Issues During upgrade to Plasma pro

[Glabs]

Ok, float switch is setup on input 3 and configured in the wizard.

Do my speeds in the axis 3 sheet look ok? as far as jog, max etc? I assume the thc will need a specific speed to maintain voltage?

[Joey]

200ipm max rate for Z is fine for Flat material.
800 max rate for X and Y is also plenty.

G0 Rapid moves are done at the Max Rate. So the Table will Rapid at 800ipm.

The Accel Decell time of .5 is the Default. Can you Speed that up at all? accel/decell rate is the time it takes for the axis to reach the max rate. Faster is better for keeping up the speed in corners and ARCs. This also helps smoothing on higher feed rate jobs.

The Z should have a low accel Decell time to help the THC react faster to warping metal. Is it possible to get at least .4-.3 out of the Z?

[ShawnM]

Your X and Y axis turns ratio is not good for plasma so smoothing will be an issue. Also, you have the Z axis step/rev set to 800. That needs to be increased to a MINIMUM of 1600 or higher like the other drives. You need a "snappy" Z axis for plasma cutting as Joey mentioned. As for the speeds, every machine is different so there's no right answer but they are fast enough for plasma.

[Joey]

Your X and Y axis turns ratio is not good for plasma so smoothing will be an issue. Also, you have the Z axis step/rev set to 800. That needs to be increased to a MINIMUM of 1600 or higher like the other drives. You need a "snappy" Z axis for plasma cutting as Joey mentioned. As for the speeds, every machine is different so there's no right answer but they are fast enough for plasma.

For X and Y
A good rule of thumb is to multiply the Steps per rev by the Overall turns ratio. Over 4000 and smoothing will be happy. below 4000 and smoothing will not be happy.
At least for not running into Smoothing inserting extra vectors and speeding up in arcs due to low resolution. Having a higher overall turns ratio would improve motion but Glabs settings as of now will work well enough for smoothing to be beneficial.

I think Glabs will have good results with smoothing on Higher feed rate jobs. 6400 is the difference.

[Glabs]

The z axis is a stepper, the others are clearpath servos as well

[Joey]

The z axis is a stepper, the others are clearpath servos as well

At least experiment and see how low you can get the Accel/Decell rate without loosing step or the table shaking apart.

[Glabs]

Your X and Y axis turns ratio is not good for plasma so smoothing will be an issue. Also, you have the Z axis step/rev set to 800. That needs to be increased to a MINIMUM of 1600 or higher like the other drives. You need a "snappy" Z axis for plasma cutting as Joey mentioned. As for the speeds, every machine is different so there's no right answer but they are fast enough for plasma.

A good rule of thumb is to multiply the Steps per rev by the Overall turns ratio. Over 4000 and smoothing will be happy. below 4000 and smoothing will not be happy.
At least for not running into Smoothing inserting extra vectors and speeding up in arcs due to low resolution. Having a higher overall turns ratio would improve motion but Glabs settings as of now will work well enough for smoothing to be beneficial.

I think Glabs will have good results with smoothing on Higher feed rate jobs. 6400 is the difference.

Can you explain how the Turn ratio affects plasma cutting? What is an optimal ratio? Thanks

[Joey]

Here is a good thread on the Subject.
https://centroidcncforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=1801

In short, for smoother more precise motion, higher resolution is needed. The more Commanded steps you can fit into an inch of movement the better you can control exactly where the axes is and when.

An extreme example is if you had extremely low resolution of 1 step per revolution and overall of 1 turns per inch. You would have to always move a full inch for every step. Your circles would turn into octagons and the motion would jerk.

The higher the resolution the smaller the individual axes motor movement can be.

What type of gear reduction is currently on your table?
Your resolution is really not that far off from the sweet spot.

[ShawnM]

The z axis is a stepper, the others are clearpath servos as well

Doesn't matter if it's a stepper or servo when it comes to step/rev. You should never set the steps/rev less than 1600 when using Acorn. See Keith's explanation in the previous post.

[Glabs]

We are using Nema 34 motors on x & y axis. We are using Fineline automations rack and pinion system( A high resolution 3:1 belt drive reduction )