Pro Cut CNC Table-Hypertherm 85

[r&lmetalworks]

Just switched to a hypertherm 85 from a thermal dynamics and trying to improve our cut quality. Running book settings our cuts are rough...slow the ipm down and we are getting the typical cuts we were before the switch. Any suggestions would be helpful. Table is 4x8 with stepper motors. Anyone have a ProCut table and have similar issues?

[acourtjester]

Have you changed the pierce and cut height, I think the the TD specs were higher. The book spects for IPM are right on and slowing could cause more dross. You may post some images of you cuts

[r&lmetalworks]

We deleted all the tools for the old plasma and put in the book settings for best cut quality for the hypertherm. I don't think it has anything to do with the hypertherm cutter itself. The cut speeds are faster with the hypertherm and once get any speeds above 150 ipm then the shape of object being cut is distorted. The fastest was cutting with the old plasma is 120 ipm. Running 120 ipm with the hypertherm everything is smooth just lot of dross from the slow speeds.
I think that the stepper motors cannot operate at that speed smoothly with the current mach settings. Table is supposed to be capable of 400 ipm. We have changed the acceleration and volocity in motor turning but no improvement

[acourtjester]

what are the size of the steppers you may be able to upgrade them, the Nema 23 have the same mounting pattern. I think they go up to 495 oz in https://www.automationtechnologiesinc.c ... 00-30-4bm/
As long as the driver will put out enough amps

[r&lmetalworks]

They are automation Technology -KL23H2100-50-4BC. Looking that up it says they are Nema 23 570 oz per inch.

[acourtjester]

that size should give you a better travel speed of the tables axis, you may need to look into tuning the drivers to go faster. There are switches on the drivers to make changes, the control the number of pulses it take to rotate the shaft on time, the Motor tuning is for how many pulses it then takes to move the axis 1 inch. To give you an example my X driver is set to 1600 pulses for 1 rotation and about 1161 pulses to move it 1 inch. With velocity of 350 and Acceleration of 50 and can move over 250 ipm. If you change the driver switches you will need to do the motor tune for steps per inch and work on the velocity and acceleration numbers.

[r&lmetalworks]

Where do you change the pulses per 1 shaft revolution? Is this on the circuit board that controls the motors?

[sonbakler]

Where do you change the pulses per 1 shaft revolution? Is this on the circuit board that controls the motors?

I would suggest documenting every change you make in case you need to go back.

Changing the pulse per inch on only the driver will likely make your parts no longer to the correct scale and I suspect a change in your software will be required to accommodate this.

In addition the faster you run a stepper drive the less torque it will have which can cause lost steps and distorted parts.

It's possible the table your using just isn't capable of accuracy at higher speeds, many heavy plate cutting machines are like this and suck at cutting artistic designs. If this is the case simply turn your amperage down and cut at slower speeds that your table is capable of.

Of course you will need to find the ideal amperage for the speed you want to cut to eliminate dross and determine the appropriate arc voltage for that amperage and speed to get you the .060" cut height. A few minutes of testing with some simple straight line cuts should get you dialed in.

Best of luck

[acourtjester]

here are 2 different packages for CNC controller electronics. One is a combined single board (BOB and drivers combined) and the other is a single driver (one for each stepper motor used with a separate BOB board). Both have switches for each motors pulses, the single driver has charts printer on them as to the switch position (on or off) to select the number of pulses for the shaft rotations. The other combined board has switches for each motor but you would need a manual to know what switches do what. As I said before if you change things you will need to recalibrate you table as to steps per inch to maintain correct sizes.

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controller2.JPG (26.81 KiB) Viewed 1171 times

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controller.JPG (56.15 KiB) Viewed 1171 times

[r&lmetalworks]

I want to run 250 ipm. Is that too fast to get good smooth shaped part with the stepper motors that I listed that are on table?

[acourtjester]

here is the Tattered Flag I cut at 220 IPM with my Y motor that is nema 23 425 oz-in , my X is bigger.
My table is all steel construction too. and my Jester is 16 Ga at 200 IPM mail box finger at 200

[r&lmetalworks]

I have the style that is not labeled. I have no manuals with this table and the manufacturer is completely no help at all. Is there somewhere I could get a manual with that information?

[acourtjester]

try Google with the name of the board and any other info you have. Also look on YouTube with the board info with so much CNC info there you may find what you need. Many people post tutorials and how to videos try wording your search in different ways to get a larger group to look at.

[r&lmetalworks]

I opened up the control box and I actually have the ones that are labeled. And it is set at 64 microsteps. What would you recommend changing it to? The options are 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 5, 10, 20, 25, 40, 50, 100, 125. The driver is also set at 2.1 amps

[acourtjester]

the drivers I use have a different sequence for the switch setting so I cannot say what yours should be set at.
They are like 400, 800, 1600, 3200, and 6400 pulses which do not relate to yours.

[r&lmetalworks]

They do in a multiple of 100 on the first half of the options mine has

[acourtjester]

Ok that is better I would use the 32 switch position (3200 pulses per rotation) for the Y. and 16 for the X and 8 for the Z. Now I am not an expert, but a DIY type that has build 9 table some for plasma only and others dual plasma/router ( with other low speed options). The differences are because I have different gearing for each axis. Some other member may advise you differently and that may be give you a better result for your table. What I use works fine for me.
Now you still will need to recalibrate the table as the the steps per inch for each separately.