Proma 150 THC drives down into material

[Henny]

I’m having trouble with my THC promo 150 it works in demo mode and turns all the lights on and off and diagnostic screen in March 3 but when I turn it on and start the cut, it goes over and torch drops down, touches plate then back up, fires and drops down, and just sets there burning a hole. Then I have to start over without the THC on in order to cut the project. I’m retired and new at this so any help would be appreciated.

[acourtjester]

2 things to check

torch fire.JPG (77.52 KiB) Viewed 1923 times

torch fire.JPG (77.52 KiB) Viewed 1923 times

[Henny]

Well it is working now Thank you. One more question in ports and pins I have my estop on set port 1 pin 15 and it is enabled and active low is checked, but now and then it will stop in the middle of a cut , then in order to reset I have to change the active low to off then reset and maybe finish out the job but that doesn’t always work, any ideas??
I’m running hypertherm 45 gecko540, Warp9 ess and 1205 breakout board

[acourtjester]

You most likely are getting noise spikes, I have not used Warp9 so not much help here.

[Henny]

Ok it’s been awhile since on here and sorry to say that same problem still exists—-the Proma150 does not change the z-axis when cutting, I have THC enabled in inputs enabled and have the THC checked and it runs in demo mode with lights working in diagnostic screen but when cutting it goes to proper height and never moves the z axis
So I have cut several small signs and not been affected but when cutting large signs my torch will sometimes drag enough to break away
Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated. I’m at the stage to give up or sell

[acourtjester]

The Proma has a test function where it will go between the Arc OK, up and down signals outputs to the controller. Set the HYS to a large number so the time each signal will be on if longer. Look at the indicators that show them so you see the signal are operational. Now make change to the other setting (THC on ect) until you see the Z start moving. Since the light are working on the diagnostic page the Proma is outputting the signals. Other question is are you seeing the lights on the Proma changing as you are cutting.

[Henny]

Yes the voltage is changing on the THC when cutting
When cutting a 14” test The diagnostic lights are on when cutting and the down light comes on but no movement on the z axis. I’m wondering if there is something preventing the z to work. Any ideas I’m drawing a blank:(

[acourtjester]

Question are you sure it is a 150 and not an SD. The reason is the 150 sends the signals through the BOB and the SD is a stand alone.
the signals from the BOB go to the SD and then to the Driver. If you have a SD and wired like a 150 it will not drive the Z.

SD.JPG (78.52 KiB) Viewed 1857 times

SD.JPG (78.52 KiB) Viewed 1857 times

[Henny]

Yes, it is a promo 150 I probably should’ve bought a promo SD but didn’t. In working with it more I change the voltage down to 140 and I did see the Z axis move during a cut, so I’m on the right path, but not quite sure about adjusting the other settings I am typically cutting 16 & 14 gauge. Any thoughts to how to know where to adjust? Thanks

[acourtjester]

It seems that people have more problems with the SD than the 150, I have used the 150 and used the raw voltage input from the Plasma unit. Do you have a setting as to when the THC starts controlling the Z height. How long is your cutting operation, I had mine set to about 1.5 seconds after cutting starts to when the THC took control. 140 volts seems very high to me I cut 14 Ga in the low 80 volt range with a Hypertherm 65 and may be 40 amps with a fine cut tip. Shielded 45 amp is less than 130 volts. I would run the HYS at about 2 volts that should give you a movement with a smaller voltage change.

[Henny]

I am using the voltage off the back of my hypertherm 45 what I have set the current to is 85, the hys 2, delay time .5s, high voltage at 135
I did see with these setting movement on the z-axis but I have no idea if this is even close to what it should be set at. Thank you for responding so quick

[acourtjester]

when setting the display voltage on the Proma before you start set it to 85 volts, the THC should try to match that and cut the metal. I'm not sure of what you high voltage of 135 is for.

[Henny]

Can you tell me what the THC speed on the mach3 screen should normally be? Thanks

[acourtjester]

From your question I assume you mean the Z up/down speed, I use the standard for all movement, no change from other cutting.
What I mean is at the start of a cut the Z movement to cut height is plunge rate set in the tool table for the generation of the G-code.
The next movement is for the cutting of the part and that speed is determined by the metal thickness, that does not change when the THC starts its control of the torch height. The only place where the cutting speed may change is if you are using path rules, I do not.

[acourtjester]

Here is a video about the Proma install

[Henny]

I see in the video he has the speed set to 5 he says to keep the torch from jumping around so I will give that a try tomorrow. Thank you!!

[jamtuc]

Hey guys, I looked but cant find the answer. I installed the PROMA 150... test works as advertised... when cutting with THC on all indications are that it is operational and operating.... the torch however is not listening to all the other indications and hangs out at 1.5267 on the Z axis... drags the tip or comes off the work... dependent upon warpage of the metal.... I talked with the gentleman I bought it from... He builds CNC plasma machines in Knoxville TN... after trying to help me for a couple of hours we decided to give it a rest... If anyone else is like me I likely will not rest much until I get this figured out. I am hoping it is some simple setting Inside Mach3.

HELP please

Thanks in advance
Jamie