New to me plasma cam

[PatA]

Hi everyone.
My first time posting. Bought a used Plasma Cam with no cables just the old version 3.02 disk therefore have no tech support from plasma cam till I upgrade
Also got a Harbor freight titanium 65 due to cost savings. I was wondering if
Someone can help me out with a cable from cutter to table. The plasma cutter has 14 pin for cnc operating on front of machine. I would be ok with a good used cable or getting one made or helping me make my own. I would like to get table up and running before upgrading to new version for 2k Looking forward start cutting small brackets and metal art for shop. If anyone can help me out that be greatly appreciated
Thanks
Pat

[adbuch]

Pat - I replied to your post over at the Plasmacam Owner's Community Forum earlier today. Until you upgrade from 3.02 to Design Edge, Plasmacam will offer no tech support nor will they sell you any parts - as 3.xx is no longer supported. So your options are to build your own torch control cable (very simple to do), purchase a used torch control cable (if you can find one), or try to get someone with access to purchase parts from Plasmacam to buy one for you.

Here is what I said earlier today:

"The Plasmacam torch control cable has 4 conductors inside - two for the divided arc voltage and two to fire the torch. If you are using a hand torch (and not a Hypertherm with cpc port and machine torch) then you will normally need to open up the plasma cutter and hard wire the cable to the cutter. This involves cutting and splicing into the trigger wires in the cutter, as well as connecting to the circuit board for the arc voltage monitoring.

The Plasmacam torch control cable also contains a voltage divider (2 resistors) integral to the cable so that the divided arc voltage matches the requirement of the controller. You could make up a torch control cable from scratch, pretty simple to do. If you decide to go that route, then let us know and someone here will tell you the exact resistor sizes and divided arc voltage ratio you need."



David

[adbuch]

If you decide to build your own torch control cable, then this diagram may help you. I don't remember the exact values for the two resistors, but perhaps Robert will chime in here and let us know the values and power rating (I seem to remember they are 1/4 Watt, but 1/2 Watt would be fine as well).

After you build the cable, but before connecting it to the controller, you need to do these required tests to verify the integrity of your cable. Failure to test the cable before connecting to the controller may result in damage to the controller.

Torch Control Cable Test.pdf

(24.79 KiB) Downloaded 61 times

If you don't mind spending a little bit more money, then perhaps purchase one of Robert's machine torch control cables and cut off the CPC plug and wire it to your plasma cutter. You will still need to add the voltage divider, since the cutters with cpc port set the divider value in the cutter, and not with the cable.

https://www.490creations.com/products/c ... face-cable

For reference, here is the Plasmacam torch control wiring kit as shown at the website.

David

[PatA]

Thank you David
I’m new to these forums and cnc plasma table cutting and missed notification of a response
You gave me lots of great info and I really appreciate it
I attached the connection picture from the cutters manual.
I’m wondering if one of robert’s cable would be plug and play perhaps or would just need little modifications because machine has cpc 14 pin on front of machine
Please let me know

[adbuch]

Thank you David
I’m new to these forums and cnc plasma table cutting and missed notification of a response
You gave me lots of great info and I really appreciate it
I attached the connection picture from the cutters manual.
I’m wondering if one of robert’s cable would be plug and play perhaps or would just need little modifications because machine has cpc 14 pin on front of machine
Please let me know

You would need to contact Robert about this.

memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=12134

I see your plasma cutter has a cpc port, but I'm not sure if all "CPC" ports are the same. His cable is for the Hypertherm cutters using machine torch. If you plasma cutter has an internal voltage divider with one of the selections being 21.1:1, then that would be a plus. Otherwise you would still need to wire in the voltage divider somewhere between the plasma cutter/cable and the controller. The Plasmacam Owner's Community Forum does not send email notifications that I am aware of. So you just need to check in every so often to see if you have had any responses.

David

[PatA]

thank you david

[PatA]

i sent robert a pm thx

[rdj357]

Replied!

Considering the paperwork posted shows 20:1 for a divided arc voltage output and standard wiring on the pins - our cable should work with this setup.

[adbuch]

Pat - I didn't read the paperwork close enough. I do see now that your cutter has an internal voltage divider as Robert has pointed out. That's great news for you and should get you up and cutting soon.

David