Plasma software with Mach3

[Dingo745]

This is no doubt a simple and dumb question from a newbie.
I have just got my home built plasma table up and working basically and what I'm unsure of is do I have to use Sheetcam with Mach3 or will Mach3 do a similar job.
I see that a lot of people use Sheetcam with a Mach3 postprocessor which I assume it outputs into a G-code .Tap file

Anyhow I feel like a fish out of water with this plasma cnc as I'm only familiar with Mach3 and CNC Router which I have usually designed in V Carve Pro and output in a .mm tap file and just load that into Mach3 and run, so what am I missing ??
If it matters I have a floating head torch mount but no THC controller yet and I was going to go with a Neuron Simplicity when I get my head around the rest of the machine and how to use it.

Thanks.

[WyoGreen]

Hey Dingo, as they say, there are no dumb questions.

Perhaps a discussion of the whole process will help. First your part is designed in a drawing program (CAD), such as Inkscape or CorelDraw. The vector file output of that program (.svg, .dxf) is input into a program (CAM) such as Sheetcam to be processed into a format (,tap, .nc) that the control program, such as Mach3, can take to operate the motors and torch to cut out the part. There are CAD/CAM programs (CamBam, Vcarve) that combine the drawing and processing into one program. You can use Sheetcam to process files both for plasma and your router, just depending on how you set up Sheetcam.

Hope that helps a little, Steve

[Dingo745]

That is pretty much what I understood as Mach3 is the cnc control software and the CAD programs like you say just generate the .tap files for Mach3.
So from that SheetCam is more of a tweaking program for plasma output, as in lead in and lead out and similar things ? all of which I still have to become familiar with, is there any good source of the ABC's of plasma's and sheetcam other than trolling through hundreds of youtube videos .

[WyoGreen]

The CAD programs generate the vector files, such as .dxf or .svg. The CAM programs (such as Sheetcam) take the vector files and generate the .tap files, which contain all the information the control software like Mach3 need to cut the part out on your table. Sheetcam is actually a pretty versatile program in that it has many different posts to generate gcode for many different machines, such as plasma, routing, milling, lathes, etc.
There is a pretty good user manual you can download from the Sheetcam web site, and a Sheetcam forum where you can get answers to your questions. I've been using Sheetcam for a couple of years now, and am still learning new stuff from the forum. You might take a look at some of the ArcLight videos for some good information on plasma tables and Sheetcam.

http://www.forum.sheetcam.com
https://arclightcnc.com/plasma-demo-videos/#

Steve

[exapprentice]

at the beginning of my build I was told very simply that Mach is the stupid part of the chain
because Mach only does what it is told to do by the clever program that is the CAM part (SheetCam)

much like computers stupid in = stupid out