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Blackbox and plasma

Discussion in 'Controller Boards' started by Erik van Trijp, Jun 20, 2019.

  1. Erik van Trijp

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    Hi,

    Converting an OX CNC 1500x1500 to a plasma cutter. Installed floating Z, inductive endstops and a Proma THC SD controller. Now ordered the Blackbox controller to take control of the beast.

    Anyone else running the Blackbox controller with plasma, and care to share there toughts and expiriences?

    Erik
     
  2. Alex Chambers

    Alex Chambers Master
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    Have you seen the last few posts in this thread?

    BlackBox


    Alex.
     
  3. Hellsbellsidaho

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    Did you get the blackbox to work with the Proma TCH?
     
  4. Peter Van Der Walt

    Peter Van Der Walt OpenBuilds Team
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    Grbl does not support THCs. You can use the more hobby-typical floating head method
     
  5. Hellsbellsidaho

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    I have a floating head with the Proma THC. The Proma can be connected to the Blackbox?
     

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  6. Peter Van Der Walt

    Peter Van Der Walt OpenBuilds Team
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    No it cannot. Google for "grbl plasma" to read up about it
    GRBL does not support up/down commands from a THC.

    Option a) dont use THC, use a Floating / Drag head setup with BlackBox
    Option b) you really want THC then a low cost controller like Blackbox or any other Grbl board will not suit you. Want to go professional, you'll have to spend on professional / or diy with LinuxCNC
     
  7. Erik van Trijp

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    Yes, but i have the PromaSD, which controls the z stepper by itself.
     
  8. Erik van Trijp

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    For Opton B, use the Proma THC-SD. It works with the balckbox, because it takes control over the Z motor. Use the floating head for the Z zero, and then the Proma SD takes over the rest.
     
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  9. Hellsbellsidaho

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    How would that work considering to wire the HTC-SD it needs to between the CNC board and the motor driver and the Blackbox has onboard motor drivers?

     
  10. Erik van Trijp

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    i'm using a relay that switches between the blackbox driver and a seperate driver. The moment the relay switches on the plasma torch, it switches to a second motor driver for the Z-Axis. Since the torch fires, and waits 1.5 seconds before moving, this is not a problem
     
  11. Erik van Trijp

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    i know, but from that moment blackbox does not control the Z axis, the Proma Thc-sd with its own driver does.
     
  12. Peter Van Der Walt

    Peter Van Der Walt OpenBuilds Team
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    Fair enough, but then what are you switching?
    I was thinking you run step/dir/enable out to the relay, and step/dir/enable from your standalone THC, then switch which goes to the Z-driver (assuming external used for both)
    Are you switching enabled motor wires then? (That would be heavy on the drivers on blackbox, like unplugging a motor, back-emf dumping back to the driver)
     
  13. Hellsbellsidaho

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    Right now I have an ST-V3 Board connected to four DQ542MA Step Drivers and two 36v power supplies. Can I connect the Blackbox to the DQ542MA drivers and bypass the onboard drivers?
     
  14. Peter Van Der Walt

    Peter Van Der Walt OpenBuilds Team
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    No, like i've been saying for a while, its not really what Blackbox is for man :)
    Just get an Uno and some DQ542MAs if you want to do advanced stuff like this. BlackBox is meant for those 99% of our users who just want to plug in a controller to a standard machine and go. Easy, simple, to the point :)

     
  15. Thom Hall

    Thom Hall New
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    Hi - I followed this thread, and I am hoping for some insight. I have a custom 1 meter square XYZ build with openbuilds heavy duty Nema 23's,and the black box.

    I was able to get it working great with the endurance 10W laser as a laser engraver using lightburn. I made it using a modular quick-change tool system I found on Thingiverse and printed up.


    I found a design for the S-45 torch my Lotos Plasma came with, mashed it up in sketchup, and it printed great.
    Now I need to connect my plasma cutter to the GRBL Black Box. I understand the GRBL Black Box will not deal with a THC. Can anyone give me guidance on which pins to use on the CNC port of the plasma cutter? Wondering if anyone else has done this yet, and would be willing to share some insight.

    Plasma is LOTOS Supreme Cut 60D (manual here: https://www.uwelding.com/content/manual/SupremeCUT60DManual.pdf pinout on page 27 upload_2020-2-17_18-5-4.png

    My question is this: what pins can I use to control this plasma cutter (just on/off, on-off and power setting?, anything else?)
    and what changes would I make in the settings for the black box tool?
     
  16. Peter Van Der Walt

    Peter Van Der Walt OpenBuilds Team
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  17. Peter Van Der Walt

    Peter Van Der Walt OpenBuilds Team
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    From the description, that should be pins 1+2 connected as before here OpenBuilds BlackBox 4X Documentation to the Relay connector on the BlackBox
    Make sure to set the Relay jumper to m3/m5 mode: OpenBuilds BlackBox 4X Documentation

    M3S1000 to turn plasma on, M5 to turn it off
     
  18. philcava

    philcava New
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    Hi, what is the max. voltage on the connector "RELAY" because the Inverter send 36V
     

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  19. Peter Van Der Walt

    Peter Van Der Walt OpenBuilds Team
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    That will be fine, the relay (pcb tracks, connector etc included) is rated well above that
     

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