THC setup in Mach 3

[Steambike]

Hi all, I've been out of the loop (but still a member) for a while due to various reasons, but finally have my table in its new home and cutting ok except for one issue......
I am running a Proma THC through my Mach 3 setup and something in the Mach 3 setup must have changed, I know it is something simple but I cannot figure out what yet, so it's back to asking for help from all here........so the issue is my z axis will not move when in THC mode.
I have been through everything I can think of
THC is working fine ( I have it set in test mode so it is continually cycling the Z axis up and down. I am running it through relays to my BOB and I have checked the relay outputs and they are all good, the inputs are selected in my Mach3 setup and are showing up on my diagnostic screen in Mach 3, so input wise I am confident everything is good.
I have run a couple of larger decorative cuts (which is when I realised the THC was not operating) as well as setting the torch to "on" in Mach 3 (with my plasma cutter power off) and put the THC back into test mode and get no outputs.......z axis is working fine in both directions
In the mill screen I have the THC to go up and down even when not in THC mode.
Am I missing something in my config?
Before I moved the table everything was working fine, and the only other thing I can think of is that the whole thing was powered down for close to a year, so perhaps I lost some settings?
Any suggestions would be gratefully received, thanks all!

[Steambike]

So, I completely deleted and reloaded everything in Mach 3 and reconfigured everything. Reinstalled licence etc and now my thc works, but will only jog down......I switched the pins over and then it will only jog up, so my input and output signals are working fine.......now it must be something in a software limit........any suggestions where to look please??????

[acourtjester]

I would try switching the motor control wires, this will let you know if it is the driver or control signals
the wiring from the drive to the motors are the same so it is easy to make the switch.
here is a simple wiring diagram

SIGNAL MOTORS B.jpg

[Steambike]

Thank you, I’ll go and try that shortly (had to walk away, played with my THC Min and max and now it wont move at all and I can’t set my min back to the -3 it started at!, won’t go into - on screen) for that reason I still think it could be in the thc setup in mach3......originally it would go down to min and stop at its set point (-) but not go up, I could move it up with my keypad and it would go back down to its stop point again, now it just won’t move......I tried to adjust it per your other posts via the XML file but that didn’t work either, what am I missing????

Thanks again, I’ll keep you posted

[acourtjester]

what THC do you have ??
Info on you electronics and software you are using will help

[Steambike]

I’m running the Proma 150THC & licenced Mach 3 via a ddmmv BOB (parallel port and USB) all inputs and outputs are via isolated relays to prevent noise and accidental arc damage to my system (Windows XP)
This was Working fine or the longest time and only started acting up after I moved it and recalibrated everything .....coupled with the fact that today it would move down but not up until I changed my Mach 3
Settings and then wouldn’t go either way. I have trie it with the Proma in test mode and the inputs function and the Mach3 won’t let me reset the esd unless
I disable those inputs. As I said if I switch my THC input pins over it would go up but not down.
I had max thc at 5 and min at -3, but now cannot reset
It to anything below zero, so now max is at 5 and min at o
I have tried incremental and absolute settings
On the dro to no avail.....
I will try switching out the drives tomorrow am but I feel fairly strongly this is in the settings, not a
Software glitch but operator error, could be wrong though!
Thanks!!

[acourtjester]

I'm not sure of what you mean "I changed my Mach 3" do you mean changed profiles or version of Mach 3? The attached image shows different profiles you can choose from (there may be other too). Is this what you mean by changed my Mach 3? If that is so it would bring up another XML file for Mach to run.
Since you said you changed things and the problem started you can bring up an older XML file to see if that helps, Mach store the older XML files in the folder called xmlbackups in the Mach 3 folder. You can scroll down and find a old file from say five changes ago (last is at the bottom date wise). Go to the Mach 3 folder and scroll down to plasma.xml and rename it to plasma.old then go to the xmlbackups folder and copy the plasma.xb(about 5 up from the last date) to the Mach 3 folder and then rename it plasma.xml and see what happens.

mach 3.JPG

xml.JPG

[Steambike]

Thanks Court Jester!
Here is the latest, when my Mach 3 started acting up I saved everything off the hard drive onto a USB srick (memory stick) and decided to reload everything from scratch. I tried reloading the xml profile from the stick but without much luck, So, Luckily, I had had the presence of mind to take pictures of all the screens shortly before everything went sideway. I reloaded all of the info (actually it isn't such a big job once you have your settings and ports and pins set up the first time, I recommend taking photos to everyone as a last resort back up plan.....) so as of yesterday I have my table back up and running but am not sure still (flat plate) that my THC is actually operating correctly, will post more once I figure that out. Thanks again for all the help and advice

[acourtjester]

Good to hear it funny sometime the little things we do in passing that come into play later that help.

[SeanP]

If you are in MM's thc min & max im fairly certain is supposed to be +/-25, inches is +/-1

[robertspark]

Do you have any macros that you use for thc?

Have you copied them from your old to your new profile?

The macros to enable and disable the are not included as default.

What motion controller are you using? Smooth Stepper? Parallel port, uc100, ????

[Steambike]

I actually forgot to set the units on my first go-around, default in Mm and I set everything up in inches.......you should have seen my face when I started moving stuff!!!
Now you have my thinking about the macros......I don’t think so but it’s been a while......I DO know that the inputs from my Proma 150 are registering in Mach3,(arc ok,move up, move down)
Using a ddmv2.1 BOB (parallel port & USB for more I/o) but parallel port controls the stepper drivers.
Z is definitely working in manual and for touch off /height settings, but I don’t think Mach 3 outputs are responding to the inputs.....

[tcaudle]

Did you restore the license file for MACH? THC won't work with a Demo version. The THC logic is all internal. The Promo has no drivers but maybe some custom screens with embedded macros. Custom screens can have embedded macros to do things when you press a button (Button triggered macro) If you are getting UP and Down indications in the diagnostics screen and the Z is not moving then its because MACH is ignoring the inputs.

The Min and Max travel settings if set wrong can cause t not to move as well. THC Corrections should be at least max of +1 and min of -1 . They both cannot be positive or negative. That number is how far it will move the Z in THC mode before it stops moving its not the full length of the Z its how far you want the torch to be able to move above or below zero (top of material) . Setting it at zero wil cause it to not follow a dip down below the touch off zero point

[Steambike]

Yep, the licence file is all in there. I will need to get back out and go through the other settings on the THC though, I have a funny feeling they were both positive numbers.......before the “crash” I know I set my THC up wrong (both positive) but then couldn’t get the mach3 input to accept a negative value on min......any suggestions on that end??
Thanks!

[tcaudle]

The ability to input numbers in a DRO and the format are defined in the Screen (SET) file. You can get into the Screen builder and define what numbers the input box will take (how many digits and how many decimals and it it will handle a negative number type. Work on a COPY of your screen file and then you can use the VIEW?Load Screens option to point to your new screen. The screen files are pretty complete in that they can have macros defined behind buttons that do things. The Custom elements like the DROs and input boxes let you size them and define what type of data you display and can enter. It may be putting in a negative and you can't see it to the left and it may just need to have the number sizes reduced and fewer decimal places MM numbers take up a lot more width and do not need 3 or 4 decimal places

[Steambike]

Great, thanks! I've never gotten into the SET file, I guess how's as good a time as any, I'll let you know how I get on with it once I can get back to it (probably the weekend)
I'm guessing I can access the screen set via the main Mach folder and then add it to the screen selection screen?

[tcaudle]

All SET files are in the main folder . All associated Bitmaps and in the biimaps folder. Macros are "hidden" but the object locations and dispaly detals are there to change .Open you normal set file and save it off as another name then work on that and put it back on the MACH3 main folder and slect that name to test it