THC issue

[cardin3]

Hi, I'm having an issue with the THC.
The machine is a new rebuild with closed loop stepper motors.
It seems that when the torch gets up to the full feed rate (85. IPM for .125 steel) the torch will begin to raise up to roughly .5 or more above the part. It will stay there for the rest of that cut.
When I have the feed rate set lower (like a feed of 45 IPM) for the same test parts the THC seems to work fine. (Stays down)
I have confirmed it only happens on long cuts when the machine gets up to full feed rate.
cutting .125 steel
prime weld cut 60 plasma cutter.
Hypertherm clone machine torch for cut 60.
I have attached a report.
One other issue I have to look into maybe its related, I seem to have lost my Omic touch off.
I confirmed it is not tripping with use of the (alt I ) diagnostic screen, I'll have to look more into that today. (check wiring ect.)
Thanks
Mike

[ShawnM]

Hi Mike,

First things first, your error report is littered with COM errors and MPU resends. It's been this way since you first fired this machine up back in November of 2023. You MUST fix this issue first before you can go any further. Please see TB270 and TB309

https://www.centroidcnc.com/dealersuppo ... ds/309.pdf

https://www.centroidcnc.com/dealersuppo ... ds/270.pdf

and discussion thread is here.

https://centroidcncforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=1451

To your torch issue, what's the target voltage for cutting 1/8" steel with your specific cutter? What is the voltage when cutting at 45 IPM? What is it cutting at 85 IPM?

[cardin3]

Wow, I didn't realize I was having communication issues. I did in the beginning but once I change a setting in the CNC pc the communication test pasted. So, I thought I was in good shape.
I will have to look at that in more detail.
I had some time today to work on the plasma table.
I took a cut without THC and the voltage was about 130. So, I changed the THC setting to 130v and it seems to work. The torch stays down. I ran several test cuts and they all worked. I uploaded the last plot from my test cut.
I will have to work on the com errors and see if I can find my issue.
Thanks
Mike

[Joey]

Running a Test Cut to see what The Target Voltage should be for a profile works well.

Since the Feed rate and voltage profile settings with Primeweld don't exactly match up and change at the same rate as a Hypertherm the Voltage will need figured out with each profile. If the feed rate or cut height is changed then the voltage will need determined again also.

Just make sure the material is flat so the voltage is correct for the cut height. Auto sense is also good for this since the THC locks in on the current voltage reading when the cut gets up to the Target feed rate.

[cardin3]

Thank you for your advice.
I'm going to try to dig into my communications issues this week.

[ShawnM]

Joey has a good point, you really cant go by book numbers for Hypertherm if you're not using a Hypertherm. Do a bunch of test cuts on some flat material at various feed rates with THC off and record the voltages for the good, clean cuts and average those numbers and set that as the target voltage. As you cut different thickness material you can build your own profile library for your plasma cutter.

The noise/com issues you have will also affect the cutting.

[cardin3]

Thanks again for the good advice. This help forum is a treasure trove of quality information.
I will work on building profile setups that work with my plasma cutter torch combination. I can clearly see the benefit with the little I was able to do this past weekend.
I worked on the comm issue.
I followed along in the tech bulletin and fixed a number of issues.
I did the comm test and it passed.
I dry ran several programs and ran a report. I'm not sure if I put enough time on the machine to show a lot in the report but I will include it.
I wasn't able to run any actual cuts as I didn't have much time after work. I will try again tomorrow if I can.
somehow, I can't attach the report.
error,
report is to large? It is zipped @ 31,135KB

[Joey]

Possibly a lot of plots were generated?

You can move the Plot files out of the CNCM folder and back them up in a separate folder in case we need to look back at them later.

Removing the Plots from the CNCM will reduce the size enough to attach sometimes.

[cardin3]

I worked on the plasma cutter after work today.
I have a decent profile for 1/8 steel working well THC seems to be working correctly.
I think I have made improvements to the COMM issues. I looked in the reports and it seems that the last couple days I have not gotten any resend type errors. At least that's what I see, A more experienced person may see a different story.
I can't seem to find a way to delete / uninstall windows defender. I made the other changes from the tech buliton.
fresh report uploaded!

[ShawnM]

Hi Mike, that's great, the last error I see in your latest report was on the 29th so it appears you corrected all the issues.

I just disable defender, I dont know if you can delete it but I've never tried. My CNC PC is NOT connected to the internet so I dont worry about updates turning it on or off or Microsoft doing "things" I don't want.

Glad the THC is working better now.