New Retrofit setup with "other" Plasma cutter

[wesgyver]

I'm looking at purchasing an Acorn CNC Control kit and a Centroid Acorn Torch Height Controller (THC) kit. Before doing so, I'd like to make sure this will actually work with the equipment I currently have.

I have an old CNC machine that has been retrofitted with the following:
Stepper motors - AutomationDirect SureStep 1.8 degree 800 oz-in 6.30A 0.30 Ohm stepper motors.

Stepper Motor drivers - DM556E, Leadshine DC microstepping stepper drive, 5.6A per phase, 2-phase output, 24-48 VDC, bipolar, position mode, 400 to 25600 steps per revolution

Plasma cutter - ProPoint, PROCUT 80A Plasma Cutter which has CNC ports. One two wire torch on/off connector and one two wire 50:1 voltage divider.

Can I purchase the THC for one of the other models and just attach my connectors to it? I have connectors that fit the CNC control connections on my Plasma cutter.
Any advice at this point would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[jcoldon]

The acorn supports step direction to the motor drives . DC control not supported . You need to change to step direction drive there are manuals on this site with many wire diagrams . The THC only supported buy the acorn . it fully integrated unit

i don't believe that model plasma cutter has been tested acorn supports 50 to 1 ... it has a calibration process .
But some cutters have not so clean voltage on the output of the 50 to 1 line . i used the Proma divider on China cutter that worked fine few others have also .
You just have to put in your cut settings in the profile mgr . were Hypertherm setting already in there . It easy to change lot features added for China cutter support .

Reading your question it looks like you have a dc controlled drive input . not many controllers support that any more . at least not plasma
i dun few retro simply swapped out the motors and drives to more modern step direction 900 oz 34 steppers around 70 bucks . drives range from 25 bucks on up 200 depends what you doing check automation technology website

[centroid467]

If those drives accept step and direction inputs then this schematic (S14976) should apply. As always, pay attention to the drive manual and make sure to account for any differences. Please follow the Centroid Plasma Manual pages 9, 10, and 11 for guidance on recommended overall turns ratio.

Centroid's THC will work for you as long as the 50:1 divider puts out a clean enough signal. We don't officially support anything other than the listed equipment but other customers use it with cutters we do not have in house. The difference between the variants of our THC kit is what cable is included. I would suggest the Everlast kit if you wanted to modify one of our stock cables or the Hypertherm/Lincoln kit if you wanted to make your own. You'll need good quality shielded cable and a few correctly sized Phoenix connectors.

You can browse our schematics database here: https://www.centroidcnc.com/centroid_di ... browse.php
Search "plasma" for relevant drawings.

[Joey]

I agree with the Everlast cable being a good option.

Like Jeff said you can always use a proma voltage divider to clean the voltage up if the divided voltage is off.

Just double check the voltage going to the TX board and make sure it's less than 10V. I wouldn't trust that the Procut divided voltage out is really 50/1

[wesgyver]

Thanks for the replies!

The acorn supports step direction to the motor drives . DC control not supported . You need to change to step direction drive there are manuals on this site with many wire diagrams .

I may be misunderstanding something, but this is a step direction drive is it not? I just pasted the basic specs from the motor and motor driver websites. Here are the full specs: www.centroidcnc.com/dealersupport/schematics/uploads/S14976.r4.pdf

The link given by Centroid467 lists the driver I have:

this schematic (S14976)

Reading page 9 of the Centroid Acorn CNC Plasma User Manual it talks about open loop stepper motors vs closed step or AC motors. Obviously the input voltage of my motor is DC therefor it is open loop I guess? Again, sorry for my ignorance.

[centroid467]

As far as I can tell from the drive datasheet, they are open loop stepper drivers that take step and direction inputs. This is compatible with Acorn.

The fundamental difference between open loop steppers and closed loop steppers is some form of feedback. Typically, that will be an encoder mounted on the motor that tells the drive the motor position. This closes the feedback loop and allows improved accuracy and performance.

[wesgyver]

Thanks for your help!