Re: [Emc-users] Linuxcnc vs Mach3 for Plasma Cutter?

2018-08-16 Thread Les Newell 
This thread may help you with the Proma THC and LinuxCNC 
<https://forum.linuxcnc.org/49-basic-configuration/27900-thc-config-that-works>


Les

On 16/08/18 17:58, Todd Zuercher wrote:

Thanks Les,  That seemed to be a very helpful unbiased response.

The THC they have for it is a Proma THC 150, and it's connected via the Gecko 
540 to the parallel port.  So making that work with Linuxcnc shouldn't be too 
difficult, would it?

Todd Zuercher
P. Graham Dunn Inc.
630 Henry Street
Dalton, Ohio 44618
Phone:  (330)828-2105ext. 2031

-Original Message-
From: Les Newell 
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2018 12:07 PM
To: Todd Zuercher 
Subject: Re: [Emc-users] Linuxcnc vs Mach3 for Plasma Cutter?

I have a lot of customers running both Mach3 and LinuxCNC. Setting up THC with 
LinuxCNC is not very well documented so it is quite a bit of work. However once 
set up in my opinion it works better. For instance in
Mach3 if you try to turn THC on or off while moving (e.g to prevent torch dive 
on corners) the machine will hesitate, leaving a mark in the part. LinuxCNC 
also has a really smooth path planner so you should get more consistent and 
cleaner cuts. If you run Mach3 I would suggest using it with an external 
controller rather than the parallel port. Just be sure the controller supports 
THC (not all do).

While LinuxCNC is in my opinion better the difference isn't that huge and only 
really makes a difference if you are pushing the limits of what plasma can do. 
If you're just making brackets and general fabrication work either will work 
fine.

Les




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Re: [Emc-users] Linuxcnc vs Mach3 for Plasma Cutter?

2018-08-15 Thread Marius Liebenberg 



The machine "works", as in they've made a half dozen ugly test cuts.  
But they have not figured out how to make the THC work right and some 
other finer points of perfection still need fixing.  Things like 
squaring the gantry are currently done by grabbing the bridge and 
pulling it forward against the end stops before turning on the drives.


Many shitty machines are squared like that. If Mach is not licensed the 
THC stuff is not functional at all.




Todd Zuercher
P. Graham Dunn Inc.
630 Henry Street
Dalton, Ohio 44618
Phone:  (330)828-2105ext. 2031

-Original Message-
From: Dave Cole 
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2018 5:03 PM
To: emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net
Subject: Re: [Emc-users] Linuxcnc vs Mach3 for Plasma Cutter?

Mach3 is now pretty old.
Is there a legit license installed with the software?
Oftentimes machines were shipped with a demo license only. (limited 
Gcode support)


CandCNC used to sell a lot of Mach3 software with their systems.
Go look at their site now.

If it works... why change it?  Chances are that the torch height 
control won't work with LinuxCNC.


Dave

On 8/14/2018 4:11 PM, Todd Zuercher wrote:
 I don’t want to start a big Mach bashing.  I just want to hear some 
opinions from those who have set up a simple CNC plasma machine with 
both Mach and Linuxcnc.


 Are there any inherent advantages/disadvantages of one over the other 
for a plasma cutter?


 Here where I work they just purchased a cheap plasma table kit and
 they are setting it up with Mach3.  (they being not me.) My self, 
having zero experience with Mach3, probably would not have bothered 
trying to even install Mach.
 The machine is a simple stepper gantry using a Gecko 540 driver pack 
and I think there is some form of THC contraption as well, but I have 
no details.


 The two people setting it up know next to nothing about Mach3 or CNC, 
and even less about Linuxcnc (hence their choice to go with the Mach3 
setup.)  My guess is that they are just following the instructions 
that came with the kit.


 Unfortunately I am too busy at my end of the shop to offer them a 
whole lot of assistance, and since I know nothing about the plasma 
side of cnc...


 However I have threatened to come down to their end of the shop and
 install LinuxCNC on it while they are not looking

 Todd Zuercher
 P. Graham Dunn Inc.<http://www.pgrahamdunn.com/index.php>
 630 Henry Street
 Dalton, Ohio 44618
 Phone:  (330)828-2105ext. 2031

 
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Re: [Emc-users] Linuxcnc vs Mach3 for Plasma Cutter?

2018-08-15 Thread Marius Liebenberg 
I have done many plasma machines over the years and I found that if the 
customer is not capable of his own software or has no understanding of 
LinuxCnc, then I just install Mach3.

Mach works very well for plasma.

Actually, a customer that is capable of fiddling the software is 
normally your worst nightmare and that is one big reason I install Mach 
and then remove the menus once done.



-- Original Message --
From: "Todd Zuercher" 
To: "Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC)" 


Sent: 2018-08-14 22:11:30
Subject: [Emc-users] Linuxcnc vs Mach3 for Plasma Cutter?

I don’t want to start a big Mach bashing.  I just want to hear some 
opinions from those who have set up a simple CNC plasma machine with 
both Mach and Linuxcnc.


Are there any inherent advantages/disadvantages of one over the other 
for a plasma cutter?


Here where I work they just purchased a cheap plasma table kit and they 
are setting it up with Mach3.  (they being not me.)
My self, having zero experience with Mach3, probably would not have 
bothered trying to even install Mach.
The machine is a simple stepper gantry using a Gecko 540 driver pack 
and I think there is some form of THC contraption as well, but I have 
no details.


The two people setting it up know next to nothing about Mach3 or CNC, 
and even less about Linuxcnc (hence their choice to go with the Mach3 
setup.)  My guess is that they are just following the instructions that 
came with the kit.


Unfortunately I am too busy at my end of the shop to offer them a whole 
lot of assistance, and since I know nothing about the plasma side of 
cnc...


However I have threatened to come down to their end of the shop and 
install LinuxCNC on it while they are not looking


Todd Zuercher
P. Graham Dunn Inc.<http://www.pgrahamdunn.com/index.php>
630 Henry Street
Dalton, Ohio 44618
Phone:  (330)828-2105ext. 2031

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Re: [Emc-users] Linuxcnc vs Mach3 for Plasma Cutter?

2018-08-14 Thread Todd Zuercher 
The machine "works", as in they've made a half dozen ugly test cuts.  But they 
have not figured out how to make the THC work right and some other finer points 
of perfection still need fixing.  Things like squaring the gantry are currently 
done by grabbing the bridge and pulling it forward against the end stops before 
turning on the drives. 

Todd Zuercher
P. Graham Dunn Inc.
630 Henry Street 
Dalton, Ohio 44618
Phone:  (330)828-2105ext. 2031

-Original Message-
From: Dave Cole  
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2018 5:03 PM
To: emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net
Subject: Re: [Emc-users] Linuxcnc vs Mach3 for Plasma Cutter?

Mach3 is now pretty old.
Is there a legit license installed with the software?
Oftentimes machines were shipped with a demo license only. (limited Gcode 
support)

CandCNC used to sell a lot of Mach3 software with their systems.
Go look at their site now.

If it works... why change it?  Chances are that the torch height control won't 
work with LinuxCNC.

Dave

On 8/14/2018 4:11 PM, Todd Zuercher wrote:
> I don’t want to start a big Mach bashing.  I just want to hear some opinions 
> from those who have set up a simple CNC plasma machine with both Mach and 
> Linuxcnc.
>
> Are there any inherent advantages/disadvantages of one over the other for a 
> plasma cutter?
>
> Here where I work they just purchased a cheap plasma table kit and 
> they are setting it up with Mach3.  (they being not me.) My self, having zero 
> experience with Mach3, probably would not have bothered trying to even 
> install Mach.
> The machine is a simple stepper gantry using a Gecko 540 driver pack and I 
> think there is some form of THC contraption as well, but I have no details.
>
> The two people setting it up know next to nothing about Mach3 or CNC, and 
> even less about Linuxcnc (hence their choice to go with the Mach3 setup.)  My 
> guess is that they are just following the instructions that came with the kit.
>
> Unfortunately I am too busy at my end of the shop to offer them a whole lot 
> of assistance, and since I know nothing about the plasma side of cnc...
>
> However I have threatened to come down to their end of the shop and 
> install LinuxCNC on it while they are not looking
>
> Todd Zuercher
> P. Graham Dunn Inc.<http://www.pgrahamdunn.com/index.php>
> 630 Henry Street
> Dalton, Ohio 44618
> Phone:  (330)828-2105ext. 2031
>
> --
>  Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's 
> most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot 
> ___
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> Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net
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Re: [Emc-users] Linuxcnc vs Mach3 for Plasma Cutter?

2018-08-14 Thread Dave Cole 

Mach3 is now pretty old.
Is there a legit license installed with the software?
Oftentimes machines were shipped with a demo license only. (limited 
Gcode support)


CandCNC used to sell a lot of Mach3 software with their systems.
Go look at their site now.

If it works... why change it?  Chances are that the torch height control 
won't work with LinuxCNC.


Dave

On 8/14/2018 4:11 PM, Todd Zuercher wrote:

I don’t want to start a big Mach bashing.  I just want to hear some opinions 
from those who have set up a simple CNC plasma machine with both Mach and 
Linuxcnc.

Are there any inherent advantages/disadvantages of one over the other for a 
plasma cutter?

Here where I work they just purchased a cheap plasma table kit and they are 
setting it up with Mach3.  (they being not me.)
My self, having zero experience with Mach3, probably would not have bothered 
trying to even install Mach.
The machine is a simple stepper gantry using a Gecko 540 driver pack and I 
think there is some form of THC contraption as well, but I have no details.

The two people setting it up know next to nothing about Mach3 or CNC, and even 
less about Linuxcnc (hence their choice to go with the Mach3 setup.)  My guess 
is that they are just following the instructions that came with the kit.

Unfortunately I am too busy at my end of the shop to offer them a whole lot of 
assistance, and since I know nothing about the plasma side of cnc...

However I have threatened to come down to their end of the shop and install 
LinuxCNC on it while they are not looking

Todd Zuercher
P. Graham Dunn Inc.
630 Henry Street
Dalton, Ohio 44618
Phone:  (330)828-2105ext. 2031

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[Emc-users] Linuxcnc vs Mach3 for Plasma Cutter?

2018-08-14 Thread Todd Zuercher 
I don’t want to start a big Mach bashing.  I just want to hear some opinions 
from those who have set up a simple CNC plasma machine with both Mach and 
Linuxcnc.

Are there any inherent advantages/disadvantages of one over the other for a 
plasma cutter?

Here where I work they just purchased a cheap plasma table kit and they are 
setting it up with Mach3.  (they being not me.)
My self, having zero experience with Mach3, probably would not have bothered 
trying to even install Mach.
The machine is a simple stepper gantry using a Gecko 540 driver pack and I 
think there is some form of THC contraption as well, but I have no details.

The two people setting it up know next to nothing about Mach3 or CNC, and even 
less about Linuxcnc (hence their choice to go with the Mach3 setup.)  My guess 
is that they are just following the instructions that came with the kit.

Unfortunately I am too busy at my end of the shop to offer them a whole lot of 
assistance, and since I know nothing about the plasma side of cnc...

However I have threatened to come down to their end of the shop and install 
LinuxCNC on it while they are not looking

Todd Zuercher
P. Graham Dunn Inc.
630 Henry Street
Dalton, Ohio 44618
Phone:  (330)828-2105ext. 2031

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