My (kinda) budget build 4x4 plasma table

[acourtjester]

Great to see you back in the saddle again, reading your above post it may just be the way you stated it. The torch should drop to cutting height before it moves, the pierce delay is so the metal is completely pierced. Now if you are using a THC you want a small delay after the torch moves for the arc to stabilize before the THC takes control of the Z movement. The table will be a great leap in the fabrication process, this is want I need and I will cut it now.

[Dmaxpwr]

The positive side of things is that it forced me to do a ton of research on LUA code, which is still WAY over my head. But, I did learn enough to be able to mess around with some stuff. So I've been playing around with the screens and some basic adjustments. Nothing big yet but who knows where things will lead later on.

I don't have a THC installed yet but ordered a PlasmaSensOut THC and should have it sometime next week. Hopefully installing it goes a little smoother then some of the other stuff.

[acourtjester]

PlasmaSensOut THC looks like a rebranded Proma with optical output signals, Are you using the Pokkeys other components???

[Dmaxpwr]

Oh boy, I'm getting a little concerned that I might have made another mistake . No, I'm not running any Pokkey's components, I'm running a CNC4PC Ether-Mach CS motion control with a C25 Smooth stepper terminal board. Looking at the sample schematics on CNC4PC's website, I thought they would work together.

I know its a little backwards but I just submitted a question with them to see if the parts are compatible, maybe I'll get lucky.

[Dmaxpwr]

Well, I got an answer back from CNC4PC about the compatibility of my components. Heres my question and their response.

Question: I have a ETHER-MACH-CS motion control with a C25 - Smooth Stepper Terminal Board and am running Mach 4 Hobby, will this work with these components?
Answer:
Yes, the Plasmasenseout will work OK with the ESS and C25.

Note that the C25 only takes +5vdc TTL signals and the PSO puts out +24vdc logic signals, you may want consider upgrading to the C25XP

I really don't want to have to buy another motion control board so I did some research on how to convert from +24vdc logic signals to +5vdc TTL signals and I think a 24V to 5V 4 channel optocoupler isolation signal converter module might work.

[url]

[Dmaxpwr]

Well, I fucked up . I was rushing while wiring the optocoupler and wasn't paying attention to what I was doing and fed 24v to the BOB which ended up letting the smoke out of it. Such a stupid move. Defiantly not a mistake I need to make again. So now I'm waiting for parts again.

[acourtjester]

Sorry to hear that but you are not the first to let the smoke out of a project in the rush to finish.
Hope the wait is not too long.

[Dmaxpwr]

After frying a third BOB and not being sure if the ESS is ok or not I figured I'd upgrade to an ESS/BOB setup that's hopefully a little more reliable. So, my new MB3/ESS came in about a week ago. Wiring it was super simple, even with that I defiantly took my time with it to make sure there weren't any mistakes. The setup part is still a little out of my realm but I'm slowly getting there. Unfortunately I had to install a newer version of Mach4 to work with it.

I initially wanted to continue using my modified screen set but ran into the same issue I had before. When attempting to run a G-code the torch wouldn't probe properly, it kept stopping at 0.000" and I'd get a probe time out error. I know that I had to edit the Lua code in Mach4 but don't remember what or where I did it. I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure it out but finaly ended up just using the screen set from Warp9 Tech and it seemed to work ok. I guess Ii'll have to remake my scree based off of this.

I started setting up the PlasmaSense Out THC but didn't have time to get the voltage dialed on. Hopefully I can get it set up either this week or next weekend, I really need to get back on the buggy project.

On a side note, I've been training myself on the free version of Fusion 360 by watching YouTube tutorials for the past month or so. I was into drafting when I was in junior high (very long time ago ) and have been interested in learning CAD for years but had always been intimidated with its complexity. Now with YouTube, you can learn to do just about anything you want. I've really been enjoying working with it and am blown away with what you can do. I have no doubt that it will defiantly help me with fabricating and creating stuff to cut on the plasma table.