CANDCNC on Torchmate Table

[Stanmyers00]

Has anyone run the CANDCNC G5 system with stepper motors on an older Torchmate table? I have the table with the turnscrew drive on the gantry and rails. I am wondering what kind of feedrate\cut speed I can go up to. The original Torchmate set up was maxed at 175 IPM. Thanks.

[dodom]

This was a torchmate upgrade

CandCNC G5 bundle
Post by regpattee » Thu Jul 15, 2021 7:53 am

I upgraded my 10 year year OLD table to the G-5 bundle with the RS-485 kit.
I would highly recommend this CandCNC upgrade for two reasons, first of all the, plug and play system, and outstanding Tech support.

I was so ingrained in having to do all settings by hand, Tech support was a great help in getting me started.

Thanks CandCNC.

[weldguy]

I have heard nothing but good things about the C&CNC Torchmate retrofit kit. Flashcut also has a Torchmate specific retrofit kit but I believe it is a little more costly, both are longstanding reliable brands.

[cutnweld]

I have Cand system, Works well. I saw my cousins Torchmate and decided almost anything could beat it on gantry power and speeds etc. I am working on switching to linux QTplasmac with clearpath servos as I have time, just another option if you like to fiddle.

[Stanmyers00]

Thanks everyone, I do have the system installed and running. I am trying to figure out what cut speeds I can run with the new system. I regularly cut thinner metals, so with the old Torchmate system I had to manipulate the amperage to get good cut quality because of slow cut speeds.

[tcaudle]

What you wil find is the higher torque motors you got with the upgrade system will allow you to get better speeds before you experience the dreaded lost steps . The beeter toolpath tracing and dynamic trejectory control will let you cut at faster speeds and while Real time Anitdive on corners an d turns will stop torch dives . You should be able to approach the required cutting speeds on the chart and use the integrated cut charts if you have a Hypertherm of any type. You can raise the Preset voltages if you want to cut a slower speeds to maintain the proper cut gap height).

Note to cutoweld: We have a new G5 XL servo system that uses the Clearpath servos and our CommandCNC version of LINXUCNC . You can choose between the 34 servos or the 23 and mix and match them. Servos are not cheap but they offer some advantages if geared correctly for a rack and pinion table. The G5 Xl controller has all of the power features to run the Clearpath with centralized overload shutdown and servo fault shutdown if any axis faults . Panel indicators show which servo casue the shutdown.

[Stanmyers00]

Thanks everyone.

I posted this on the CANDCNC forum and was told 600 RPM's was an ideal working range for these stepper motors. According to my calculations I should get 200 IPM, a 25 IPM increase over what I had. Thanks again.

[tcaudle]

What did your steps per inch end up being ? The best way to find the operational point is to keep raising the Max Velocity unitl its starts to lose steps on detailed cuts then back a off by 20%. Also lower the acceleration some and you will find you can hit higher IPM . You can get by with lower acceleration due to the tracking giving preference to accuracy over constant speed . Down side is corner slowdown but VAD takes care of torch diving .
200 IPM is marginal for thin material . I have reports taht the original tables would start to have poor perfomenace about about 120 to 150 which really caused issues. You can't get step up gearheads I am aware of so chanign the raio with pulleys and offset motor mount is th eonly way I can think of to get more speed. ^20 steppers will do 1000 (actually as high as 1200 ) RPM with no load but tha tis not USABLE RPM in most cases. We have found that on a leadscew Z with ballscews and low friction guides that we can get up 900 RPM or more .

[weldguy]

And there you have, solid info above direct from Tom Caudle at C&CNC, how can you go wrong with attention like that!