3 yrs Finally cut a part! but have issues! <chain drive>

[VR PLASMA]

Hello

I started this project about 3 years ago and finally got a part cut! Just trying to get this thing decent

The resolution wasn’t the greatest. I’ve changed my gear reduction twice and it’s still not where it needs to be but one thing at a time I have a 6:1 ratio on y axis and 36:1 on x (had 6:1 but the turns per rev was way low and caused loss of steps.

Chain drive sucks the slack adjustment is tough to adjust and keep square I might switch the x axis to gear and rack maybe Amazon any suggestions pitch style etc

I got the z axis moving and added a floating head and switch but in the wizard when I select input as float switch I cannot select Normally open it’s just grey.

Can’t make the Z touch off and continue the program with floating head switch

After issues with touch off I disabled touch off and can’t set height of cut I select a profile and set x zero and it wants to cut 1” in the air

Lastly acorn is telling me I don’t have a pro license but I have a slaved x axis (tried to test run grizzly) no license file in my folder

[VR PLASMA]

I worked on the table yesterday I installed a fresh 5.30 cnc12 and installed the pro license. Seemed to fix allot of my touch off problems. But the drive on the z axis was being worked too hard and kept getting faults. I need a gear reduction for this I guess.

I also tightened my chain drive and fixed the slop in the chain and that helped the drive movement.

I will do some test cuts tonight and take a video

What are the chances an acorn THC will work with a thermal dynamics machine? Don’t want to spend all the money and it not work. Are there any other THC that will work with acorn?


Thanks

[ShawnM]

First and foremost you HAVE to purchase a new PC. Your PC is barely half the speed required for Acorn.

See this page:
https://www.centroidcnc.com/cnc_pc_perf ... ments.html

You need a minimum single thread rating of 1500 and your PC is 812. It'll never work reliably, if at all, for plasma.

Your overall turns ratio for the X axis is .14 and the Y is 1.2. These wont work for plasma either if you want good cuts. You NEED gear reduction for these. The Z you have set to 5 which is ok, it's just not dialed in perfectly.

You'll have to address these issues first before you move on. A new PC is a MUST.

Please read the plasma manual for all the details. If you don't follow the recommendations setup by Centroid you'll never have a good cutting machine and you'll always be chasing your tail.

[Joey]

Hello

I started this project about 3 years ago and finally got a part cut! Just trying to get this thing decent

The resolution wasn’t the greatest. I’ve changed my gear reduction twice and it’s still not where it needs to be but one thing at a time I have a 6:1 ratio on y axis and 36:1 on x (had 6:1 but the turns per rev was way low and caused loss of steps.

What type of motors and drives are on X and Y?

Pictures would help a lot.

Chain drive sucks the slack adjustment is tough to adjust and keep square I might switch the x axis to gear and rack maybe Amazon any suggestions pitch style etc

I got the z axis moving and added a floating head and switch but in the wizard when I select input as float switch I cannot select Normally open it’s just grey.

The foat switch input state assignment is in the Wizard's Torch Preferences menu

Can’t make the Z touch off and continue the program with floating head switch

After issues with touch off I disabled touch off and can’t set height of cut I select a profile and set x zero and it wants to cut 1” in the air

You will have to set Z zero on the Surface of the material without a touch off cycle. If Dry run is enabled on the VCP then the job with run at the safe height. This maybe what was happening .

Lastly acorn is telling me I don’t have a pro license but I have a slaved x axis (tried to test run grizzly) no license file in my folder

You can software pair an axis with the Free version of CNC12 plasma.

[cnckeith]

viewtopic.php?p=99247#p99247

[VR PLASMA]

I did don’t realize my pc was so slow I thought it was within parameters. This project has been on a small budget and will try and upgrade the pc.

I tested the setup after work and ran a program with the plasma. The touch off / float switch worked it cut a N from the centroid logo and moved to second letter and I got the Ethernet communication error pictured below. I believe the z axis needs a gear reduction?

Also I listed the wizard drive settings

Thanks for the link for rack

I have x2 nema 34 1250oz open loop stepper on x axis
With 36:1 gear reduction. X axis is a 750oz nema 34 with 6:1 gear reduction

If I can start cutting parts I will upgrade when I can afford to. I have a decent laptop i might have to use temporarily.

Thanks for all the help!

[ShawnM]

The PC itself is terribly slow for CNC12 and it's causing many of your issues as it simply cannot keep up with Acorn. You can get a suitable PC for about $125 available most places online.

Also, because of the PC your screen resolution is way too large as the graphics card doesn't even have the power to display 1920X1080 which is the preferred resolution for the VCP layout.

You'll want to update your CNC12 software also as the version you are using has known bugs so those will create other issues.

Looking at your report and know seeing a screen shot you are not setting up the drives correctly. I see you've changed the step/rev from 1600 to 3200 in the wizard and your turns ratio are all over the place.

Your Z axis doesn't need gear reduction, it's just not setup correctly. None of the axis are setup correctly actually.

Currently your wizard is now set to 3200 steps/rev. Your old report had them at 1600. What drives are you using? You have to adjust the DIP switches on the drives to match. From what I can tell you are not doing that and you are changing your overall turns ratio to correct for this. This is not the correct way to do this and causing many of your issues. The wizard setting AND the drive DIP switches MUST MATCH EXACTLY. You cannot change one without changing the other. Your overall turns ratio for all three axis are really weird but this may be from the odd gear ratio you say you have and not setting it up properly.

Your report is dated back to April of 2023. Please create a new one today and post that.

There are several things that need correcting in order for your machine to cut properly and reliably but you MUST get a new PC or you'll simply continues to have issues.

If you want help with this please post a CURRENT report and the model of stepper drive you are using.

[VR PLASMA]

Sean - I just realized that was a way old report. Since then I added gear reduction. I have DM series stepper online drivers the dip switches are set to 3200. Yes when I move all the axis when they move 1” cnc12 moves 1” or fairly close.

I appreciate the advice I have no background in cnc or anything similar. I will start looking for a cncpc. Also I need to get a better monitor so I will look for one

I do have the cnc12 5.3 loaded

The z axis is direct mounted to the screw so not sure if the nema 23 motor is strong enough seems to be working hard and gets hot then gets communication error

Thanks for all the feedback!

[VR PLASMA]

I have a google photo album here having issues adding the latest videos and pics

The floating head and switch are working great

[ShawnM]

It's hard to tell how your Z axis works but there appears to be a lot of dead weight it's moving and those short hoses on the oxy wont help. It may be struggling for sure with that small motor. Maybe upgrade the motor to a NEMA 34. Do the stepper drives have current adjustments? What is the model number of the drive?

Have you confirmed the pitch of the ballscrew? Your setting of 10.5 for the turns ratio on the Z axis is odd.

Do you have a video of the Z axis moving?

My plasma table only moves an aluminum backing plate up and down for the Z axis with only the Hypertherm machine torch on it in a round mount. My Z axis is direct drive but I do have a servo motor on it and not a stepper.