I converted a 5' X 10' Torchmate to LCNC 'bout a year and a half ago. The THC box was crap, couldn't hold the torch height withing + or - 4 volts. The operator would just manually control the height for hours on end.
I ditched the THC box/servo and the USB controller box but kept the box that housed the stepper drives and power supply. I built another box to hold a Mesa 7i76 and a Mesa THCAD-300. Replaced the Z-axis servo with a stepper, added another driver, added a touch-off switch to the Z, and installed limit switches for the Y axis and both sides of the gantry (used JA3 branch to auto-square the gantry every time it's homed). You could probably sell the parts you don't need and cover the cost of new Mesa stuff. One that machine, I also added a pneumatic air scribe on a pneumatic slide next to the torch for plate marking. For rip cutting, I just saved programs that would cut 48.5, 60.5, and 120.5 inches in both X and Y directions. I never got around to it, but a NGCGUI tab shouldn't be too hard to make to do this. For CAD, we exported DXFs from Solidworks, but I do a lot of simple stuff in Draftsight (runs on Linux and is free-as-in-beer). For CAM/tool-path generation I am a big fan of SheetCAM (not free, but worth it). SheetCAM also runs under Linux but works better under Wine. Before I converted that table, it would take one of the engineers almost an hour using the Torchmate software to make a program for a couple of parts for the table operator to run. After the conversion, SheetCAM was easy enough to use that all us engineers had to do was export a DXF and let the machine operator handle the nesting and program generation. On Sat, Aug 23, 2014 at 12:43 AM, Gregg Eshelman <[email protected]> wrote: > Has anyone used LCNC to run a Torchmate plasma cutter? Its Windows > control software leaves a lot to be desired. > > A couple of annoying things about it, I can't find a way to send it back > to where it started when it's done cutting and if there's a problem like > the cutter overheating it cannot pick up right where it stopped, it has > to back up to where the G-code line it's on starts. > > Fat lot of good "pause" is without "unpause", and the Home button > apparently only works with limit switches, can't find a way to have it > send it back to the current origin. > > Their CAD program looks to be pretty old and is missing some of what I'd > think should be common sense features and functions for things that > require several steps. (I should try some other CAD programs to see if > they can create toolpath DXF files the driver software can import to > convert to G-code.) > > One more thing, if you just want to make a rip cut you must have a DXF > of a straight line to import or G-code file or use manual input. > > Having a justgothatwayandcuttilIclickSTOPdammit function would be highly > useful. (Should probably just build a dead simple motorized plasma ripper.) > > The hardware looks like I could just remove the box that goes between a > USB port and the next box down the daisy chain of four boxes then > connect directly to a parallel or serial port, whichever it is the USB > box converts to. (Or LCNC could get USB motion controller support, > nudge, nudge.) > > Linear scales for absolute positioning or at least some limit switches > for homing would be a useful addition to the hardware. > > It's about a 5x8.5 foot table which made it a bit of an adventure > ripping a 10 foot piece of 1/4" plate. Then cutting some pellet mill die > housing parts from 1/4" stainless steel had the cutter overheating a few > times on the long cuts. (Note, install AC and duct cold air into the fan > inlet.) Even with all the "WTH is wrong with it NOW?" problems it was > still much better than cutting metal by hand using templates and > straight edges. > > Oooorrrr, could sell the four boxes and software to some suc...lucky > person and buy some more up to date and better integrated control system > to operate the gantry. This used Torchmate was only $4K > > --- > This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus > protection is active. > http://www.avast.com > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Slashdot TV. > Video for Nerds. Stuff that matters. > http://tv.slashdot.org/ > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Slashdot TV. Video for Nerds. Stuff that matters. http://tv.slashdot.org/ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
