[kazuo]

Hi Mike, I am having some trouble with my Torchmate.
First some history; when I first got it running the signal generator would go offline when ever the plasma torch would ignite ie piercing the plate. At the same time the USB mouse and keyboard would stop working. I talked to someone in tech support at torchmate and they suggested grounding the plasma cutters chassis and the plasma table to a ground rod. We did this as well as changing out the PC for a different one and the problem seemed to be solved. We made several parts last week with no problems.

I was attempting to cut some parts today and had the same problem. As soon as the plasma lights the signal generator goes off line. I ran it for close to 20 minutes with the plasma cutter turned off and had no problems but as soon as I turned the plasma on the signal generator went off line. It always happens as soon as the plasma lights. The plasma stays lit and I get a message on the screen saying that the computer has lost its connection withe the signal generator.

Where should I start? This is extremely frustrating. I have had this machine for almost 10 months and have cut one paying job with it so far. It worked perfectly for that job by the way and it has worked perfectly for some test cuts I have made. Right now it is just not reliable enough.

[Mike@Torchmate]

Hi Mike, I am having some trouble with my Torchmate.
First some history; when I first got it running the signal generator would go offline when ever the plasma torch would ignite ie piercing the plate. At the same time the USB mouse and keyboard would stop working. I talked to someone in tech support at torchmate and they suggested grounding the plasma cutters chassis and the plasma table to a ground rod. We did this as well as changing out the PC for a different one and the problem seemed to be solved. We made several parts last week with no problems.

I was attempting to cut some parts today and had the same problem. As soon as the plasma lights the signal generator goes off line. I ran it for close to 20 minutes with the plasma cutter turned off and had no problems but as soon as I turned the plasma on the signal generator went off line. It always happens as soon as the plasma lights. The plasma stays lit and I get a message on the screen saying that the computer has lost its connection withe the signal generator.

Where should I start? This is extremely frustrating. I have had this machine for almost 10 months and have cut one paying job with it so far. It worked perfectly for that job by the way and it has worked perfectly for some test cuts I have made. Right now it is just not reliable enough.

The plasma cutter is generating enough interference to cause an interruption in the USB communication causing the machine to go offline. There are a few ways to tackle this problem, the main one being grounding. You may need to ground the electronics to the table 'common' ground, as well as possible checking the quality of the ground to make sure it is efficient enough to shed the interference well. If the ground is not good enough having the table and cutter grounded to it is not going to help.

What is the Serial number of the signal generator, there may be some jumpers we can change inside of the signal generator to try and change the grounding inside of it which in the past has also helped. I would also want to make sure you are on the latest version of the software which has an option to change the USB communication speed from High Speed to Full speed which when combined with the jumper settings helps to solve the problem.

Interference is hard to track, and is usually solved by grounding the machine and electronics to a dedicated ground rod.

[kazuo]

Thanks Mike.

When you say ground "the electronics to the table" what do you mean? Run a wire from the metal signal generator box to the table? I am thinking I will run a wire from the PC case and the signal generator to the table.

How do I check the quality of the gound? I installed a ground rod when the problem first occured. At that time someone in tech support at torchmate emailed me instructions. I can't remember all the details but there was a 100 watt light bulb and a multi meter involed. Is this what you are refering to? I can't remember the numbers but the test was within the specs provided to me at the time.

We changed the jumpers last time as well as changing the settings in the computer to match. Everything is set to Full speed, if I remember correctly.

Someone in the torchmate yahoo group suggested sheilding the plasma lead in a steel braided cover and using shielded USB cables. The Burny/Hypertherm we use at work uses a braided cover and it never has any problems. What do you think? Worth a try?

[Mike@Torchmate]

Thanks Mike.

When you say ground "the electronics to the table" what do you mean? Run a wire from the metal signal generator box to the table? I am thinking I will run a wire from the PC case and the signal generator to the table.

How do I check the quality of the gound? I installed a ground rod when the problem first occured. At that time someone in tech support at torchmate emailed me instructions. I can't remember all the details but there was a 100 watt light bulb and a multi meter involed. Is this what you are refering to? I can't remember the numbers but the test was within the specs provided to me at the time.

We changed the jumpers last time as well as changing the settings in the computer to match. Everything is set to Full speed, if I remember correctly.

Someone in the torchmate yahoo group suggested sheilding the plasma lead in a steel braided cover and using shielded USB cables. The Burny/Hypertherm we use at work uses a braided cover and it never has any problems. What do you think? Worth a try?

As a worse case scenario all of the machine cables would be contained in a stainless braid, with one side grounded to a common star ground on the table itself. The way we have always setup our grounds is everything goes to a common point on the table (Cutter, electronics, table) and then a single wire goes to the ground. While I don't think it matters too much, it has always worked in the past. If grounding the electronics, or putting all of the electronics in an enclosure and grounding the enclosure doesn't work, then you may have to start shielding motor cables, and communication cables by shielding them. Most of the high frequency torches we work with at the industrial scale come with a shield around the torch lead from the factory, which is grounded to the plasma cutter supply. Anything we can do to try and contain and shed the interference to ground is what needs to be tried.

-Mike

[nfrees114]

Hey Mike, I wrote this thread a month or so ago and never heard back. I know you were out for a while there so i just figured i'd send this again to see if you had any suggestions.

ok, maybe i phrased it wrong. so yeah i know that in manual mode, once it touches off it maintains that height, which is another probelm. mine doesn't maintain that height. throughout it running it slowly dwells and moves closer to the material. it's like the motor isn't strong enough to hold it up. so that being said, yes, during the cutting operation i have to manually with the torch height control move it up or down. not moving it through the software but moving through using the button on the torch height control itself. also when the plate warps thats another reason i have to move it up or down. like i said, when i put it in Auto the torch height control doesn't read and respond fast enough. and no it doesn't smack into the plate. it's more like the material warps and i can't manually move the head up. and for as far as the AVHC like i said, it just doesnt respond quick enough. I just use and standard Hypotherm 40amp fine cut tip and if you look at the hypotherm recommended speeds it should be at like 200IPM.

[Mike@Torchmate]

Hey Mike, I wrote this thread a month or so ago and never heard back. I know you were out for a while there so i just figured i'd send this again to see if you had any suggestions.

ok, maybe i phrased it wrong. so yeah i know that in manual mode, once it touches off it maintains that height, which is another probelm. mine doesn't maintain that height. throughout it running it slowly dwells and moves closer to the material. it's like the motor isn't strong enough to hold it up. so that being said, yes, during the cutting operation i have to manually with the torch height control move it up or down. not moving it through the software but moving through using the button on the torch height control itself. also when the plate warps thats another reason i have to move it up or down. like i said, when i put it in Auto the torch height control doesn't read and respond fast enough. and no it doesn't smack into the plate. it's more like the material warps and i can't manually move the head up. and for as far as the AVHC like i said, it just doesnt respond quick enough. I just use and standard Hypotherm 40amp fine cut tip and if you look at the hypotherm recommended speeds it should be at like 200IPM.

Which model height control do you have? If you don't believe the AVHC is functioning in Automatic mode, I would set the voltage too high and see if it retracts away from the material. If it does, it is functioning. There is only so much adjustment it can make, and this is in part due to the programming in the motor. There are different programs that can change this sensitivity.

If you are running at 40 amps, you could potentially drop the amperage to 30 and run at a slightly slower speed, which can allow the height control to react to adjustments in material height.

-Mike

[LenMcC]

hi, mike. i talked to josh yesterday about buying or fabbing a water table for our TM2. he said there are water table plans on the TM2 page, but I wasn't able to find them. any chance you could post a link, pdf, cad file, or something? thanks!

[sabine]

Hi Mike, I've looked around and I can't find an answer to this, so I thought I'd ask:

I seem to be consistently cutting undersize on my TM2, .055" in the X and .020 in the Y
(I cut two calibration squares at 1" and 2" a side sizes)...I can't find any offsets in the options tabs or anything. I may be missing it...is there any way to adjust these offsets? If I increase the plasma kerf(?) settings in CAD I can remove some undersizing, but it still won't be even in the x and y.

[Mike@Torchmate]

Hi Mike, I've looked around and I can't find an answer to this, so I thought I'd ask:

I seem to be consistently cutting undersize on my TM2, .055" in the X and .020 in the Y
(I cut two calibration squares at 1" and 2" a side sizes)...I can't find any offsets in the options tabs or anything. I may be missing it...is there any way to adjust these offsets? If I increase the plasma kerf(?) settings in CAD I can remove some undersizing, but it still won't be even in the x and y.

Have you run a gear ratio test yet? Most likely your gear ratio needs some fine tuning if you are off between your X and Y axis. Shoot me an email and I'll send over the walkthrough guide on running that test. My email is in my signature, remove the spaces.

-Mike

[bakerj99]

mike

is there any way you could give me some more info on the set up of the tube cutter (the cradle design) i bought this with my table in 07 and have never used it until last night. i had a tube on it (6" sch 40) and after a couple of revolutions it would work off of one end. i have the tube cutting attachment pdf file that came with it but i really need more info on the set up of it. the only question on the wiring was that i just wanted to eave the motor wire plugged in the 4 axis port but there was something that said it would only be a slave axis, so do i have to unplug the y axis motor every time?

thanks and happy turkey day to all
bakerj99

[bakerj99]

can anyone chime in, ANY help or thoughts would be appreciated.

thanks

[Mike@Torchmate]

can anyone chime in, ANY help or thoughts would be appreciated.

thanks

Sorry for the late reply,

The 4th axis has to be assigned as a slave axis, for example X1 Y2 Z(or A)3 X4. This would allow you to work with constantly having the rotational axis installed. You could change #2 or #3 to Y at whatever point you want. If you will PM me your email address I can email you over the appropriate documentation for the Tube Cutting Attachment.

-Mike

[bakerj99]

PM sent and thanks

bakerj99

[Fil25]

Hi,

I just purchased the 2x4 table and have a thermadyne cutmaster 51 plasma cutter with manual handle.

I'm new to the cnc tables, so I'm not sure what I need to purchase to connect the plasma cutter to the cnc table. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks

[sabine]

Hi Mike.

I have Torchmate 2 and its associated Torchmate CAD. I can't get it to disable tiling. I can't resize the tiles either. I cannot finish this job until I get it resolved.

How do I disable tiling on the output?

Thanks,
Will

[Mike@Torchmate]

What version of the Torchmate CAD are you using? In cad 7 or newer, you should simply need to uncheck the tiling option. In CAD 5 it should be the same, but it's been awhile since I've worked with it. Perhaps a screenshot of the output window?

-Mike

[AndrewEvans]

Mike, I am curious to know what your thought is on my AVHC

Problem:
The z-axis motor invariably dives into the material AFTER a cut is completed, sometimes it will retract after the torch is turned off, sometimes not (i have attempted a 3 inch line progressively starting touch torque at 1 and working my way to 25 with no change)


NOW, This prevents me from really running line tests to determine proper arc Voltage. (as a bigger number = a higher ride height, I have tried from 130 (mfg recomendation) up to 300 set voltage with no discernible difference) (yes i put it in auto after I changed voltage)

I have used 2 seperate plasma sources (and torches) both with the same results

I understand how it is supposed to work, I simply cannot make it function as it is supposed to.

the only thing I have been able to come up with (& it is nowhere near a satisfactory solution) is to re-clamp the torch x" short of being able to touch the material to every material thickness, at first that makes sense as theoretically my plate should be in the x-y plane perfectly and not have any warp etc etc, in reality the material sits 1/16" higher on one end & if there is any bow to the plate either I have to clamp the torch to the "set height" for maximum height & ruin quality of cut for the valleys, or set it to the valleys and risk damaging the torch-tip as it grinds on the mountains

this is how I have run the table for a year so far, as no-one on the torchmate staff could come up with a satisfactory reason for the avhc to do this, they sent me a re-boot for the motor, which i did with no change. Subesquently it was attributed to user error & therefore said that they would be happy to send me a new avhc for $$$$, that does not set well with me as it never worked right out of the box & per all the diagrams etc etc I had it wired right first go-around & triple checked it on different days before running the machine.

Now I am finally selling work that IF i could use my machine, it would finally begin paying for itself, but I cant & I just plain and simple want a height control that works

this is all very frustrating, do you have any ideas?:drowning:

[Mike@Torchmate]

Mike, I am curious to know what your thought is on my AVHC

Problem:
The z-axis motor invariably dives into the material AFTER a cut is completed, sometimes it will retract after the torch is turned off, sometimes not (i have attempted a 3 inch line progressively starting touch torque at 1 and working my way to 25 with no change)


NOW, This prevents me from really running line tests to determine proper arc Voltage. (as a bigger number = a higher ride height, I have tried from 130 (mfg recomendation) up to 300 set voltage with no discernible difference) (yes i put it in auto after I changed voltage)

I have used 2 seperate plasma sources (and torches) both with the same results

I understand how it is supposed to work, I simply cannot make it function as it is supposed to.

the only thing I have been able to come up with (& it is nowhere near a satisfactory solution) is to re-clamp the torch x" short of being able to touch the material to every material thickness, at first that makes sense as theoretically my plate should be in the x-y plane perfectly and not have any warp etc etc, in reality the material sits 1/16" higher on one end & if there is any bow to the plate either I have to clamp the torch to the "set height" for maximum height & ruin quality of cut for the valleys, or set it to the valleys and risk damaging the torch-tip as it grinds on the mountains

this is how I have run the table for a year so far, as no-one on the torchmate staff could come up with a satisfactory reason for the avhc to do this, they sent me a re-boot for the motor, which i did with no change. Subesquently it was attributed to user error & therefore said that they would be happy to send me a new avhc for $$$$, that does not set well with me as it never worked right out of the box & per all the diagrams etc etc I had it wired right first go-around & triple checked it on different days before running the machine.

Now I am finally selling work that IF i could use my machine, it would finally begin paying for itself, but I cant & I just plain and simple want a height control that works

this is all very frustrating, do you have any ideas?:drowning:

Andrew,

I apologize for no one being able to tell you the exact problem with your AVHC, but based on your symptoms it doesn't seem there is one simple answer for you. How long ago did you purchase your system? I assume when you spoke with Tech last about it, it was out of warranty, and they offered you a few options, Repair or Replace. You're more than welcome to, and based on your symptoms I would recommend, that you send the AVHC system back to us to be tested and repaired at your earliest convenience.

You can send me a PM with the company/name you purchased the machine under and I can help you out, or email me at my email address below.

-Mike

[sabine]

Hi Mike,

Sorry if my last post was kinda terse, I was pretty frustrated. I figured there'd be a option to disable tiling, but for the life of me I can't find it. I spent an hour yesterday looking for it (if it turns out it was right in front of my face, I'm gonna feel like a goof, ha). It's Cad 5.

Here's the output screen

[Mike@Torchmate]

If you are just outputting a DXF file, you should just Export the DXF from Torchmate CAD instead of doing a machine output. Tiling is on the single row tool bar that comes up with the pair of scissors that you use to create the cut file.