[sjackson]

Hey guys im reaching out for some recommendations on THC for my hypertherm PM85

i have the CPC cable, it has a 50:1 divider.

my Z axis has a floating switch as well for initial height sensing.

im looking for something easy for my Noob self. and something affordable. and id like to to work cutting faster than 100 IPM

thank you all in advance i look forward to hearing your suggestions

[BBMess]

I have searched high and low for as many different torch height controllers that are available on the market and I too have a Hypertherm. It's an older 1650 100 amp and I installed an OEM Hypertherm voltage divider in it to support the future use of my new A-THC. I finally pulled the trigger last week on one from Midnight Manufacturing because it claimed to be fully hands free and automatic. So far I have zero complaints and it is unbelievable how hands free it is. There's no additional programming or settings that need to be changed when changing material thickness after cutting. All i needed to do was adjust the Z Speed so it would match my step speed. Which was a twist of a knob... and done. From my experience this was night and day from the Proma that I used to have installed. In hind sight, I should've sold it instead of throwing it out. I'd check them out and see if that YouTube code still works that I used. it was literally 50% off before shipping. I hope this helps. The code was FINALORDER

[rodw]

I would ignore the previous comment given the poster is spamming any thread about THC spanning back 10 years....
You don't say much about if you have a table or not but by far and away the cheapest and arguably the best THC (and the best plasma controller in general) is the Plasmac config for LinuxCNC. To get started all you need is a parallel port breakout board (BOB) and a $69 Mesa THCAD-10 to introduce the torch voltage to Linuxcnc which than can look after the THC function.

But to do justice to your PM85, spending a bit more to use a Mesa 7i76e or the slightly cheaper Mesa 7i96 instead of the BOB. You can find out about Plasmac here:
PlasmaC User Guide

And if you are building a table, you should also read the Plasma Primer i wrote with input from many others:
Plasma Cutting Primer for LinuxCNC Users

Also, just one tip, check if your PM85 allows you to change the divider to 30:1. The newer ones support this and it is better suited to the THCAD-10 but 50:1 will also be fine.

[Beefy]

I have searched high and low for as many different torch height controllers that are available on the market and I too have a Hypertherm. It's an older 1650 100 amp and I installed an OEM Hypertherm voltage divider in it to support the future use of my new A-THC. I finally pulled the trigger last week on one from Midnight Manufacturing because it claimed to be fully hands free and automatic. So far I have zero complaints and it is unbelievable how hands free it is. There's no additional programming or settings that need to be changed when changing material thickness after cutting. All i needed to do was adjust the Z Speed so it would match my step speed. Which was a twist of a knob... and done. From my experience this was night and day from the Proma that I used to have installed. In hind sight, I should've sold it instead of throwing it out. I'd check them out and see if that YouTube code still works that I used. it was literally 50% off before shipping. I hope this helps. The code was FINALORDER

Sorry but I wouldn't touch that THC with a bargepole at a price of $600.

The first thing I look for when a company is saying my product is whoopey doo, is a user manual that goes into good detail about the product and what it does and how it works. Zippo on their website and their Youtube channel has one single video 46 seconds in duration showing the torch travelling slowly on some thick wavy plate, nothing much to give me confidence in a THC, and I'd guess the basic Proma can do the same.

If you have a detailed PDF user manual, put a link here and maybe a little more confidence can be gained in this supposed wonder THC.

Sjackson,

I don't use Linuxcnc but I have no doubt the THC built into the system is getting pretty good and full of features. Personally I'm with UCCNC (a windows based system) purely because it's what I know and have a lot of experience in (including customising it with C#), and I use a THC I designed for myself (no it's not something I'm selling right now). If you don't have a preference for Windows I'd certainly check out the system Rodw is recommending. Sounds like it's coming on quite well. The software is open source and you only pay for the necessary hardware. It also has a very strong support forum with lots of clever nerds to help you.

[rodw]

Thanks for weighing in Beefy. So that makes two of us not selling anything! I think there are fundamental differences between a Windows motion controller and Linuxcnc is that motion control requires real time processes. Windows is not a Real time OS. LinuxCNC requires a real time version of the Linux OS. So windows systems run the motion controller in external hardware (think smooth stepper or UCCNC) but LinuxCNC always runs the motion controller on the PC which has infinitely more resources in terms of memory and CPU processing speed than external hardware ever can.

So if Linuxcnc can read the torch voltage, it can use its resources to manage the THC function at the motion control level using the powerful PID modules available natively inside LinuxCNC. The simplest solution to read torch voltage is to use a voltage to frequency converter and send the frequency to a LinuxCNC encoder input and decode the voltage internally. This can be done via a parallel port and an available software component or using an encoder hardware encoder input on a Mesa card. The THCAD is available at such a rock bottom pricing (USD $69) and designed for the nasty plasma electrical environment, there is nothing else in its class. Using an external card with an encoder input (like the Mesa 7i76e or 7i96) gives much higher performance for both software step gen and encoder reading.

So the tight integration with the motion controller and the torch height control means a LinuxCNC system for plasma becomes much more than the traditional model where the THC is an external black box. The traditional black box has to do the best it can without knowing the full picture whereas with Linuxcnc, the THC function becomes a small part of the all knowing all seeing overall motion control system. So putting this together means that the LinuxCNC Plasmac system becomes a complete plasma controller, not a THC.

Its just a shame that clever people like Beefy can't be convinced to cross over to the dark side to joint those who willingly give up their time to provide 24/7 support from all parts of the globe.

[Beefy]

Its just a shame that clever people like Beefy can't be convinced to cross over to the dark side to joint those who willingly give up their time to provide 24/7 support from all parts of the globe.

Rod,

if I hadn't invested so much time and effort and accumulated so much knowledge with what I use now, I may well cross over. Also the THC I designed is integrated with UCCNC (coms between UCCNC and the THC board) and I update and receive THC parameters on the UCCNC screenset, which I modify. It's been a labour of love creating my toy and I'm not finished yet but since I've dumped my business and started a J.O.B. there's very little time to focus on programming, electronics design, etc. Throw family and kids into the mix and the possibility of starting all over to learn everything I would >> WANT << to learn seems remote. I'm not your average plasma user remember, most guys are sensible and just buy something and start cutting and making money. Dumbos like me can't help themselves and just have to get all nerdy and get involved with the insides of things and more.

Who knows, if my situation ever changes and I have more time on my hands, I may become one of your storm troopers.

[rodw]

Rod,

if I hadn't invested so much time and effort and accumulated so much knowledge with what I use now,......... I'm not your average plasma user remember, most guys are sensible and just buy something and start cutting and making money. Dumbos like me can't help themselves and just have to get all nerdy and get involved with the insides of things and more.

I thought you were talking about me there

[agelkom]

Hey guys im reaching out for some recommendations on THC for my hypertherm PM85

i have the CPC cable, it has a 50:1 divider.

my Z axis has a floating switch as well for initial height sensing.

im looking for something easy for my Noob self. and something affordable. and id like to to work cutting faster than 100 IPM

thank you all in advance i look forward to hearing your suggestions

Hello,
Please visit CNC4PC web page for Capacitive Sensor
https://www.cnc4pc.com/non-contact-h...el-cutter.html
Cap04 is easy to implement and use,
Best regards,
Can

[sjackson]

i checked out the midnight board like BBMess said because he was the first to respond . i went on the site and the THC was on sale and since i have money to burn i figured id try the fully automatic one. ordered it on the 22nd. and after installing it im laughing because unlike your suggestions of it needing a user manual and documentation of how it works and such. it clearly doesn't. infact im wondering why other THC are so vastly filled with adjustments and settings and complex tuning and manuals. i plugged this thing in, set my stepper to what i figured was fast enough using the dial on the board and low and behold. it cuts great. i switch between metals and it cuts great. i cut 16 gauge at 8000mm/min and it was working. another thing i noticed it did was: my probe failed and struck and arc low and i thought it would mess it up but the THC just lifted up to where it should be and kept going. so regardless of others opinions. thank you BBMess because i got a THC for like 150 bucks and didnt have to learn a bunch of junk about settings and im back to cutting except now i dont have to watch the torch. also from what ive read software controlled THC wont do anything like 8000mm/min unless im wrong? and the proma in my research does 100IPM or 2500mm/min. ill take a video if things slow down for me at the shop. and i used the code BBMess gave that was FINALORDER and it was not $600 it was like 170 shipped i think. IMO its a good bang for buck and i am glad to have avoided the other ones. and switching to linux CNC doesnt sound like a viable option for me when i dont want to track down an entire new PC setup and controller and BOB just so i can get a THC for 70 bucks LOL, i appreciate all the input. Midnight ATCH for the win

[BBMess]

i checked out the midnight board like BBMess said because he was the first to respond . i went on the site and the THC was on sale and since i have money to burn i figured id try the fully automatic one. ordered it on the 22nd. and after installing it im laughing because unlike your suggestions of it needing a user manual and documentation of how it works and such. it clearly doesn't. infact im wondering why other THC are so vastly filled with adjustments and settings and complex tuning and manuals. i plugged this thing in, set my stepper to what i figured was fast enough using the dial on the board and low and behold. it cuts great. i switch between metals and it cuts great. i cut 16 gauge at 8000mm/min and it was working. another thing i noticed it did was: my probe failed and struck and arc low and i thought it would mess it up but the THC just lifted up to where it should be and kept going. so regardless of others opinions. thank you BBMess because i got a THC for like 150 bucks and didnt have to learn a bunch of junk about settings and im back to cutting except now i dont have to watch the torch. also from what ive read software controlled THC wont do anything like 8000mm/min unless im wrong? and the proma in my research does 100IPM or 2500mm/min. ill take a video if things slow down for me at the shop. and i used the code BBMess gave that was FINALORDER and it was not $600 it was like 170 shipped i think. IMO its a good bang for buck and i am glad to have avoided the other ones. and switching to linux CNC doesnt sound like a viable option for me when i dont want to track down an entire new PC setup and controller and BOB just so i can get a THC for 70 bucks LOL, i appreciate all the input. Midnight ATCH for the win

Yeah, I’m really happy with it. And yeah, I copied and pasted that above block to a few forums without regard to the date. Me personally, I didn’t care enough at the time to look. I was so excited to post and I feel everyone in the DIY side of business that are having issues, is looking for a product like this and I think more people need to see this new product. And their logo on the back of board is wicked! Just saying...
I’m so happy to know that I’m not the only one on this forum with one. I’ll keep anyone who cares posted if anything changes.

[sjackson]

Yeah, I’m really happy with it. And yeah, I copied and pasted that above block to a few forums without regard to the date. Me personally, I didn’t care enough at the time to look. I was so excited to post and I feel everyone in the DIY side of business that are having issues, is looking for a product like this and I think more people need to see this new product. And their logo on the back of board is wicked! Just saying...
I’m so happy to know that I’m not the only one on this forum with one. I’ll keep anyone who cares posted if anything changes.

the biggest thing is, if i switched CNC controllers like others suggested, i would have to change my entire work flow, adjust my post processor, rewire my ENTIRE machine, learn an entirely new system. installing this changed nothing in my workflow and i don't have to learn ANYTHING lol post process stays the same. and i didn't have to shut down my business to rewire my machine. i appreciate they were clearly trying to look out for me but in doing so their suggestions could have lost me 5k/day X how many days it took to relearn new systems and rewire my control system. so again thank you BBMess you actually saved me ALOT of cash in hard times haha

[Beefy]

i checked out the midnight board like BBMess said because he was the first to respond . i went on the site and the THC was on sale and since i have money to burn i figured id try the fully automatic one. ordered it on the 22nd. and after installing it im laughing because unlike your suggestions of it needing a user manual and documentation of how it works and such. it clearly doesn't. infact im wondering why other THC are so vastly filled with adjustments and settings and complex tuning and manuals. i plugged this thing in, set my stepper to what i figured was fast enough using the dial on the board and low and behold. it cuts great. i switch between metals and it cuts great. i cut 16 gauge at 8000mm/min and it was working. another thing i noticed it did was: my probe failed and struck and arc low and i thought it would mess it up but the THC just lifted up to where it should be and kept going. so regardless of others opinions. thank you BBMess because i got a THC for like 150 bucks and didnt have to learn a bunch of junk about settings and im back to cutting except now i dont have to watch the torch. also from what ive read software controlled THC wont do anything like 8000mm/min unless im wrong? and the proma in my research does 100IPM or 2500mm/min. ill take a video if things slow down for me at the shop. and i used the code BBMess gave that was FINALORDER and it was not $600 it was like 170 shipped i think. IMO its a good bang for buck and i am glad to have avoided the other ones. and switching to linux CNC doesnt sound like a viable option for me when i dont want to track down an entire new PC setup and controller and BOB just so i can get a THC for 70 bucks LOL, i appreciate all the input. Midnight ATCH for the win

Ha ha, this is all starting to sound a bit dodgy.

You have 4 posts and Sjackson has 2. I'm starting to think you two are one and the same guy trying to sell this THC.

A THC which just magically cuts great. You swap metal thickness and it magically cuts great. You pierce low and somehow the THC stops damage to the torch. OMG I've never heard so much BS in my life.

Maybe plasma cutting newbies will be fooled but in all the years of being involved with plasma, cut settings need dialing in for metal type, metal thickness, variations in cuts speed, different nozzle sizes, different currents.

Seems like this THC is really cheap and it's really magic. I advise everyone to rush out and get one.

[BBMess]

Ha ha, this is all starting to sound a bit dodgy.

You have 4 posts and Sjackson has 2. I'm starting to think you two are one and the same guy trying to sell this THC.

A THC which just magically cuts great. You swap metal thickness and it magically cuts great. You pierce low and somehow the THC stops damage to the torch. OMG I've never heard so much BS in my life.

Maybe plasma cutting newbies will be fooled but in all the years of being involved with plasma, cut settings need dialing in for metal type, metal thickness, variations in cuts speed, different nozzle sizes, different currents.

Seems like this THC is really cheap and it's really magic. I advise everyone to rush out and get one.

I’ll take a nice long video for you and show you. It has to be something to do with the code and the programming maybe??? Because I **** you not, I can put 3/8” plate and 1/8” plate across I piece of tubing to get it to incline sharply and I can cut a slot out of both. 1 after the other and the only change is the feed rate that I have set to cut the 2 different thickness’. I was also a bit blown away at this because every other THC has to have the Voltage and a bunch of other crap set to get the perfect torch to work distance. This one has nothing... And, to be honest, with modern day machine learning tech, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is an entry level product that is stepping outside of what everyone on here considers “normal THC stuff.” I’ll see if my video can start by showing the installed A-THC, go over to the 2 sample pieces, show each thickness, go to the Laptop and show whatever is getting cut out, then cut the 1/8” first and the 3/8” right after. And I’ll change the federate in the code of the same glide file so it’s a continuous video and you all will get to see true magic. I’ll try and get that video done today so I can post it’s YouTube link on here.

[Beefy]

Let's get a little technical here.

How on earth does this magical THC know what thickness plate is on the table, what feedrate is being used, and thus what voltage set point it needs to use. Seems it really is magic if it can somehow do some mind reading to know that.

It will have to change its voltage set point based on a range of different conditions, and it has to know those conditions to set the correct voltage. As you IMPLY, it has "modern day learning tech". Sounds all whoopy doo but the most intelligent machines on the planet still need data input to make decisions. In addition how does it know what machine is being used, what nozzle, etc. This all changes the necessary set voltage.

Believe me, I will back down and accept what you say if you can give an explanation of how.
If the company (you ???) cannot give a basic description of >> HOW << it accomplished the impossible, or you cannot either, and there's zippo in the way of a user manual, then what can someone like myself who has enough knowledge to design/manufacture his own THC, start to think. I'm afraid I'm with Rod where he says you are spamming any thread about THC spanning back 10 years....

What's more, such a magical, mind-reading THC should be selling like hot cakes. Funny thing is I've never heard of it until this thread, and I've been a member of several forums, one of which is Plasmaspider, for quite a few years now. THCs are an often talked about topic but never heard yours. Why don't you go over to Plasmaspider and say what it can do, I'm sure a few of the more technical minded guys who understand THC would also love to hear about this amazing THC. If it's so good you should have the confidence to advertise is there and positive customer feedback will help you sell more.