NC resident, older Plasmacam/Hacker

[warriorweldingllc]

Hi, name is Andrew. I'm the new owner of an older PlasmaCam unit. I failed to understand the limitations of what I bought. No DHT. Looking to upgrade or build a new opperating system. Used to teach welding at a community college. Limited experience with running tables. Not incredibly techy, but ready to try to digest.

Gonna do as much research pre firing off questions.

Personal objective: Learn to reconfigure and improve PlasmaCam without using them. I want DHT and better interface without their restrictive parrallel port design and software. Hope to wet my feet and find out if I can benefit before a larger better table build or purchase.

Any links and hellos appreciated greatly.

[robertspark]

Hello and welcome,

A search and peruse of the plasmacam section viewforum.php?f=61 should show that its a closely guarded system and getting information on it to "reconfigure and improve PlasmaCam without using them" is going to be a challenge .... but if you like personal reward its probably going to be an achievement....

The plasmacam forum (also closely guarded [as you need to be a registered owner + possess the serial number to gain access] is located here.... try to make contact... send them some photos.... maybe they will let you in (I'm curious to know what's behind the closed doors and secrecy of the forum.... https://owners-community.com/pc/login/

At this point you've probably figured out that I'm not a great fan of plasmacam.... , don't own one and nor would I ever even if it were free! .... or paid me to have it!

A common route if you cannot get it working or don't want to pay plasmacam for the upgrade costs is to change the controller and servo motors and put steppers on it..... which yup is a downgrade...... but if its a boat anchor without paying for the upgrade then.... its the quickest + easiest route unfortunately.... if time is plenty and experimentation is your thing then you could take the yellow box apart and carry out some internal investigation (I for one would be very interested to see what is under the bonnet to try to figure out the rating of the servo motors so others could be advised and they could be reused....

The cheapest option about is Linuxcnc with a plasmac front end using MESA hardware..... all detailed here:
http://linuxcnc.org/docs/2.8/html/plasm ... guide.html
with various resellers here:
US: http://store.mesanet.com/index.php?rout ... uct_id=311
US: https://mesaus.com/product-category/ethernet-cards/
Europe: https://eusurplus.com/index.php?route=common/home
there is a helpful forum here: https://forum.linuxcnc.org/plasmac

If you are a windows guy who likes plug and play and just installing software (like me).... then UCCNC is probably the next cheapest solution about which requires you to buy cncDrive hardware (a motion controller) which will provide a serial number on its hardware and is registered to the software..... the software is designed to operate with the hardware and it has a lot of plasma functions within it. You would also need a torch height controller

cncDrive website and webshop is here (hungary): https://cncdrive.com/
A US reseller is here: https://www.cnc4pc.com/uccnc-control-software.html
the UCCNC forum is here: https://www.forum.cncdrive.com/viewforum.php?f=1
A recommended THC would be the PriceAVHC (Ireland): https://www.pricecnc.com/ (not needed for LinuxCNC as its all done internally with a voltage to frequency converter card, and this is where one of the big savings comes with Linuxcnc against the rest of the market + all the code and its functions are fully accessible and adjustable in linuxcnc [not a black box and limited by what the manufacturer coded it to do])

As you are new to plasma, this primer written by a guy who frequents here and is an avid LinuxCNC+Plasmac user is here, which although is biased towards LinuxCNC is fairly universal in its terminology across whatever system you intend to use and also how plasma works and what can be expected etc. Its a well written document in my opinion and is also up to date and puts a lot of info in one place where once you had to trawl for it.
http://linuxcnc.org/docs/2.8/html/plasm ... rimer.html

There are quite a few plasmacam advocates on here, and some of them may be able to get your system running, but you'll need to explain what the issues are as them may be able to help before charging down the replacement route...... however information on the plasmacam setup seems quite guarded.... (I just kind of think that you should be able to get replacement motors and those items that are "consumable" from other sources in case they shut up shop tomorrow and you'd be left with a boat anchor ..... or decided to stop supporting the older machines which is what I think is the case for the very old machines).

Opinions.... everyone has one and we are all different ...

Please don't buy Mach3 or a Proma 150 or SD torch height controller as there are better + more cost effective and newer options about (but everyone new seems to gravitate towards those items).

And nope, I have no vested interest in you buying anything or going in any particular direction as I get no kickbacks or referrals.... just about 6 years of playing with cnc and plasma maybe a bit more now... and all the mistakes I've made on purchases....

There are also a few sponsors on here who do retrofit kits such as candcnc who can provide all in one solutions and run on a linuxcnc operating system. https://www.candcnc.net/ Plus have a wealth of info on their website should you want to have a read of more info.

Good luck ask away any questions as there is a load of knowledgeable users on here who cut a lot (I am not one of them and know very little)

[warriorweldingllc]

Wow, that's more then enough to start on and digest. Thank you. Gonna have to eat this elephant one bite ata time!

[Cvanden87]

Hello and welcome,

A search and peruse of the plasmacam section viewforum.php?f=61 should show that its a closely guarded system and getting information on it to "reconfigure and improve PlasmaCam without using them" is going to be a challenge .... but if you like personal reward its probably going to be an achievement....

The plasmacam forum (also closely guarded [as you need to be a registered owner + possess the serial number to gain access] is located here.... try to make contact... send them some photos.... maybe they will let you in (I'm curious to know what's behind the closed doors and secrecy of the forum.... https://owners-community.com/pc/login/

At this point you've probably figured out that I'm not a great fan of plasmacam.... , don't own one and nor would I ever even if it were free! .... or paid me to have it!

A common route if you cannot get it working or don't want to pay plasmacam for the upgrade costs is to change the controller and servo motors and put steppers on it..... which yup is a downgrade...... but if its a boat anchor without paying for the upgrade then.... its the quickest + easiest route unfortunately.... if time is plenty and experimentation is your thing then you could take the yellow box apart and carry out some internal investigation (I for one would be very interested to see what is under the bonnet to try to figure out the rating of the servo motors so others could be advised and they could be reused....

The cheapest option about is Linuxcnc with a plasmac front end using MESA hardware..... all detailed here:
http://linuxcnc.org/docs/2.8/html/plasm ... guide.html
with various resellers here:
US: http://store.mesanet.com/index.php?rout ... uct_id=311
US: https://mesaus.com/product-category/ethernet-cards/
Europe: https://eusurplus.com/index.php?route=common/home
there is a helpful forum here: https://forum.linuxcnc.org/plasmac

If you are a windows guy who likes plug and play and just installing software (like me).... then UCCNC is probably the next cheapest solution about which requires you to buy cncDrive hardware (a motion controller) which will provide a serial number on its hardware and is registered to the software..... the software is designed to operate with the hardware and it has a lot of plasma functions within it. You would also need a torch height controller

cncDrive website and webshop is here (hungary): https://cncdrive.com/
A US reseller is here: https://www.cnc4pc.com/uccnc-control-software.html
the UCCNC forum is here: https://www.forum.cncdrive.com/viewforum.php?f=1
A recommended THC would be the PriceAVHC (Ireland): https://www.pricecnc.com/ (not needed for LinuxCNC as its all done internally with a voltage to frequency converter card, and this is where one of the big savings comes with Linuxcnc against the rest of the market + all the code and its functions are fully accessible and adjustable in linuxcnc [not a black box and limited by what the manufacturer coded it to do])

As you are new to plasma, this primer written by a guy who frequents here and is an avid LinuxCNC+Plasmac user is here, which although is biased towards LinuxCNC is fairly universal in its terminology across whatever system you intend to use and also how plasma works and what can be expected etc. Its a well written document in my opinion and is also up to date and puts a lot of info in one place where once you had to trawl for it.
http://linuxcnc.org/docs/2.8/html/plasm ... rimer.html

There are quite a few plasmacam advocates on here, and some of them may be able to get your system running, but you'll need to explain what the issues are as them may be able to help before charging down the replacement route...... however information on the plasmacam setup seems quite guarded.... (I just kind of think that you should be able to get replacement motors and those items that are "consumable" from other sources in case they shut up shop tomorrow and you'd be left with a boat anchor ..... or decided to stop supporting the older machines which is what I think is the case for the very old machines).

Opinions.... everyone has one and we are all different ...

Please don't buy Mach3 or a Proma 150 or SD torch height controller as there are better + more cost effective and newer options about (but everyone new seems to gravitate towards those items).

And nope, I have no vested interest in you buying anything or going in any particular direction as I get no kickbacks or referrals.... just about 6 years of playing with cnc and plasma maybe a bit more now... and all the mistakes I've made on purchases....

There are also a few sponsors on here who do retrofit kits such as candcnc who can provide all in one solutions and run on a linuxcnc operating system. https://www.candcnc.net/ Plus have a wealth of info on their website should you want to have a read of more info.

Good luck ask away any questions as there is a load of knowledgeable users on here who cut a lot (I am not one of them and know very little)

I have a plasma cam and I hate it. recently my computer crashed and I cant get new software from plasmacam since they no longer support version 3.11. They want me to spend $2k to upgrade to designedge. Im open to options to retrofit it as well. LOoking at the CNCdrive software. what hardware would i need to upgrade to make that work with my plasmacam dhc.

[robertspark]

Good luck ask away any questions as there is a load of knowledgeable users on here who cut a lot (I am not one of them and know very little)

I have a plasma cam and I hate it. recently my computer crashed and I cant get new software from plasmacam since they no longer support version 3.11. They want me to spend $2k to upgrade to designedge. Im open to options to retrofit it as well. LOoking at the CNCdrive software. what hardware would i need to upgrade to make that work with my plasmacam dhc.
[/quote]

First port of call I would try to ask for a copy of an old disc in the plasmacam section on this forum, plus maybe cnczone too as someone may be able to help you out. Maybe they are listed on the plasmacam users forum which you require to be a registered user with a serial number,and you could download them for free (this is what I fail to understand..... if you no longer support the hardware..... just provide the software and part numbers for the items to be able to be replaced by the end user, they are on their own then with the last of the support that you provide for your product and its up to them to source the replacement parts if they can or fettle something to fit).

For uccnc to work (at present) you would need:

replacement stepper or servo motors

replacement drives

a torch height controller

either: a cncdrive motion controller (UC100, UC300ETH or UC400ETH) AND a breakout board (or more if you want more I/O's)

OR: a combined cncdrive motion controller AND breakout board (all in one, most cost effective + compact solution) which is a AXBB-E

A licence for UCCNC

I am not sure what frame size the servo motors are, but at a guess they will be around NEMA23 size (if you measure the mounting holes and look on line you should be able to locate replacement physical size stepper motors or servo motors)

I would recommend you install a DEVELOPMENT copy of uccnc and see if it is user friendly to you. The development version will have all the newer features in it. The stable release is probably about 6 months behind as it waits for feedback + issues on the development releases. if its a hobby.... use the development.... if its to make money and turn tonnes of metal into small metal then use the stable release. when you install it it will allow you to run the demo release until you buy hardware AND the uccnc licence ( about $30)

https://cncdrive.com/UCCNC.html
https://cncdrive.com/UC100.html
https://cncdrive.com/UC400ETH.html
https://cncdrive.com/UC300ETH.html
https://cncdrive.com/AXBB.html

It would be nice to be able to reuse the servo motors and maybe part of the yellow control box if it could be hacked to provide the axis drives..... but I'm not aware of anyone who has managed to do this (YET).....

Every now and then I try to look for a dead control box to take it apart and investigate but its just a waste of time as I don't have a plasmacam, but it does amaze me how closed shop it is and how many users seem to end up with boat anchors unless they upgrade (ok... you get a nice blue & yellow frame, racks and pinions.... but the rest seems to be of zero value without any information or even a copy of the original software available for download).

here is an example of the exact opposite sort of (model??) company....
http://www.denfordata.com/bb/
ALL information including manuals and software etc for obsolete products are on their free to access forum.... going back about 40 years now I guess.... hence they have good resale value when buying them from schools and college upgrades and clearouts, ebay etc
but they still focus on their new product range and support of their current products
http://website.denford.ltd.uk/