New member form NY

[CJ68]

Hello,

My name is JJ, I have been a mechanical engineer for 20 years and an avid automotive fabricator since the age of 10 when building my 1st gokart from the scrap bin in my uncle's farm.

I have been planning for the day that I could buy or build my 1st plasma table for a few years now. I follow a few CNC plasma specific social media outlets so I know enough to be dangerous. Just last week the owner of the company that I have worked at for 20 years gave me a brand new Bailegh PT-22 and Hypertherm 45 XP because he bought it for his home shop then decided that he never wanted to learn the software side of things (BobCAD comes with the PT-22)

As I start my journey with CNC plasma, I know right away that I would have never personally bought the PT-22 table if for nothing else it has no z-axis and THC. My 1st task after getting the PT-22 running as Baileigh intended is to start the build of a new motion control system that can support THC. Unfortunately the RichAuto A12 motion controller has no I/O to support even a stand alone THC controller. It is pursuing that plan that lead me to creating an account here on PlasmaSpider.

[plasmanewbie]

Welcome JJ! Sounds like a sweet deal getting that little PT-22 and PM45XP. Great base to begin with and I think you will be able to get a torch lifter on that thing somehow and do it in a way that if you do your own larger DIY table in the future you can reuse the lifter and THC. Curious how this little unit works out for you and will keep an eye out for your posts. Best of luck and have fun!

[acourtjester]

Welcome aboard JJ, well with your knowledge you should be able to build your own table. There are many DIY types here that will be happy to help. You may be able to scrounge some parts from the Baileigh to save some money. Great you got a Hypertherm along with the gift. It would be interesting if the controller can be used with other software. But if it is limited on the number of inputs you may not be able to add a THC unit.
You may look on the board to see if there is a brand ID to research for info or manual for it. If the unit is functional you can use it to cut custom parts for your new table.

[CJ68]

Welcome aboard JJ, well with your knowledge you should be able to build your own table. There are many DIY types here that will be happy to help. You may be able to scrounge some parts from the Baileigh to save some money. Great you got a Hypertherm along with the gift. It would be interesting if the controller can be used with other software. But if it is limited on the number of inputs you may not be able to add a THC unit.
You may look on the board to see if there is a brand ID to research for info or manual for it. If the unit is functional you can use it to cut custom parts for your new table.

I did the research on the OEM controller. It is RichAuto A12E. If you google it you'll find a few hits Looks like a few lower market OEM machines use it. Cheap Chinese thing. The motion controller is the handheld pendant with a DB25 going into a proprietary A1X BOB. The BOB has 1 or 2 unused inputs but there is no PC interface for altering settings and defining I/O. It is all done on the cheesy LCD screen and nothing is plasma specific. Only items not used that could be turned on and configured are for a spindle VFD.

The BOB also has an unused A-axis. Right now there are two stepper motors on the x-axis and they are just paralleled from the BOB to to stepper drives. Nothing in the A12 manual about setting up a slaved axis. One of the things I plan to change when I set up my own motion control system for it.

I am formulating a loose idea of what I want. AXBB-E which to my understanding is basically a UC400ETH with built in BOB. I am looking for a THC controller that is smarter than a Proma. So I'll be searching the forums for that.

[acourtjester]

Is the BOB a separate board?? I have used the UC400ETH with an external THC by Price (which is not sold now) it worked very well. The setup I had was a UC400ETH board with a BOB connected (DB24 pin cable) to serve as the controller. It had 2 BOB connections to add more inputs and outputs to be used to run a table. I only needed one BOB as the inputs I used were #1 for Limit/home switches, #2 for Ohmic sensor or floating head switch, #3 #4 #5 used for the THC inputs. It is an easy setup to get the table operational, you can run Mach or UCCNC software, I used UCCNC. If you are not set on that controller you may want to look at LinuxCNC using a Mesa card for the controller and and another add on Mesa card for THC, the software is free and may be the cheapest option. That is what I am using now, you can pick up a reburb PC (unless you have a spare) and set it up with LinuxCNC.
Setting up a built table is fairly similar with many of the combinations electronics and software.
I will send you a Private Message on thins site.

[CJ68]

Is the BOB a separate board?? I have used the UC400ETH with an external THC by Price (which is not sold now) it worked very well. The setup I had was a UC400ETH board with a BOB connected (DB24 pin cable) to serve as the controller. It had 2 BOB connections to add more inputs and outputs to be used to run a table. I only needed one BOB as the inputs I used were #1 for Limit/home switches, #2 for Ohmic sensor or floating head switch, #3 #4 #5 used for the THC inputs. It is an easy setup to get the table operational, you can run Mach or UCCNC software, I used UCCNC. If you are not set on that controller you may want to look at LinuxCNC using a Mesa card for the controller and and another add on Mesa card for THC, the software is free and may be the cheapest option. That is what I am using now, you can pick up a reburb PC (unless you have a spare) and set it up with LinuxCNC.
Setting up a built table is fairly similar with many of the combinations electronics and software.
I will send you a Private Message on thins site.

The AXBB-E is an integral Motion controller and BOB made by the same company as the UC400ETH. I saw no real reason to choose either one specifically other than one less thing to mount in an enclosure. I have no desire to to run a Linux PC. Yeah I know it can be simple once set up but just don't want to need to learn Linux on top of everything else. Ugh, the idea of typing "sudo" this and that commands in a prompt to diagnose and solve some random issue makes my want to gag.

I do hope to find a THC that actually ties directly back into UCCNC like the Neuron. Would be nice to adjust the THC target voltage in UCCNC verses some random little doo-hicky with buttons hanging on the side of my control enclosure. I am not sure about the Neuron yet because I want the Motion controller running the z-axis stepper, not the Neuron and I don't get how the networking works.

Ethernet based is my goal. It looks like the Neuron is static IP only. I haven't looked enough to know of the UC400ETH or AXBB-E is static only as well. But logic tells me that I probably need an ethernet switch with the AXBB-E and Neuron plugged into the switch and set them to the same IP range and Subnet, then plug in the PC that is configured to the correct IP settings. I guess in UCCNC you enter the IP addresses for the AXBB-E and Neuron to get them all talking to one another. I don't really want a dedicated PC that is configured for static IP. Initially I want my laptop to be my CAD/CAM machine, Motion control machine, as well as my work travel laptop. I don't want to have to keep going back and forth configuring the network card. I might be looking to have my cake and eat it too but that is part what I am trying to figure out.

[acourtjester]

With the setup I used the THC was connected to the BOB as inputs not IP stuff needed.
Here is a guy that has an install video
for the use of Mach

this guy talks about the difference between Mach and UCCNC software.