Plasma Automation Vicon table...Help...Newbe

[Jeeprat]

Anyone familiar with the Plasma Automation Vicon CNC Plasma table? I am new to cnc anything. I purchased this machine used and it came with HVAC software that is Vicons own system(Plasma Automation software). The company is only 45 minutes from my house but can't help me without spending several thousand(5000) dollars to join there service agreement. Not going to happen since I bought this machine to tinker with at my house.

Anyway, If I load any DXF file into the machine software, the software breaks it into many separate pieces. I though I was drawing things incorrectly. I then found this site and downloaded a couple DXF files to try. Same thing, santa is in about 20 seperate pieces.

Has anyone worked with this software that could give me some advice?

[chipper]

I don't know a thing about your plasma cuttter, but alittle about cadcam.

I'm betting that your system uses newer dxf files.

If you were using my santa, it is a dxf r12 file. One of the older dxf versions.

Maybe someone else can come along that will offer up a newer dxf version for you to try out.

I may be able to, I'll have to tinker a little...but I won't have time until this evening.

I'll check on you later.

Good Luck

[Jeeprat]

I am very willing to try anything at this point. The machine is about ten years old and wont work with any computer newer than a 486. Beacuse of this, I have been making DXF files in an older version of AutoCAD on a computer running xp. I was able to make a basic square with a cirle in the center on a single layer. When loaded, The circle and square were loaded seperatly. In this simple example I could just drag the circle back into the square, but anything more involed just explodes.

Thanks for the offer to help. I've had the machine for 8 months and it took me 6 months of frustration to track down a bad fiber optic cable. To this day I havn't cut more than cirlces and squares.

[admin]

Hey Jeeprat

Sorry to hear your having soo much trouble. How frustrating...you should be having fun.

DXF files breaking up into multiple segments is something that is commonly seen. Most plasma cutting software will have a function that will join the starting and ending positions of those lines together if they are within a certain distance of each other. Could be called "join segments" or "close objects" etc. Have a look through all your menus and see if you can find anything.

I am not very familiar with AutoCad however you may also be able to do something different there like converting everything to polylines before saving your dxf. Maybe someone else on the board can elaborate on this option.

Let us know how things work out for you.

admin

[Jeeprat]

Found a command called group in the Plasma automation program. For some reason, the program doesn't like it when you use this command. I forced it thru and I now get the full drawing as intended on the table. Now I just have to get the machine to cut the correct side of the image. I'll get it, just a matter of time. Thanks for looking and triing to help.

[admin]

Glad you were able to make it work.

Best of luck and enjopy the holidays!!!

admin

[hoshmand2008]

DEAR JEEPRAT
I AM FROM IRAN.WHY DONT YOU SKETCH YOUR DRAWINGS IN VICON SOFTWAREIA TOU DRAW IT IN AUTOCAD ,ALLWAYS SAVE IT AS DXF13 OR LOWER.IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEM,SEND ME EMAIL.AS I SAW YOUR POST ACCIDENTALLY.
hooshmand2008@gmail.com Hope you have success with your cutter.

[Jeeprat]

Been frustrated..."Walked" away for a while. Talked to a guy from plasma cam the other day. I sent him a dxf file that he reconfigured with there program(harley logo from this site). Everything seemed to be working great until the automatic heigth on torch crashed into a warped piece of metal, bending the torch head. Other than the crash, I think what he did is exactly what I need. Anyway, any ideas on what the guy from plasma cam did? The file he sent back was called a "cutpath". I will buy there software but at $3000, I would like to know if there is somthink I'm missing. Do I just need CAM software to make a cutpath or can I do this on AutoCAD? I been thru my tables software and can't find anything that would allow me to make a cut path.

[plasmanewbie]

I would not reccomend buying the Pcam software just so you can fix your existing files. $3000 is crazy, I'd put that towards a new machine! You'd be further ahead to buy a Pcam for $9000 and then resell it after you have the software!

Is there no one at Vicon that is willing to help you with this? Sounds like there is a simple solution somewhere.

I am surprised to hear that Pcam was willing to help...I bought a Pcam and was not impressed with the support at all...and I am paying customer, or maybe the problem is that I am a PAID customer!

Why is it that the manufacturers are unwilling or unable to help in this industry???

plasmanewbie

[CPK_Jim]

what is the file extension of the programs you are trying to run on there? is it .tap? Have you ever tried loading your dxf into sheetcam to generate a cutpath program?

[Jeeprat]

Yea..I know $3000 is crazy and I'm now looking into other options. Plasma automations is a manufacturing company. They will help me if I buy there $5000 a year service program. This allows me to call there help line. It's $1000 a day to come to the house. There machines are $60,000 new. I paid about a tenth of that with a 100 amp hypertherm.

The Plasma automation software will only except .DXF files. I have been working with my father-in-law and we are currently triing to set up a cut path on sheetcam. Problem is...it's like the blind leading the blind. I appreciate any input. I'm learning a little more every day and getting a little excited that the machine cut what I told it to.

Thanks

[CPK_Jim]

Sounds like the machine is set up to be a pain in the *ss. If I had that much trouble with it, I would scrap the control on the machine and build a new one using a pc and mach 3. But thats just me i guess. Ive got my control setup so nice, I could show a monkey how to do it....lol I taught my brother who has no cnc experience at all, how to go from drawing to cutting parts, it took about 30 min to an hr worth of instruction. I only showed him once thats all it took, now he can burn stuff out without any supervision at all.


Jim

[gary]

i have been reading your post .
i am new to the site . i have a vicon table that i use to fab duct work with.
have you got that thing figured out yet.
make sure the lines that your cutting are not broken into peaces.
you should be able to cut some of thease files that are on this site.

[Jeeprat]

No..In fact I completly "walked" away from it this summer. I'm just now uncovering the table with stuff it collected. I've been thinking that I really never set up an actual cut path for the machine. I purchased corel Draw x3 last spring...Havn't done much with it yet. What's my best option for a program to set up a cut path? It has to be in DXF format. This can't be as hard as I'm making it.

[srp]

I would like to add something you might consider. My system is somewhat different than your Vicon. I have and edge controller that accepts dxf files for parts and I need to number the cut sequence with a text number. If I do encounter broken cuts I normally discover that my cad program is set "Snap Grid On". When I turn this off and rejoin the the seperated points the problem is usually fixed. Corel is notorious for poor dxf conversion. When I was using the original Generic Cadd program on the old 486 I had to to do a dxf conversion in Autocad to get my files to work. - Some things to think about

[Jeeprat]

The 4" by 4.5" square cut perfectly. Thank you. It's been so long since I last played with the table, that motivated me to fire it up. I have cut squares and some circles but I can't remember if I used the the machines program or if I used autocad and imported them. Did you just draw a square and save it as a DXF or did you set a cut path? My problem usually when I try to cut say...a square with four small circles inside. Or basiclly anything posted on this site for example. The guy from plasma cam gave me four different modified DXF files to try. Number three is the one that worked. Can anyone tell me what he did different? This is the harley davidson logo from this site.

[Jeeprat]

I would be glad to try the square with the holes. I'll keep an eye out for when you post it. Thanks.

[Jeeprat]

That appears to have to worked. The holes didn't cut perfect...But I think that was my fault for tuning on the auto lead in's. I haad everything shut down before I thought to try it without the lead in's.

[Jeeprat]

Would that be Corel Draw 9? I found several versions. It would work great because the table has to use a 386 or 486 computer and that program should be compatible. Thanks again for all your help..

[Jeeprat]

Sounds like the machine is set up to be a pain in the *ss. If I had that much trouble with it, I would scrap the control on the machine and build a new one using a pc and mach 3. But thats just me i guess. Ive got my control setup so nice, I could show a monkey how to do it....lol I taught my brother who has no cnc experience at all, how to go from drawing to cutting parts, it took about 30 min to an hr worth of instruction. I only showed him once thats all it took, now he can burn stuff out without any supervision at all.


Jim

I think this is the way I'm headed. Simple shapes don't seem to be a problem, but the more you ad the worse it gets. With mutiple cuts(ex. standard 5 on 5.5 bolt pattern for a wheel). You have to "lay" each hole on the "layout table"(vicon) seperatly. You lay down each piece in the order you want it cut. Problem, They don't line up the way they were drawn on autoCad or coreldraw. Odd, I know.

Next question...

The table uses 2 Phase Drivers model UDX2140A with cw+ and -, ccw + and -, and a.w. off + and -. The motors are Vexta stepper UPH299H-AA...2 phase 1.8 / step dc 2amp. I get the cw and ccw. What is the a.w. off + and -? Also, I have no idea, but....It seems to me that I can totally bypass the old computer and fiber optics if I use a new computer with sheetcam and an interface board wired to my motor controllers. Is this correct? If so, can anyone recommend a interface board? I found this one online...

http://www.cncgeeker.com/index.php?main ... ducts_id=1

[fab-man]

Sure you can scrap all the old electronics. I checked out the board you posted the link to. I gather that if you were to go with that board you would connect your motors directly to that board and scrap your old motor controllers also. Looks like your pc feeds the data through 25 pin pp cable to the board and the motors are driven out the other side. A lot of things are still in the air here, like what software to use, configuring software to work with your tables drive system ratios, etc. Don't mean to be a downer but I think this is not the way to go for you. I am trying to do sometyhing similar right now and will let you know what I come up with. I plan to buy quality stepper drivers, source a 3 axis interface, and run it on Mach3.

Fab-Man

[Jeeprat]

I was wondering about the motor controller. I looked up my motor controller and they are about $500 or so each. I assume they are decent controllers and don't want to replace them. I guess I'll do some more research. I would like to find an interface board to tie into my motor controllers. Thanks for looking and the reply.

[Slagman]

Jeeprat,
I've been researching a problem with a system that uses the componets like you have and have this information:

A Cnc4pc c10 breakout board and Geckodrive G320 driver boards should update your system using the original stepper motors.
However, a simpler solution would be a HobbyCNC Proboard and 305oz stepper motors.

Go with Mach3 for either system and I use Cut2D to convert the DXF files to g-code to cut on my router. Cut2D is the easiest program that I've ever used but you'd have to try it on a plasma table with the trial version before purchase @ $150.

Good Luck,
Slagman