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Quick guide to new features in CommandCNC 0.8.0

2K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  Cherryville Chuck 
#1 ·
Before this release of CommandCNC; for those who had a FeatherTouch Ohmic sense setup, if the Ohmic touch failed to detect the metal because it was rusty or for any other reason, the floating head switch would be tripped and would put your machine into E-Stop. This caused many sore heads and lost hair.
Fortunately, there is now a better solution! With a simple change to your wiring, and a change in your config, the touchoff can now use the floating head switch for the touch-off if the ohmic sense misses - and it will automatically apply the switch offset if the floating head switch is the one that tripped.


Note: if you do not wish to make the changes listed below, your system will continue to operate as before.



In order to use this feature you will need to change how the switches are wired into the Table I/O card. The basic setup is that the floating head switch wire (green wire) should now be connected to the Z Home input on the Table I/O, and the ohmic sense wire (orange wire) should now bemconnected to an unused input - preferably the AUX1 input.mImage 1 shows the green connector that plugs into the Table I/O card. The green wire from the floating head switch now goes into the position at the edge next to the white/orange wire, and the orange wire from the ohmic sense is pulled out of the connector and has a .25” shoveon connector crimped onto the end. This configuration will be the same for all versions of the Table I/O cards which have the connector for this plug.


Image 2 shows a Table I/O card rev 12.2 with the connectors plugged in. Another change is that now that the floating head switch is not part of the E-STOP chain, you must put a jumper across the EPO tabs on the Table I/O card as shown in the image below with the blue wire. If you do not jumper across these tabs, your machine will not be able to come out of E-STOP!


After making the connections as shown above, you will need to change some settings in the Configurator:
1. “Z Home input” should now be set to “Z Home switch”
2. “AUX1 input” should now be set to “Probe input”
3. The “Z Home input” Invert checkbox should be un-checked. This is because the floating head switch was (or should have been!) wired as normally closed (NC), so when used as a home switch again the signal is inverted. If you are setting up a FeatherTouch for the first time, you should wire the switch as normally open (NO). If you do that, or if you re wire the switch as normally open (NO), then you would check the Invert checkbox.
4. You will need to determine the switch offset for the floating head switch and enter it in the “Home Switch Offset” entry on the “Z Axis” tab in the Axes page of the Configurator.


Probe limit now set in Manual tab in CommandCNC

In previous versions of CommandCNC we have used the Plunge Safety Height setting as the limit of the probing routine. In this release we now have a setting in the Manual tab called "Touchoff Limit". This can be set from -127 to (the large number is to accommodate metric units).
If you find that you are getting the “G38.2 move finished without making contact” error, you probably need to lower this limit. A common scenario is that your torch touches off on a high spot, and sets that point to zero. Then perhaps the next time it touches off the metal has warped and it is in a spot that is 1” lower than the last touchoff. If your Touchoff Limit is set to -0.75”, the torch will move down to -0.75” and will stop with the G38.2 error even though it is still be .25” above the material.




Support for Torch off before end of cut

You can now create a before-end-of-cut rule in SheetCAM to turn the torch off and prevent the small divot created when the torch stops moving before the torch is turned off. Because there are several variables involved, it will take some experimenting to find the best distance before end-ofcut to turn the torch off.
This release includes an updated tools file “LCNC_Hypertherm45-105_codes.tools” with a new Code tool “C10 Torch OFF”. The code in this tool is simply “M62 P2”. To add a rule set: Open Tools/Cutting Rules and in Rules set drop down select "Add new Rule set”. Once you have a new Rule set you can click “Add Rule” and create a rule as is pictured in the next image. The “Distance” value will depend on your machine setup and speeds and must be determined by making test cuts.
 
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