PLCM-T1 / PLCM-T2 Torch height controller

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1 Operating guide СОДЕРЖАНИЕ: 1. General information Scope of delivery Specifications The differences between T1 and T Principle of operation Wiring and connections Connections MACH3 settings FAQ... 16

2 revision 3! Check wiki.purelogic.ru for more information 1. GENERAL INFORMATION PLCM-Tx series devices designed to automatically control cutting height of plasma cutters using a torch voltage as reference value. These controllers work with PLCM series Ethernet motion controllers for MACH3 software. Typical arc voltage can range from 60 to 180V and can reach up to 250V on piercing. Optimal cutting voltage depends on the thickness of the material, the current in the arc, the nozzle diameter, etc. Usually, every manufacturer of plasma systems provides tables with recommended cutting voltage depending on the material. 2. Scope of delivery 3. SPECIFICATIONS Power supply 12V Current consumption up to 100мА Input arc voltage up to 250V for T1 device up to 8V for T2 device* Management interface Ethernet Management program MACH3 Insulation resistance 500 MOhm Operating temperature С Unit weight without packaging 0,35 kg Dimensions (WxHxD) 126,6 х 82 х 29 mm! All connections should be made with disconnected power supply. Strictly observe the polarity of the POWER SUPPLY AND CONTROL SIGNALS DO NOT CONNECT POWER SUPPLY S «-» TO ground VERSION MACH3 should not be below R Working with earlier versions NOT GUARANTEED controller 1 pc. Guidelines for connection and adjustment 1 pc. Ethernet Cable 1 pc. * During piercing short time voltage overshoot allowed, but voltage can be measured incorrectly

3 revision 5 4. The differences between T1 and T2 Virtually all currently known plasma cutting systems have the ability to connect the arc voltage sensor for THC. Thus, some plasma systems offers a «safe» method to measure the arc voltage. These systems have internal voltage divider with some known coefficient and THC controller can be connected to this signal. Such connection method to the plasma system is preferred, since the output voltage is safe for humans and makes fewer demands to isolation which simplifies connection between plasma system and THC controller. The only difference between PLCM-T1 and PLCM-T2 is input voltage range: PLCM-T1 can be used with real (undivided) arc voltage and PLCM-T2 must be used if voltage signal already divided by plasma cutter. Available connection methods must be described in a plasma cutter s manual. Fig. 1. PLCM-Tx dimensions

4 revision 7 5. Principle of operation The principle of automatic torch height regulation using devices T1 and T2 differs from other similar systems. T1 and T2 do not generate traditional MACH3 Torch UP and Torch Down signals. Instead, the device constantly transmits current arc voltage via Ethernet network. PLCM controller takes this information and adjusts the height of the tip by himself, and then transfers to the MACH3 state of adjustment. This approach avoids Z axis oscillation because PLCM has exact value of difference from the desired voltage and can determine the required displacement of the Z axis at a given time more carefully. Besides the main measurement feature, T1 and T2 devices control arc firing and passes current plasma cutter s «ARC OK» state to the PLCM device. To provide torch height adjustment PLCM motion controller must be configured with following additional parameters: Required arc voltage (selected from the plasma system manual). «ARC OK» signal availability. If the plasma cutter has this signal, it connected to the PLCM-Tx device and PLCM motion controller configured to use the signal, then after firing the torch PLCM controller will not move until it receives confirmation from the Tx that «ARC OK» signal received. This function prevents CNC system from movement until arc will be properly fired. If this feature disabled, the movement will begin right after firing command regardless of the signal «ARC OK». «Regulation delay» sets the time in seconds, during which any Z-axis movements will be disabled after firing. During metal piercing the arc voltage is almost always much higher than normal, and you need to lock regulation for some time or the cutter may move down trying to normalize the voltage. Delay depends on the material s thickness and can range from 0 to 10 seconds. «Voltage Tolerance» sets a limit of difference between arc voltage and configured value. If the actual voltage is larger than configured voltage plus this tolerance value the regulation stops until the voltage returns to the desired limits. The cutting arc voltage significally depends on cutting speed. The plasma cutter s manual gives recommended voltage values for particular cutter movement speed. This guarantees normal cutting height if cutter will move with that speed. But moving feedrate can not always be the same. On corners, for example, MACH3 will reduce movement speed. This time arc voltage will significantly rise but this must not lead to move cutting height down. The similar situation occurred on moving above existing cut. Voltage Tolerance parameter created to avoid moving tip down in these situations. It s value chosen experimentally and usually equals 5-10% of the cutting voltage. 6. Wiring and connections PLCM-Tx device s connectors: XP1 used for connect the voltage from plasma arc; XP2 Torch fire signal. This output is a normally open relay contact group; XP3 input for «ARC OK» signal from the plasma cutter. Contacts should be open if there is no arc and closed otherwise. This signal is optional. You can t use this signal if it is not supported by plasma cutter; XP4 Ethernet connector; XP5 Power supply 12V connector. PLCM-Tx device s LEDs: POWER power LED; ARC OK shows current ARC OK state. Lights on when ARC OK contacts are closed and lights off when open;

5 revision 9 TORCH FIRE duplicates the TORCH FIRE signal output state. Turned on if the contacts are closed and turned off otherwise; ERROR error LED. Devices T1 and T2 should be mounted close to plasma cutter or inside it. This minimizes the length of high-voltage wires and allows to improve the measurement accuracy. Connection to the plasma system must be made according to its description. 7. Connections Fig. 2. Device selection window! Note that current stable PLCM plugin does not support PLCM-Tx devices! You should use latest testing 2.1.xxx plugin. Due to the fact that the PLCM-Tx works with PLCM motion controller only and it is just an external sensor for PLCM controller, a separate PLCM-Tx plug-in for MACH3 does not exists. PLCM-Tx support integrated to the PLCM controller plugin. To learn how to install the software for the PLCM controller read corresponding manual. After setting up the PLCM controller you can power up the PLCM-Tx device. «Power» LED should light on. Now connect the PLCM-Tx to the LAN. A green LED on the Ethernet connector (XP4) should light on. In the MACH3 menu select the item Plugins Control -> ThC control. A window shown in fig.2 will appear. At the top part of the window is a list of all discovered devices in the network. If the list is empty, try to press the «Refresh» button. In order for devices to be discovered, IP address of your PC, PLCM controller and PLCM-Tx must be set to one subnetwork. By default, PLCM-Tx has the address , so address of the PC should start with xxx. The latter number should not match the address of PLCM controller or PLCM-Tx. If the device does not appear in the list, refer to the FAQ section. Now you must select the desired device in the list and check the box «Enable device» at the right of the list. Unchecking «enable device» check box disables using this device by PLCM motion controller and switches the controller into traditional THC regulation algorithm using standard input signals like Torch UP, Torch Down, etc. The lower part of the window used to change device s IPaddress. In the window there is no «OK» or «save» buttons. Settings are saved automatically when you close the window.

6 revision 11 Fig 4. PLCM-T1/PLCM-T2 connection Fig 3. CNC plasma cutting system parts.

7 revision MACH3 SETTINGS Using of PLCM series devices requires some additional MACH3 setting, for example, desired arc voltage or regulation delay which can be added to your MACH3 screenset. PLCM plugin distributive includes special solution developed to simplify THC configuration. First of all consider the traditional MACH3 THC process without PLCM-Tx. If you have any DXF file with a workpiece drawings you need to convert the drawing into G-Code using your favorite special software such as Sheetcam. Next, the code can be executed by MACH3, but before it is required to configure your external THC block to set desired voltage and other parameters. As many basic settings like cutting feedrate or probing height must be included into the G-code they must be stored there by Sheetcam. But these parameters depends on material you using. And if you want to change the material you need to to change the G-code and reload the code into MACH3. This is uncomfortably. We offer to you a solution to simplify this process. It includes SheetCam postprocessor, MACH3 macros and screensets. Using this system you can change any cutting setting right in the MACH3 window and you don t need to rebuild you G-code once generated by SheetCam or other G-code generating program. Firstly you need to install a postprocessor for your G-code generating program. Check the «<MACH3>\Purelogic\ postprocessors» directory to check if your program supported by this distribution. If postprocessor for your program exists you need to install it. If not you can try to write your own one. The postprocessor must change any M03 instruction to M900, add M901 at the begin of every cutting (this will setup proper cutting feed) and insert M902 instructions after every cutting (this will rise a tip to safe height). Next you need to copy all predefined MACH3 macros from the «<MACH3>\Purelogic\MACH3Macros» directory into a directory «<MACH3>\Macros\<name of your profile>». Fig. 5. Main page of the PLPlasma screenset Fig. 6. THC page of the PLPlasma screenset

8 revision 15 After that select «View->LoadScreens» item in the MACH3 menu and select screenset PLPlasma.set. The screen shown in Fig. 5. will appear. This screeset consist of several pages which can be changed by buttons in the upper left of the screen. General page has typical controls for MACH3. THC page has a couple of new parameters. Most of them will be used only if you use our postprocessor and your G-Code includes M900 macros instead of M03. Every time M900 macro executed MACH3 will search the material using standard probe procedure with G31 instruction and fire a torch. Complete parameters listing shown below: «Probing feed» feedrate of Z-axis during probing; «Tip height» After probing sequence this value will be set as current Z coordinate. Typical value is 0 but it depends on your probing mechanics; «Pierce height» Height to move the tip to before firing the torch; «Pierce delay» Time to wait after firing before start of movement; «Regulation delay» Delay after firing before any Z axis regulation; «Cutting height» tip height to move to after piercing before start of cutting; «Cutting feed» cutting feedrate; «Moving height» tip height to move to after turning the torch off. This a height of movements between cuttings; «Desired voltage» voltage to set for THC; «Voltage tolerance» maximal allowed voltage difference for regulation (see section 5); «Current voltage» Current measured voltage; «Z correction» Current correction of Z axis; «Z min» and «Z max» minimal and maximal allowed Z coordinates Fig. 7. Plasma preset editor window «Z correction speed» maximal allowed correction speed in percents from Z maximal velocity. «Voltage divider» coefficient of arc voltage divider in the plasma cutter. Must be used with PLCM-T2 for correct measurement. For PLCM-T1 must be set to 1. In addition on the screenset there is an indicator shows a link between PLCM movement controller and PLCM-Tx device. You can also create your own library of THC presets. When you click on «Presets» button a preset library window should be open (Figure 7). Here you can setup all above settings and save them under a certain name. To select the appropriate preset just select it in the list and click on «Select» and then all parameters from this window will be copied to the main MACH3 window. Thus, all plasma cutting settings situated in one program now and you don t need to regenerate G-code anymore if you want to change material or other cutting parameters.

9 revision FAQ 1. No lights or the LED «Link» blinks for a long time when an Ethernet cable is connected to PLCM-Tx. Possible causes: damaged cable, a non-working Ethernet switch, non-working network card, link type cannot be autonegotiated. Explanation: This indicator reflects the state of physical connection to the Ethernet network. If connection is successful, the indicator should be constantly lit. Solution: Check the cables, connections, functionality of equipment and its configuration through methods similar to when troubleshooting problems in a local network. In the network card settings, set the connection mode 10Mbit/Full Duplex. 2.When you connect an Ethernet cable to PLCM-Tx, the LED «Link» lights at once, but the device with the IP address is not pinging. Possible causes: 1) The IP address of the controller does not match the default IP address. 2) The IP address of the computer is incorrectly configured. Explanation: By default, PLCM-Tx devices have as their preset IP address. Therefore, for a successful connection, the computer IP address should be in the same subnet. Solution: 1) Reset the device settings to default values (see installation instructions). 2) Configure the PC address to any address from the network xx manually or using the set_ip.exe utility from the archive with the software (<MACH3>\Purelogic directory). 3. PLCM-Tx is pinging, but not accessible from the configuration window. Possible causes: A firewall or other program is blocking the traffic between the PLCM-Tx and the computer. Explanation: The plug-in uses broadcast requests with UDP protocol to detect all PLCM-Tx devices in the local network. Some programs in Windows OS, such as the firewall or antivirus program may block these network requests. Solution: Find and disable the program blocking the traffic. 4. How to make your own screenset If you want to make your own MACH3 screenset you need to create on it some custom DRO s and LED s. Here is a list of necessary elements: DRO # 1332 the desired voltage in the arc; DRO # 1333 current (measured) voltage; DRO # 1334 Regulation delay; DRO # 1336 Voltage tolerance; UserLED # 1326 Use ARC OK indicator. You need also to create a button to change value of this LED. PLCM-Tx reads this LED value to know if it must wait for ARC OK signal from plasma cutter.

10 ! Pay attention that documentation can be changed due to constant technical upgrading of production. You can download last versions from address: Bld. 160, Leninsky prospect, Voronezh city, , Russia phone: +7 (495) , +7 (473)