could crash the torch.
What a THC does is monitor the arc voltage and adjust the height of the torch accordingly, it takes a bit of trial and error to get things working right and knowing what voltage to use as even a change in feedrate will change the voltage.
The real reason I was asking about THC was maybe the CSMIO/IP-S would work out cheaper in the long run, it has a built in THC where the M doesn't so you wouldn't have the cost of a THC on top. I already had my THC as my Plasma didn't have the signals such as Arc OK and divided voltage so I bought a THC that had those options on an addon board. If I had not needed that then I probably would have tried out the CSMIO/IP-S THC to see what it was like.
Other options are to have a floating head and use a drag tip or some sort of foot so the torch follows the surface, not the best of ideas as it can snag on pierce dross or cut parts or whatever but it is an option.
Ok will look at the IP-S, it sounds simpler! I cant read a circuit board. Doesnt stop me from trying but i dont have a lot of knowledge in that area at all. I can follow diagrams though, and will wire it. May i ask, why is the voltage divided, so it doesnt overload the thc?
Raw voltage will be 100+V so it needs divided for the electronics in a THC.
A floating head may get you by for a start, as said not ideal but they can work, certainly a lot cheaper to do that and could always be upgraded later on.
these boards seem to be common, there are a lot of them on the net, 100% of the time they are Chinese pages. Not that that's a bad thing, its just illegible is all.
They are called DSP 0501 controller and matching boards, so far as i can gather.
On ebay they are advertised as being able to control plasma CNC's so ill have a search tomo and see what I can find.
Would be the cheapest option if you could get it working. You really need to find a pin out for the SCSI port to see if it is just a simple breakout board or if there is more to it than that. Doesn't look like there are a lot of components on it to be a motion controller but then again I haven't got a clue about electronics so.....
Yes it does, the pendant is a kind of basic mini computer that you programme and it does what you say. What I am unsure of however is if the board also contains components for motion control or if it is just a dumb breakout board. If the latter then you should be able to use it and connect to a computer instead of the pendant. If the former then I think you will have to dump it and get either a normal breakout board or a motion controller that will work with Mach.
Assuming of course that you are intending to use Mach
I read along the way of someone connecting one of them to a computer, though I think it was the pendant via the usb port on the unit, probably to update the firmware.
I'll do a bit of reading today and see what I can find out.
I'll use mach. lol I'll use anything! I dont care i just want this thing to move )
Good morning Ned.
I myself think you are very brave to go about this 'building a cnc' from bits unknown if they will work together. I waited, planned and got the electronics package and software that all 'works' together. Even then the hardest part I had in the entire project was the software, integration and calibration. There was many times that I would have poured petrol on it, it was so frustrating. You don't know what you don't know and when you don't know where do you go to find what you need
You don't know what you don't know and when you don't know where do you go to find what you need
I agree with you that this is indeed a complicated project. Very complicated without a guide. I might be shooting myself in the foot here, but i dont find the CNC forums very supportive. Which is a bitch considering the scale of the project.
there is a certain amount of jump in and see if you can manage, i do that a lot.
Also, there is no incentive quite as good as need. I work in software, thats not to say im good at it. But, I am confused every day, so not knowing is nothing new to me. I'll figure it out.
If it is the case that none of this stuff will work, ill throw cash at it as soon as my bank balance recovers.
At this point I have two concerns - Mach 3 looks complicated, and from what I've read, seems difficult to get right. However, it also looks like it will offer a lot more control than the pendant.
And, will the stepper drivers work with another controller?
actually there are more concerns than that, but those two are foremost right now.
Drivers look to be normal step/dir leadshines so shouldn't be a prob there. Mach forum always had good support when I was helping out, can't see it being different now but maybe, not been there for a while.
Cheers Hood. Will go there and check it out. I've been round the world on these forums and the silence is deafening. Don't know what it is about them.
I do understand that they are like - do your homework and ask the right questions, and I get that, but at the same time, its seems to me that's a version of, we suffered so now you must suffer.
I've been a hectic user of internet forums since 04 and have never come across that ethos before.
I can assure you the Mach forum was not like that when I was helping out there, it may have changed now but I can't honestly see it but you never know.
When I was there I tried to repay the help I got when I first started with Mach, that was when there wasn't even a forum, just a Yahoo group.
When Benny got the forum going I joined and helped out as best I could and there were lots of others who did the same.
All I can wish you is all the best luck or good management as I was never so brave as you. I knew this would be a major build and didn't want any extra difficulties.
It is what it is and of you feel confident, then go for it
If it helps...I use a little powermax 30 and use the hand torch sideways on my CNC. I delved into the case and splined into the torch trigger wires and brought a pair out to a little socket i put in the front casing. This lets me disconnect the machine from the CNC to cut up my big sheets to use on the CNC.
Then, on my cheap chinese breakout board I found the 'torch on' output from Mach 3 and built a little relay circuit to switch the plasma on and off..it's worked perfectly for about 4 years.
Mach 3 isn't that hard...I printed out the instruction book and studied it for a LONG time and then slowly but surely I got everything to work...as long as you're patient it's not really difficult.....it just looks complicated
Guys hey, can I ask, do I need a lifter as well as the Z axis?
For the THC to lift the torch.... Whats the advantage of a lifter?
I've been googling it for a few days now but not getting much. Here is my Z axis at the mo with the router mount that is being replaced.
It has 95mm of travel.
Ive found the dead time before my bank balance recovers is very useful actually, I can mull over different aspects rather than rushing to buy the first thing that seems to fit, which is my usual.
The lifter or floating Z, lets you sense the top of the sheet. Sheetcam will re-set this zero point by using the floating Z on every feature, and yes it is necessary as the sheet distorts with heat in order to keep the (approx) 1.5 mm torch height.