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Plastic
Joined
Mar 5, 2021
Hello all, long time lurker, first time poster.

Straight to it...
About a year ago, I bought a lightly used, early model Torchmate 4x4 table, which included a Miller spectrum 875 plasma (oh, the ironing). After some familiarization, it has been working fine for heavier, simpler parts like brackets, mounts and such.
However, when using it for lighter jobs (<.120"), with higher travel speeds on more intricate parts it runs into problems. The first was a simple 24"x12" garden sign that I was making from 14ga. sheet as a mother's day gift. It took almost an entire 4'x8' sheet of material to get it to come out. That turned out to be a bug in the gcode that had reversed the direction of an arc in one of the text letters.

Currently, I'm attempting to cut an entry gate sign that includes some text and graphics, again from 14ga. So far I've been through about half of a 4x10 sheet trying to get it right.

It seems to me that TorchmateCAD is having a hard time converting the design into a good gcode. Has anyone experienced this or similar? Is there a workable solution? Perhaps a better CAD software that will work with the Torchmate controller?

For reference, the plasma is running at 50a, torch height control set to 140v (to keep the head a bit higher off the material), and feedrate set at 120ipm.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

I'll be upgrading to either a 4x8 or 5x10 after I move out of my two-car and into my shop which is currently under construction. I'll likely be looking at brands other that TM. However, I'd still like to be able to use this machine in the meantime.
 
What version of tm cad software are you using?
How are you creating the tool path?
Are you creating a male, female or on path?
Did you setup the material thickness?
How are you exporting the dxf file?

What version of the cut software are you using?
 
What version of tm cad software are you using?
How are you creating the tool path?
Are you creating a male, female or on path?
Did you setup the material thickness?
How are you exporting the dxf file?

What version of the cut software are you using?

Software is version 8.0, revision 1.
Torch driver is version 4.0.59.

I'm letting the software generate a male toolpath, and exporting them using the software's .dxf exporter. There are different settings for material thickness in the torch height controller, but I'm not aware of any specific material thickness settings in the software other that lead-in and -out settings.
 
Hyperthem makes a good cutting program, sounds like the computer is seeing some remnent in the file to be cut and is probably causing weird movements. you need to zoom in and find all the trash everywhere, if not it keeps doing the same things no matter what program you have.
 
Hyperthem makes a good cutting program, sounds like the computer is seeing some remnent in the file to be cut and is probably causing weird movements. you need to zoom in and find all the trash everywhere, if not it keeps doing the same things no matter what program you have.

Yes, I have programmed similar, and had the same problems.

After you import you file, and before you put the tool path on it, there is a pulldown (to the left of adding toolpath) with some cleanup commands.

I run them all on the toolpath (make sure it's selected) IIRC there is simplify,
and other clean ups.
 
Are you creating the design from scratch or are you importing a svg?

For the decorative stuff, I usually import a clipart image and transform it into a part in the software. Then I can edit the nodes to clean it up.

After further testing, I'm suspecting the torch driver is losing its place. Does 120ipm sound too fast for a gantry that is run by a drive screw system?
 
For the decorative stuff, I usually import a clipart image and transform it into a part in the software. Then I can edit the nodes to clean it up.

After further testing, I'm suspecting the torch driver is losing its place. Does 120ipm sound too fast for a gantry that is run by a drive screw system?

Yes.

The one I drive now, is the 4x4 growth series, with a screw on each side.
I don't like running above 50 IPM because of how it bangs around.
 
are you sure you dont have any binding of the y axis carriage? disconnect the to cap screws on each side and make sure it slides very smooth no binding at all the entire way Also you should be able to spin the inner and outer bearings with your fingers.

We have ours dialed in really good and we only move it at like 90ipm I agree 120 is fast maybe try slowing the ramping
 
Yes.

The one I drive now, is the 4x4 growth series, with a screw on each side.
I don't like running above 50 IPM because of how it bangs around.

Mine is also the growth series. It does hang up on one side of the Z travel, but only at one far end of the bed. I can run it up to ~100ipm usually without issue. Have you checked the squareness of your table?

jmanatee said:
are you sure you dont have any binding of the y axis carriage? disconnect the to cap screws on each side and make sure it slides very smooth no binding at all the entire way Also you should be able to spin the inner and outer bearings with your fingers.

We have ours dialed in really good and we only move it at like 90ipm I agree 120 is fast maybe try slowing the ramping

I do have some binding, but only on one very end of the travel. In fact, I've rotated the home position, and axes, so that the table rarely works on that end. I have uncoupled the drive nuts from the screws and run the carriage to both ends of the bed with just the little binding at the one end.

I was just wondering earlier today if there was a way to ramp in and out travel speed. It seems like it has the most problems with hard corners and sharp angles.
 
Mine is also the growth series. It does hang up on one side of the Z travel, but only at one far end of the bed. I can run it up to ~100ipm usually without issue. Have you checked the squareness of your table?



I do have some binding, but only on one very end of the travel. In fact, I've rotated the home position, and axes, so that the table rarely works on that end. I have uncoupled the drive nuts from the screws and run the carriage to both ends of the bed with just the little binding at the one end.

I was just wondering earlier today if there was a way to ramp in and out travel speed. It seems like it has the most problems with hard corners and sharp angles.

No I haven't checked anything, as I'm not having any problems.

It's making accurate parts, and that's what matters to me.
If I have to run it slower than published to doo that.
I'm fine with that, and even if it makes a more tenacious slag that needs ground off.
 
To adjust ramping,

In the Torchmate cutting software (3 or 4) from the top menu Configuration -> Machine -> Feedrate/Ramping

There are three settings for ramping, We leave the "General" and "Feedrate Move" at 10.00 but we change the "Continuous Contouring" to about 70% of what ever our cut rate is.

So if we import and are cutting 14ga at 75ipm we set the "Continuous Contouring" at 55ipm
 
OP: Your plasma is an 875, but are you running the consumables for the full 875 performance or have you moved down to the 50 amp rated consumables? I had a local plasma guy and he had great results by downgrading the consumables to the lower rated torch options (he claims). There are settings for pierce for material thickness. As far as converting to G-code, the way I was shown was using Solidworks 360 and as far as I know it works well.

Not trying to hijack the thread here, but as it seems you all have firsthand experience with Torchmate I figured this would be a good place to ask. What do you (as owners) think about Torchmate and the support for the products? I have a 2x2 Torchmate Growth series plasma water table up for sale local to me and I was thinking of finally getting into CNC plasma, I don't have need for anything wider at this time but maybe upgrade to the 2x4 system later. Is there adequate support for legacy TM products, this table is from around 2011. Are the software updates available or is everything a crapshoot as to availability? Does TM support actually provide support and not a recurring sales pitch?
 
To adjust ramping,

In the Torchmate cutting software (3 or 4) from the top menu Configuration -> Machine -> Feedrate/Ramping

There are three settings for ramping, We leave the "General" and "Feedrate Move" at 10.00 but we change the "Continuous Contouring" to about 70% of what ever our cut rate is.

So if we import and are cutting 14ga at 75ipm we set the "Continuous Contouring" at 55ipm

Very much thank you.

SShep71 said:
OP: Your plasma is an 875, but are you running the consumables for the full 875 performance or have you moved down to the 50 amp rated consumables? I had a local plasma guy and he had great results by downgrading the consumables to the lower rated torch options (he claims). There are settings for pierce for material thickness. As far as converting to G-code, the way I was shown was using Solidworks 360 and as far as I know it works well.

Not trying to hijack the thread here, but as it seems you all have firsthand experience with Torchmate I figured this would be a good place to ask. What do you (as owners) think about Torchmate and the support for the products? I have a 2x2 Torchmate Growth series plasma water table up for sale local to me and I was thinking of finally getting into CNC plasma, I don't have need for anything wider at this time but maybe upgrade to the 2x4 system later. Is there adequate support for legacy TM products, this table is from around 2011. Are the software updates available or is everything a crapshoot as to availability? Does TM support actually provide support and not a recurring sales pitch?

I am using the 60a consumables, but I'll give 50A stuff a shot.

I've been mostly happy with the table, thus far. I did contact TM product support once and received very good customer service. I can't speak to updates as I've been running what came with it. It's not the easiest software to use or the most intuitive, but it works. FWIW, I'm trying to figure out how to export .dxf from freecad to work with the table.
 








 
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