Material Profiles

[landmark573]

I understand that Material Profiles is one of the many features of the Acorn Plasma controller. I use the Fusion 360 post from Centroid and can see that all of the feed values have been removed. When cutting with a Hypertherm 45XP 10ga mild steel profile I see that straight line cuts go at the profile speed of 129 IPM. But slow down when cutting curves with smoothing turned off. Is this a function of the controller or perhaps the drive? Is there a log file that shows what feed rate was used and how much slow down was used during the job?

Also, I have the Arc Transfer signal from the Hypertherm connected to the Acorn. Does it override the pierce delay specified in the Profile?

[Joey]

A faster Accel/Decell rate will allow for less slow down in corners and arcs.

It is impossible to maintain constant speed when directions change.

Smoothing can help this issue by slightly altering the torch path to allow for less slow down.-

Have you tuned the Accel/Decell rate to see how low your machine can handle before steps are lost?
The last report i have from you shows the Accel/Decell rate is still set to the default of .5 and that's pretty slow

ARC OK relays to the acorn that the ARC has started.
The Pierce delay timer does not start until the ARC OK signal is received.

IF a THC is installed and there is not an ARC OK assigned in the wizard then the Pierce delay will start when the THC received a voltage spike from the ARC starting.

[landmark573]

Thanks Joey. I will upload a new report after I get out to the shop today. I got the Accel/Decell rate down to .3 now but have not tried lower yet.

[Joey]

Thanks Joey. I will upload a new report after I get out to the shop today. I got the Accel/Decell rate down to .3 now but have not tried lower yet.

Also keep an eye out for the CNC12 5.1 release or 5.09 Beta.
There is a new Low Resolution Smoothing included in the build thatwill help with your low resolution.

[landmark573]

Here is a link to the cut test I ran yesterday. I started with the default Powermax 45XP 10ga mild steel profile (without smoothing) at 129 IPM. I did 6 test cuts increasing the feed rate by 20 IPM for each test (129, 150, 170, 190, 210, and 230). Then I repeated the 6 test decreasing the feed rate by 10 IPM for each test (129, 120, 110, 100, 90, 80).

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0369InQ ... GvJ3xWZHvA

I also attached a new report.

[Joey]

Those tests are a great way to really dial in the best feed rate for the Amperage setting.

I think you should try the latest beta to see if the Low resolution smoothing is what your looking for. This should help keep the XY Feed rate up in corners and ARCs.

https://centroidcncforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=9808

Select ctrl-P in your current version Wizard to print to pdf. This will help with setting up the wizard when you switch to the 5.09 Beta

[landmark573]

I upped the steps / rev to 3600 and the accel/Decell to 0.2 and did dry runs up to 230 IPM with smoothing on. Motion looked really smooth going into the curves. Then it started raining so I had to move the table back into the garage before doing any cuts. Hopefully, I can run the full set of test tomorrow. Should I still look at going to 5.09 beta since I upped the steps?

[Joey]

I upped the steps / rev to 3600 and the accel/Decell to 0.2 and did dry runs up to 230 IPM with smoothing on. Motion looked really smooth going into the curves. Then it started raining so I had to move the table back into the garage before doing any cuts. Hopefully, I can run the full set of test tomorrow. Should I still look at going to 5.09 beta since I upped the steps?

If Normal Smoothing is working well for you now that the drives are 3200 steps per rev, I would just wait to update until the next Release.

The real test for Smoothing is at feed rates below 200 ipm. With low resolution settings smoothing likes to speed up a bit on tight arcs at low feed rates.


The latest 5.09 beta does have some awesome restart Mode updates.

Your resolution now is right on the edge.
I'm not sure if low-res smoothing will really kick in if you tried the beta.

[landmark573]

I ran the new set of test today. I think all the cuts were much better in the curves. There is still more dross than I think there should be on most of them. They are all with 3200 steps/rev and .2 Accel/Decel and smoothing on. I also set pierce delay to zero. It looks like the pierce is ready to go as soon as the Arc OK signal is received by the Acorn. Both sets of cuts start at the book value for 10ga mild steel at 45A and 129 IPM. Then the first set of cuts increase the feed by 20 IPM (129, 150, 170, 190, 210, 230). The second set of cuts decreases the feed by 10 IPM (129, 120, 110, 100, 90, 80).

A new report is attached.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0c7YIBo ... pWwPJIMSQw

[Joey]

Looks to me the Best feed rate for the 10Gauge is around 170-190.

Keep dialing it in around 180ipm. Looks like the dross is almost gone at those speeds. I'm not sure if your using THC for these cuts but remember that Speed changes will change the Voltage for the same cut height.

Not sure if your already doing this but I would make extra sure the material is flat during the test cuts so that the Cut height is always the same and disable THC.

Once a desired profile feed rate is found then you can use auto sense to determine the best target voltage for that specific cut Feed rate and cut height.