PROMA 150 THC with Mach 3 Problem

[jamtuc]

Hey guys, I looked but cant find the answer. I installed the PROMA 150... test works as advertised... when cutting with THC on all indications are that it is operational and operating.... the torch however is not listening to all the other indications and hangs out at 1.5267 on the Z axis... drags the tip or comes off the work... dependent upon warpage of the metal.... I talked with the gentleman I bought it from... He builds CNC plasma machines in Knoxville TN... after trying to help me for a couple of hours we decided to give it a rest... If anyone else is like me I likely will not rest much until I get this figured out. I am hoping it is some simple setting Inside Mach3.

HELP please

Thanks in advance
Jamie

[jamtuc]

Oh and Happy Thanksgiving!!!

[weldguy]

Hey Jamie, I have no experience with the Proma THC, many here have worked with them, surprised no one has chimed in but it's Thanksgiving and things will be slow.

So what your saying is the the torch is either hanging high at 1.5267", or dragging on the plate, it is unable to hold a steady working height?

[jamtuc]

That measurement is what the machine settled on after probing... I used a thin slightly heat distorted sheet I'd been test cutting on... that 1.5267 is kind of arbitrary and can change slightly with each probe... point being...THC is not working...as in moving the z axis to maintain the .60 torch height due to voltage fluctuations.

[weldguy]

So piercing height and cutting height are 2 different functions. Before we can get the THC to function we need to be sure you are piercing at close to the correct height. So you use an ohmic clip for material sensing?

[jamtuc]

The probe is calibrated to the tool offset... z axis moves down until the probe switch is activated... I calibrated it so that after switch activation the torch tip is positioned.33 above the work... this is peirce height after firing torch and peirce delay torch moves down to cut height of .0592... then it begins the movement x....y... and so forth.... the floating head has a position of 1.527 or there about.... the PROMA at this point SHOULD take over height control by keeping the divided voltage within parameters....I am not using an ohmic clip...

[jamtuc]

I am seeing all the correct inputs in mach 3 there is just no z axis movement in correlation to to the call for movement of the PROMA and mach3

[weldguy]

I see. I have no experience with Mach3 but if your seeing the inputs in Mach from the Proma and just getting no motion than hopefully a Mach3 guy will chime in on this. Maybe request to have this topic moved to the Mach3 forum here.

[acourtjester]

Ok first of which model of the Proma do you have, If the wires from the Proma output to the BOB as Arc OK, up and down it is a 150. If the output goes to the motor for torch height it is an SD. The 150 has a test output which will move the torch up and down and will indicate in the Mach 3 Diagnostic page for those signals. You may need to adjust one of the setting on the proma so you can see the movement of the torch as the signal change. Another place to look at is the arc voltage you can use 50:1 or raw voltage. not sure if the box in the screenshot needs to be checked of not.
Attached is a PDF file of the Proma 150 Manual fi you don't have one.

thc150_en.pdf

(407.43 KiB) Downloaded 136 times

thc150_en.pdf

(407.43 KiB) Downloaded 136 times

[weldguy]

Thanks for chiming in Tom, I figured you would have some insight into this

[jamtuc]

Thanks guys... I do have the manual sir, but I thank you non-the-less...it is the proma150... I have finally started an email conversation with a tech from MACH3 he has asked if the BOB I have supports the THC.... I have no clue... its the red one with the eagle on it...I am suspecting at minimum I may need to wire into the handwheel port as the inputs do not seem to generate any output on the zaxis... my keyboard functions work fine but not while cutting... unless of course I manually do it... while running the program the keyboard functions are disabled.

[acourtjester]

The BOB with the Eagle has only 4 inputs, THC takes 3 of them, the output from the Proma will go to the inputs just like limit or home. You need to select a post processor the will also use a THC to get things to go together and work.