Plasma Pierce Operation

[fritts22]

How are plasma piercing operations to be controlled.  I don't see any place to control the piercing operation.   Seems like it should be something controlled in a tool library similar to sheetcam.   Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Laurens-3DTechDraw]

Are you looking to do CNC plasma cutting?

Please see the first part of this video: https://youtu.be/OWpHE4UHiY0?t=1m20s

[fritts22]

Yes, plan on using with my home plasma cutter/router. Need Pierce settings though to create the correct code.

[Laurens-3DTechDraw]

What do you mean with pierce settings?

[fritts22]

The settings for creating the initial hole through the metal or pierce settings.   Usually you have a pierce height at around .120 from the top of the part moving to around .040 for cutting.  Usually you have a special feed rate for that move.   Thicker pieces with lower power plasma usually use a wiggle movement as its getting to the cut height to help pierce through thicker material.  Something similar to how sheetcam is setup.

[Laurens-3DTechDraw]

This sounds like something for the ideastation.

Plasma and laser isn't released fully yet and is only in testing. So giving this kind of info to the guys is really useful.

[HughesTooling]

@MattWynn might be able to help with this, I think you could set this up in the post using properties on the post dialog. I've modified a waterjet post to produce code for my Charmilles wire eroder and set the power settings from the post dialog.

Mark

[MattWynn]

copy of @fritts22 post in another forum (we will continue the discussion here)

The pierce settings are rather important on each machine would like pierce settings to be added similar to sheetcam which is what many currently use.  See attached picture. 

[MattWynn]

We are not going to copy how sheetcam works.  There are lots of reasons why CAM is better in the design system than in third party, and Fusion will continue to get more powerful for sheet cutting fabrication.

On industrial plasma / oxy-fuel cutters this is all handled in the control.  Our staff has lots of experience with these machines.

In Autodesk CAM most of what you talk about can be done in the postprocessor.  Heights and special feedrate for the z move are easy to add to the post.  The ramp and wiggle movement for piercing are more complicated to create in the postprocessor - there has has been talk about them as part of the operation but there are currently no plans to add this to the operation.

What control are you using on your plasma?  Do you have a postprocessor that is working to control your machine?  Lets start with the basics and add complexity as it becomes necessary.

[fritts22]

This is a typical home router/plasma cutter setup running grbl (was running Gecko/Mach3).   Sheetcam is a sort of standard for the hobby type machines that many people are making with grbl or mach 3 control.  Really do not like adding to the post as this is something that will need to be changed based on thickness/type of material.

[MattWynn]

You can make the values parameters that can be set each time you run the post, so they can change with different materials without editing the post.

There has also been talk about making tool library settings that are suitable for the jet machines, but there has been a lot of changes to the milling tool library, and we need to let them settle down before adding jet settings.

Did you get the grbl plasma post?  there are several discussions about grbl plasma and you should be able to download it from there.  There are several folks using the grbl post for their plasmas, this is the first time I have seen request for the level of control you ask.  All good.

[fritts22]

I had done some searching on plasma pierce operations but none on plasma grbl posts. Will take a look and report back.

[Anonymous]

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@MattWynn wrote:

You can make the values parameters that can be set each time you run the post, so they can change with different materials without editing the post.

Can you elaborate on this?  Are there examples somewhere?

[MattWynn]

@Anonymous, see the postprocessor documentation PDF, , and dedicated forum, http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/post-processors/bd-p/218 .

As an example, see the OMAX post, omax.cps and how it declared etchQuality:

properties = {
  etchQuality: 6 // Etch quality
};

so then etchQuality shows in the postprocessor dialog as a postprocessor variable that can be set each time you post.

[Anonymous]

Thanks,

  Just a quick thought, it would be nice if important documentation like the postprocessor documentation PDF was directly linked by a help button from the Post Process screen.  I never knew this document existed, and still don't know how I would ever find it again without referring back to this thread.

[fritts22]

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@fritts22 wrote:

I had done some searching on plasma pierce operations but none on plasma grbl posts. Will take a look and report back.

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Searching through the posts I didn't see anything available for grbl and Jetting processes, just mill.  Anyone know of anyone working on a post.  Not really fluent in these posts.

[fritts22]

Would it be possible to have Autodesk create a working GRBL based jetting post.  Looks like there have been several people working on one but none that were available.  Would you be willing to add a cut during Z movement and possible a Z only feed prior to lead in.   I believe this would be enough to provide pierce settings for those want to use 360 for home plasma cutting.   I'm just not versed enough in the posts to create something that would work for me and like this approach much more than my current CAD to sheetcam workflow.

[skidsolo]

Can you tell us what the M codes are for laser on laser off ?