Centroid Community CNC Support Forum

Editing this post so it will be easier for someone to get the info they need.

The Sheetcam Post that is currently out there for centroid will not work with the rotary plug-in. I'm working on one now and will post it after I test it.

Some things that need to be considered if using the plugin in sheetcam;

The axis needs to be setup as a linear axis not an angular, the math inside the plug-in does not like it. You will not be able to use intercon rotary function and sheetcam rotary function without having two different axis configurations.

I don't believe Using a M61 and M62 for pen up and pen down along with no reference function will work with the rotary . Sheetcam needs to be in complete control of the Z axis when using the rotary plug-in. Sheet cam treats z0 as the center of the tube and needs to move z accordingly. Right now I'm thinking about using M48.

Sheetcam also needs to be in complete control of the feet rate while using the Plug-in, I will edit the post for that as well.

sheet cam can do feed rates inputs i used it to do separate speeds for holes
as for overriding the z axis profile mgr settings . I'm not sure on that . Keeth or joey could answer that
i believe theirs a way to setup a macro that control the z axis using external g code but not sure

it my understanding rotary support will come in future updates . but that not helping you now

I've recently purchased Sheetcam plugin rotary. I'm setting up my rotary now. Also following Scott's Sheetcam forum post. Round tube cutting I think would work as of now right? It's the square tube that the Z control is needed. Acorn plasma will still take Z positions commands. The Sheetcam square tube jobs look like they do not touch off on the square tube. While others do touch off on the square tube. I have yet to really mess with the Sheetcam setting to understand what's needed. I did hear that Sheetcam could handle Angular or linear but I have no idea ATM.

cutting tube Round tube simply uses normal plasma operation no thc neded the tube hight never changes . so just IHS pierce hight cut hight good to go

The square . usably theirs a IHS but all the motion of the z in the cam software based on rotation of the tube speed and tube size . So it little more complex .

this should work as the same as wood router rotery cutting square except using ohmic or float head . float head be better choice No tube flexes

Here is what I have so far, I created a custom macro m38 that's basically doing just the torch touch off but instead of using the auto_z_zero macro its using an auto_z_offset macro I created. That macro does a reference and instead of going to "pierce height" its always going to go to (0.08")above the z zero regardless of what the loaded profile is. This allows me to use this function in sheetcam.

Here is how I currently have the reference function written.
I don't know if anyone is familiar with a mach3 or similar posts but I'm using my 0.08" touch off height as my "switchOffset" setting within the standard post.

I think there has to be a cleaner way to do this but I think it should work.

Joey wrote: ↑Fri Feb 03, 2023 12:43 pm I've recently purchased Sheetcam plugin rotary. I'm setting up my rotary now. Also following Scott's Sheetcam forum post. Round tube cutting I think would work as of now right? It's the square tube that the Z control is needed. Acorn plasma will still take Z positions commands. The Sheetcam square tube jobs look like they do not touch off on the square tube. While others do touch off on the square tube. I have yet to really mess with the Sheetcam setting to understand what's needed. I did hear that Sheetcam could handle Angular or linear but I have no idea ATM.

In theory it would work but the problem lies in the fact that you cant turn off "rectangle" tubing within sheetcam's rotary plugin, so matter what you do if your going to use the rotary plugin sheetcam needs to be in complete control of "Z". Sheetcam needs to think that z0 is the center of the tube. Using the existing macros doesn't allow post to work properly.

Reading past posts in the Sheetcam forum I don't believe that it can handle an angular axis. The problem comes when the axis needs to do more that 360 degrees of rotation the math doesn't work out. Its easier to take the circumference and turn it into an linear motion. In the existing posts you can change the "units" per revolution. In the past I've always had it set up as 1 unit means one revolutions, you can change that to 360 units equals one revolutions but you still need that drive to be linear not angular.

You’re gonna still need a pierce height or you are gonna ruin a lot of consumables. If your THC is set up correctly and the z axis is set up correctly the THC should follow square tubing just like cutting uphill or corrugated metal.

ShawnM wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 2:11 am You’re gonna still need a pierce height or you are gonna ruin a lot of consumables. If your THC is set up correctly and the z axis is set up correctly the THC should follow square tubing just like cutting uphill or corrugated metal.

I took pierce height out of the macro so that I could have a constant that sheetcam could always calculate matZ with. Cutting speeds, pierce height and cutting height will all be controlled by sheetcam not centroid.

As for cutting square tubing with THC it might work but Id rather have the machine moving Z and not just relying on THC. As the machine transitions from one flat side to the other it slows down around the corner and THC could dive into the material.

Theres a clip that shows some simulation on square material.

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxYgL10nC_Kl ... iXmeEVU42T

Well I've had a somewhat successful test cut. Just need to clean some of the post up and add a wait for torch OK signal before it starts to move. I forgot to buy some cheap tubing before the weekend so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to buy some material to really do some tests on.

scotg1107 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 3:23 pm Well I've had a somewhat successful test cut. Just need to clean some of the post up and add a wait for torch OK signal before it starts to move. I forgot to buy some cheap tubing before the weekend so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to buy some material to really do some tests on.

Nice work I can probably get you the macro you need. I'm thinking the touch off macro ends when it checks for an arc OK or the voltage to rise. I'll see what I can come up with tomorrow. Post some pictures and videos to a Google album if you can.