[Chris37]

Hi, my name is Chris been reading a bit here but time to ask the experts here......I have two friends who built a cnc plasma table 5x10 I believe, the friend who did all the computer end and wiring of this table passed away in April in a Automobile accident the other friend did all the machine and welding of this table. I have been trying to help him out ever since to learn how to work this table, unbelievable what you can learn when you are forced to. We have finally been able to cut some names and other small stuff but when we tried adding a Proma 150 THC well we can't seem to get it to work. All these parst were ordered from cncrouter parts.com to run the system there using Mach 3 that is on a laptop that is going to a Ethernet smooth stepper, then to a 5 Axis CNC Breakout Board Interface For Stepper Motor Driver ST-V2 Link to the board and what it looks like 5 Axis CNC Breakout Board Interface For Stepper Motor Driver ST-V2 - US$ motor drivers I'm not really sure of the part numbers I do know there is a total of 4 motors 4 drivers. I spent 6 hours yesterday till 11pm trying to figure out what we have done wrong to hook up the proma thc 150. I had it cut a straight line and picked the plate up on a angle to see if the thc would work, it will read voltage on the device but torch head doesn't not move up or down as it cuts.
I guess what my concern is now will this BOB work with this Proma 150 THC ??

http://www.omc-stepperonline.com/dow...ers_Manual.pdf Link to the manual of this BOB.

I have arc, up, and down on the x,y,and z limit pins but again no clue if this is really right.

I've come to this forum because well I'm a bit desperate now. I feel we have almost exhausted every thing we can think of to make this thing work. We will probably go into the esab plasma cutter today to look over some stuff to see if that is all right on that end. i can get a good picture of how all this is wired but don't know how to post the picture from my phone unless I use Facebook link maybe. My friend who is older he has a good friend who is 89 and the guy is still a genius when it comes to electrical stuff like this, he was there during the time of our other young friend that wired this stuff up so he's been a huge help with helping us two idiots learn this lol

I looked in the electrical box to take notes of everything that is in there. There is 1-5 Axis CNC Breakout Board Interface For Stepper Motor Driver ST-V2 1-Ethernet smooth stepper 1-12V Mean well power supply unit 1-5v Mean Well power supply nut we jus added to run the ESS and eliminate the usb 5V from the usb plug on the laptop because it was giving us issues 1-48v Mean well Power supply 4-5042 stepper motor drivers that came from CNCrouterparts.com 4-Nema 23 3/8" shaft motors 2-Coolig fans that keep it all cool in the box. 1- Proma THC 150 We ran a lot of test today we are kinda doubting if the Proma THC 150 is working right and if the Break out board is the right one to run the Proma. See this break out board runs just fine if you are cutting with plasma or routing but we can't get it to work with the Proma 150 THC. When we run the ESE test on Proma we should have the Z axis move up and down just like I see in all the youtube videos. We get nothing now on the proma we will see the lights light up for torch up and arc on we DO NOT see torch down light. We decided to run a meter into the proma thc as it is turned on in ESE test mode and we get a split second reading on torch up and arc on but nothing on Torch down. This moment we are thinking we have a problem with the new proma 150 THC and the Breakout board may not work with this unit either. If it is the breakout board which one to try lol there are so many out there. We are running Mach3 and it has to work with it. For whatever reason my friend Chris disconnected the limit switches so there not working I believe in my heart we do need to have them in the future along with if we are in the middle of a cut and it messes up we need to be able to easily go back and restart where we left off while my other friend said Chris would have to go far enough back through G-code to get it to refire in the same spot which was a pain in the butt. I have gone back through my setting at least a 100 times in Mach 3 making sure i have the settings right and I believe they are right. I'm no wiz by any means but at this point I think it is Break out board and possibly Proma that is the problem. I believe I will write Proma and ask them now because we feel we have tested all that we can test on this thing to get it going. I have asked help from someone else online but would like to hear halls opinions on what we should do? Thanks Chris

Copied this from another forum with no luck i don't know what i have done wrong with this thing

[Torchhead]

The Promo 150 uses simple up- down signals to make MACH move Z (works pretty good on a parallel port system). With the ESS there is too much delay between MACH and the actual position of the table to make real time feedback impossible. So WARP9 made two of the ESS inputs listen to the THC UP and DOWN signals and then do a Z move outside MACH then tell MACH about it after the fact. You have to have the USE THC checked and things set right in ESS Config to make it work. As far as the I/O on the 5 axis breakout you may not have enough to do homes and also the THC signals. Normal BoB only has 5 inputs and E-stop has to use one, THC needs three. Then you have one. The good news is that the ESS than handle up to three BoB's so you can add lots more I/O

The ability to restart a cut is more of a procedure (Skill) than . Its a series of steps you have to follow. It is somewhat dependent on the controls and the THC. Maybe when you write to Promo about how to use their THC with the ESS they can tell you how to restart a cut in MACH with their THC.

One of the real challenges of building a CNC Plasma table using an assortment of parts is they will not always work together and the vendors tend to avoid trying to support something they do not sell. As you have found you can spend countless hours trying stuff and with a lack of support never find the combination that makes it work.

[Chris37]

So it's almost best to buy a Plasma Cam you're saying? lol Proma still has not written me back doubt they ever will I'm starting to wonder. I have seen other guys use the ESS with the Proma and looks like there having good results well from there youtube channel but maybe not because again I have not had anyone write me back. All the boxes have been checked for the ESS use THC in the config is there anything else i need to have checked to see if I can get it to work?? I ordered two more BOB the same as what I have so could i then really add the extra board to make this THC work then? if not can you recommend a board for me to try??
Thank you for the help

[asuratman]

You can follow ESS instructions on their website, if it does not work, you can contact ESS warp9 support with Greg or Andy. I think Proma will not answer your question due to its not their problem. Once you have followed Proma instructions, then you need to go thru ESS. I am in the process of building my flame cutter also, using ESS and MX4660 with no THC. I will put THC OFF status all the time. I assume my steel plate is almost perfectly flat...

[Arzems]

Hi
Is there any other way achieved THC without needing proma.
Sorry for my language.
I got a HF pilot arc plasma cutter and I'm gonna build my own cnc table 4'×4'.drive by belt 2m.m width of the belt,
And I'm interesting to have the THC .
I can modify my plasma cutter to fit THC .
By adding a voltage divider. I found of this divider in Aliexpress per 85$.
But I still don't know what should I do to controll my torch..
Thanks for help

[rodw]

Don't forget you have two elements you are dealing with. the Proma and Mach3 so apportion the blame in the right quarter!.

There is actually quite a good parallel port config that uses the Proma 150 on LinuxCNC.
https://forum.linuxcnc.org/49-basic-...at-works#47531
This thread goes back a bit and its possible that LinuxCNC has moved on and its broken but the original poster Tommylight is still active on the forum and will answer any questions and point you towards any later configs.

I have not used a proma myself but all I can say is Tommy has built a lot of commercial systems using it and I know another european based manufacturer who has used a lot of them too.