[edwardpic]

Hey all,
Lets use this thread to exchange ideas, tips, tricks and keep in touch about our Dynatorch machines.

Ed
[email protected]

[Dynatorch_Greg]

Hello All,
My name is Greg and I am the Production Manager here at Dynatorch. I was told about this forum by Edwardpic. I would like to thank him for the info. My purpose for being here is to offer a little tech support to the Dynatorch customers and also tell of new software updates and get feedback from all of you about our product so I can go back to the partners that run this company with customer generated ideas on how to make our product better. I look very forward to working with all of you.


Thanks,
Greg

[edwardpic]

Welcome Greg!!!
There are a few of us now in here, good we can keep intouch and throw ideas around.
Let me know when the plates will ship, sorry I was busy when you called. Also I need the 4 hard stop brackets as well, if you have them I can install them and shim the plate like you said to get up and running.
Back to wiring, we are running dedicated circuits for the computer-plasma.

Edward Pic

[magma-joe]

Welcome Dynatorch Greg,
Great to have you on the forum. How is the new shop you guys moved into? I'm looking forward to sharing info with all the Dynatorchers. Also there is nothing like a little imput from the factory. I like the fact that Dynatorch is always trying to improve their system. Are any of you guys going to the Fabtech show in Atlanta next week? http://www.fmafabtech.com/

[Dynatorch_Greg]

Hello Magma Joe,
Its good to be here thank you for the welcome. The new shop is coming along very well. We are still in the process of putting things away and getting set up , but we can already see how much we are going to benefit from all of the extra space. Walt and Leon will be at Fabtech for sure. I do have a ticket myself , but it is still up in the air as to whether or not I will be able to go. I would like to because Ive never been to one before. Anyway, Has anyone among the Dynatorch users had a chance to play with the windows xp style version of the software yet? Before our software had a windows 2000 look to it. This new version looks alot sleeker. It has all the same features of previous versions, just looks alot better. Also Another new version of our software is now available. Version 320212 contains a new conversion algorithm for converting existing g-codes, (such as those from Burny files) for conversion to code compatible with our machine. For instance, we use G23 and G25 to raise and lower the torch, others use M3/M4 or M70/M71 or M66/M67 and even M9/M10. We also use absolute coordinates for X and Y and incremental dimensions for I and J, others use combinations of the two. We use decimal points in our coordinates, others assume 4 decimal places, but do not use the period. We can now convert most these files over in our Modify G-Code section of the Converter. We also fixed a small bug in the Library for the OxyFuel cutting. It seems some values were not being assigned when the selection was made. And a bug in the DXF converter with Ellipses was found and cured (Thanks Sam). So I guess thats all thats going on here.
Greg

[bossfrog]

Hey Greg, nice to have you here. My Dynatorch is finally coming online after a steep learning curve with both the EnRoute nesting software and just learning to run a plasma. I am running 14ga with the Hypertherm finecut tips, and will start some production parts on 7ga soon. Need to tweak in the 40A tips with 10ga after that, but it is going pretty well now.

Let me know if any of you guys ever get up to the great white north (Wisconsin) where the weather has been frightful lately.

[edwardpic]

Hey guys,
Got my gantry spaced out 3/8 of an inch with an aluminum plate i sheared and milled out. Now the gantry moves freely up and down the X axis. Also sheared up 3 sheats of 3/16 mild steel for the slats, good thing I have a 6ft 3/16 cap hydraulic shear here. All wiring is done re: 20ft ground rod, dedicated 110 and 220 circuits for the system and plasma, just still waiting on the PM 1000 to arrive. controller is wired up to the computer and motors, waiting to button up the plastic wire guide when the PM comes and can run the torch lead. I cant wait to at least run this machine!!!!

Ed

[magma-joe]

I'm curious what style machines do you guys have? Are they single or dual x axis driven, standard or drop side? Edwardpic, Scorpion, what Cadcam software are you guys using? I have a standard gantry, with Onecnc for Cadcam software.

[edwardpic]

Magma,
I have a drop side single X drive gantry/table. I also use Autocad 2005, and sheetcam for nesting/arrays. Havent figured out how to use Dynas' software to array multuple parts, and the fact I have to click each item to make a cut path takes alot of time. Most of my drawings have lots of holes/slots/rounded corners. Plus when i convert a drawing to G code for some reason the construction lines or old dimension lines are visible, but when opened in cad they arent there. Guess tweaking is the key.

Ed

[bossfrog]

Mag:
I have a drop-side, single drive too. I built my table to their plans, and bought their air handling table. I use Solidworks for my CAD software. The Dynatorch software is not really meant for production nesting of parts, and I could only get it to nest one part at a time. I quickly decided that I needed a more comprehensive nesting and vector software, so I bought EnRoute per Dynatorch's recommendation. The software is a little clunky to learn, but does a nice job of converting and manipulating bitmaps to vectors, doing the offsets, and nesting lots of parts is a breeze. They are now offering WE-CIM software, which I don't know anything about.

[edwardpic]

Well heres an update:
PM 1000 came today, finished the controller connections and power connection for the PM. Everything went great. Went to do the set-up on the machine, moved gantry to the center and powered the contoller on and started the software. Red lights are on on the motors, but NO movement either X or Y, went right by the manual and nothing.
Needless to say I am not a happy camper right now. Lets hope that Dyna can tell me whats wrong and the thing will come to life. What I have noticed is the manual no where near matches the software settings wise. The help files that give you the settings are much different then the manual. Also there is an extra pin on the controller but one wire short in the plug. I spent 2 hours checking wiring and re-checking wiring. Finally gave up and went home with the machine sitting silent.
Ill post what the problem was tomorrow, if we can get it worked out. Almost seems like the software is still in symulation mode even though its registered and should work.
Wish me luck!!!
Ed

[magma-joe]

Edwardpic, I was wondering about the manual. It seems they frequently update their software with new features, but how often does Dynatorch update the manual to reflect the changes? Does the manual you can download from their website cover the latest additions? Thats a good question for Dynatorch Greg. Maybe Greg can pipe in on this one. Thanks..

[edwardpic]

Magma,
The manual I have has alot of revision lines, as in replace this, put picture here, changed must update. Also the legend does not match the pages. When you open the help file and scroll to machine settings, they are very different, and the software I have has more options then the manual under machine setup has. If I could get the machine running re: gantry move during the setup, I would be a little happier. I am still waiting on the hard stops that didnt come with the machine to arrive. I dont think the gantry was run before shipping, it definately would not have slid along the X on this table, I had to shim the drop side plate for it to move more then 6".
Today is a new day, and I am sure Dyna will give me the info needed to start to use the machine. Lets see what today brings.

Ed

[bossfrog]

Ed:
Greg had told me to call Leon when ready to start the machine for the first time - Leon walked me through all the proper setups (yes they are different than the manual) and it fired up no problem. I have his number if you need it. Just a crazy thought, do you have your controller box powered up and on? I think that their software guru Leon gets so buried in questions that the manual documentation lags behind.

[Dynatorch_Greg]

Hello all,
To answer Magma Joes question about the software helpfiles: No the hardcopy of the manual is NOT up to date. Our software developer , Mike is always adding updates and new features to the software. To keep the manual up to date we would need a full time writer. What we are talking about doing is keeping an up to date downloadable manual on our website. It will be available very soon. Anybody who has version 3202xp or any of the versions after that has the updated help files. The thing is most of our updates and all of our new features are because of customer generated ideas. If there is a little something you would like to have in the software , some type of feature , tell me. We can discuss it here and I will pass the word on to Mike and he will see what he can do. Share your ideas with me people,I want to make our product as customer friendly as possible and I think this is a great forum to do so.Thanks Guys
Greg

[edwardpic]

Greg,
Thank you very much for getting the machine working with me this morning. I had a few problems with collition, but changed the SP and it seemed to help, also had the wrong tip in the torch. I need to order some 40 amp tips, all I have here is 60.
steel cuts good, but had problems with losing the arc on aluminum, I was trying to cut 3/16 aluminum and lost the arc, but the gantry still moved. Guess settings for 3/16 and 1/4 aluminum are precise, if you have a solutuion please send, or post them in here like we talked about earlier.
Thanks again for the help!!!!!!
Ed

[edwardpic]

UPDATE:
Cut alot of parts out of 3/16 mild steel. Then cut a small sign out of 3/16 aluminum, only had a couple problems with diving on the aluminum, but messed with it and got a real nice cut and barely any dross.
Needless to say I was at the shop late cutting parts, damn how time flys when having fun. After a rocky start I am definately happy with the machine and especially want to send a Big Thanks to Greg and Walt for all their help.
Tomorrow starts the parts cutting for my company, probably be doing the 16-14 and 12 gauge stuff. My order of 5x10 steel sheets arrived about 5.
Question: What size are you guys using for your material slats? Remember I dont have the air table, I used 3/16 and I think that was a little too thick really seemed to effect the cuts/dross when passing over them.
Thanks all,
Ed

[PlasmaGuy]

Edward,

10 ga. x 3" I buy a 5x10 sheet and shear them up. My table is set on 3" centers and this works OK.

Sounds like your system is moving along great!

Tom

[edwardpic]

Tom,
Thats what I did and sheared mine at 4". Just thought they might be too thick because thats where the larger "clumps" of dross are.

Ed

[PlasmaGuy]

The dross chunks are a part of the headache. I keep a chipping hammer on the table and clean before the start of the project.