Upgraded Sheetcam, now THC ?!?

[Cracker Red]

Narrowing down my THC issues to the latest upgrade I did. Should have just let it be, but nooo

Anyway, I upgraded my LDR supplied box to the newest version of sheetcam so I could use path rules. The idea was I would be able to just use a single layer, and have the machine slow down before corners, turn off thc before holes, etc. Problem was that it paused everytime the thc was turned on/off. A quick coversation with Dan from LDR confirmed that the box wasn't capable of handling the amount of computing required, and I should discontinue use that until a cost effective upgrade was available.

What I ended up doing is shutting off THC without really realizing it, and my cut quality has gone downhill ever since.

I can't remember how THC was turned on and off on the old software....was it using the "code snippet" box ?

Is THC always ON, unless I turn it off? Perhaps it's getting tripped up as I'm trying to turn it on and it already is?

Please confirm that M102 is THC ON, and M101 is THC off.

When watching the G code should a M102 command be shown 2 lines before each M109 (torch on) command....or should there just be one time in the beginning of the G code that M102 appears?

If I cut a test line using 18G material, 48" long, and physically prop up the material on one end .5", I see zero movement of the torch during travel.

[Cracker Red]

Follow up experimentation:

Using the THC button does indeed turn the blinking light off. When the G code scrolls through the next M102 command the light comes back on.

Despite the software telling me THC is ON, I see no movement on the torch on either small or large cuts. 48" straight cut with a .5" rise throughout....torch is scraping the steel by the end (or triggering limit switch).

I DO have a file that I can both visually see the Z axis move and see the display indicate movement on the THC up/down.

I'm sure I'm doing something wrong, but I can't for the life of me figure it out. Hope someone out there can help!

[tnbndr]

Cant' you just reload the old version?

[Cracker Red]

I'd like to try and make it work with the upgraded version, but that is an option for sure.

The frustrating part is....the THC works on some parts, but has no effect while cutting others. All the while the light is a blinking away...

[tcaudle]

It probably has more to do with the POST you are trying to use than the version of SheetCAM. The M101 and M102 are just macros stored in the macros folder of the PROFILE you are running. There will be a slight pause in a macro embedded in the motion (like if you try to turn off the THC on a corner or before the end of the cut. Do you know which DTHC you have? The DTHCII can be turned on/off with no glitch in motion using special Scodes. You can also do other stuff as well. YOu do need to be up to a certain level on the DTHCII firmware and you have to be at MACH 3.043.66 (067) and have your system support files updated to use the feature. Cut rules are not much fun unless you can make it control the THC in real time. Its easy to mke the motion slow down and speed up regular macros that get executed in the code will cause motion problems. Get on the support forum and you can get some help to do what you want to do

[tcaudle]

There are also some settings that can keep the THC from actually moving. If its ON and you get no UP and DOWN then the DTHC is not sending them, It can be turned off separately on SOME systems. If you are getting UP and DOWN LED's in MACH and still no motion then MACH is ignoring the inputs (which are there) and that can come form several settings in MACH

[Cracker Red]

No getting any lights indicating the torch should be going up/down. Getting the THC ON light blinking, but not the up/down lights. When they DO blink, the THC IS moving.

Testing with a 48" cut straight to sheer the sheet with a spacer under the material on the other end and .5" rise....nothing. torch just ends up dragging into the material.

Will contact Dan at LDR and see if he can shed some light on which DTHC I have, although I'm thinking the old one as I've tried to use cut paths and the pause was killing me. Quit using them altogether and I think that is where my problems are.

[Cracker Red]

Tom at CandCNC was a good start, hopefully the forums will help out more.

The THC is moving the torch...SOMETIMES. It's on/observing it in mach3. When it is not working (on a the aforementioned test cut) it is not blinking up/down or THC moves at all....just the THC on light is blinking. When it is working, I can observe the torch being moved, as well as the lights and THC moves indicator on Mach.

[Cracker Red]

Attempted to upgrade Mach3, and failed. Couldn't get MACH to talk to the CNC. Nothing worked

I deleted the folder and copy'd over the backup I made, ran it, and it worked again.

Did a 48" line test cut, and the THC WORKED PERFECTLY.

Decided to cut it again just because I couldn't believe it.....guess what.....NO THC movement at all. Zero. All I did was re-position the torch, re-zero it, and hit RUN.

[tcaudle]

It depends on the state of the DTHC ON/OFF (not just the THC button in that older MACH screen) Newer SheetCAM POSTS for the DTHC have codes taht "talk" (thought MACH and the RS232 port) to the DTHC module and one command can turn it off without causing a hesitation like you get from a Macro for THC on/off) The MACRO only turns the THC on/off in MACH but NOT the DTHC (hardware). You got yourself stuck between versions of MACH / DTHC / SheetCAM etc. It appears you have left yourself no way to turn on the DTHC and it may be tunring off after one cut and does not turn back on.

The best thing to do is go get the Master Installer X (legacy if th eunit was shipped BEFORE 4/15/14 abd use it to upgrade the MACH plugins . Make sure you are on MACH 3 version 3.043.067 (also on the website) BEFORE you do the Master Installer X . Select JUST the product you have. It will probebaly create a new Profile and ICON for you to use and you will have to transfer the motor tuning ans axis slaving to the new profile.

Then get the SheetCAM Installer off the Downloads page and it will add in some new POSTS and toolsets you can use that will make it more automated and the toolsets have some Code clips to turn the DTHC ON and OFF dynamically that you can use in a rule set. I wuld caution you not to get too cute with cut rules because stringing them together in the same cut can cause unpredictable actions. Especially if if you use the small "trigger" multiple times

[Cracker Red]

Thanks!

After talking with Dan @ LDR I learned a LOT about how the DTHC actually works, things to look for, etc. I'm not familiar with upgrading everything as you said but will look into it a bit closer.

Might end up upgrading the entire box to DTHC IV, unsure at this point.