Plasma THC

Am I correct in assuming that the "probe" is the same as a float switch?

snugglylovemuffin wrote: Am I correct in assuming that the "probe" is the same as a float switch?

Yes the switch is triggered when the Z axis floats up and it is connected to the probe signal inside your linuxCNC HAL file. That lets LinuxCNC act on it from G code.

Hi Tommylight
I am building a system with cut50, linuxcnc and PromaTHC compact.
Trying to get my system ready to use your help is badly needed - possibly take a few queries before I understand what is needed. I am trying to get thc-toma-stepper to launch but no luck so far. I paste some code from dmesg below. Any help welcome
Thank you
John

[ 9593.646457] RTAI[hal]: compiled with gcc version 4.7.2 (Debian 4.7.2-5) .
[ 9593.646510] RTAI[hal]: mounted (IPIPE-NOTHREADS, IMMEDIATE (INTERNAL IRQs DISPATCHED), ISOL_CPUS_MASK: 0).
[ 9593.646515] SYSINFO: CPUs 2, LINUX APIC IRQ 2312, TIM_FREQ 12556835, CLK_FREQ 2009171000, CPU_FREQ 2009171000
[ 9593.646519] RTAI_APIC_TIMER_IPI: RTAI DEFINED 2314, VECTOR 2314; LINUX_APIC_TIMER_IPI: RTAI DEFINED 2312, VECTOR 2312
[ 9593.646524] TIMER NAME: lapic; VARIOUSLY FOUND APIC FREQs: 12556835, 12556835, 12471500
[ 9593.655791] RTAI[malloc]: global heap size = 2097152 bytes, <BSD>.
[ 9593.655850] , <uses LINUX SYSCALLs>, kstacks pool size = 524288 bytes.
[ 9593.655856] RTAI[sched]: hard timer type/freq = APIC/12556835(Hz); default timing: oneshot; linear timed lists.
[ 9593.655860] RTAI[sched]: Linux timer freq = 250 (Hz), TimeBase freq = 2009171000 hz.
[ 9593.655863] RTAI[sched]: timer setup = 999 ns, resched latency = 2944 ns.
[ 9593.661497] RTAI[math]: loaded.
[ 9593.814920] trivkins: Unknown parameter `coordinates'
[ 9594.126922] RTAI[math]: unloaded.
[ 9594.129366] SCHED releases registered named ALIEN PEDV$D
[ 9594.135640] RTAI[malloc]: unloaded.
[ 9594.232029] RTAI[sched]: unloaded (forced hard/soft/hard transitions: traps 0, syscalls 0).
[ 9594.234314] I-pipe: head domain RTAI unregistered.
[ 9594.234376] RTAI[hal]: unmounted.

What kind of controller are you using? I'm using some similar equipment but had problems implementing the Toma because I'm using a mesa board. Grotius and Rodw (I think Tommylight as well) have been working on a new system for Plasma/laser/waterjet machines that are adaptable to Parport and Mesa options.
=> github.com/michelwijnja/external_offsets...lob/master/README.md

Hi I'm using a chinese 5 axis controller to move stepper motors on a belt driven machine. Worked well as a cnc router but now I want to switch to plasma. All I'm doing right now is trying to get the parallel ports set up and the machine config to start up. Then I'll take the pc to the workshop and hook up the machine. I have attached an error file. This is the beginning bit of the attached file. Error in bold.

Confused for now but I feel sure this will work with a little help
Thanks

Print file information:
RUN_IN_PLACE=no
LINUXCNC_DIR=
LINUXCNC_BIN_DIR=/usr/bin
LINUXCNC_TCL_DIR=/usr/lib/tcltk/linuxcnc
LINUXCNC_SCRIPT_DIR=
LINUXCNC_RTLIB_DIR=/usr/realtime-3.4-9-rtai-686-pae/modules/linuxcnc
LINUXCNC_CONFIG_DIR=
LINUXCNC_LANG_DIR=/usr/share/linuxcnc/tcl/msgs
INIVAR=inivar
HALCMD=halcmd
LINUXCNC_EMCSH=/usr/bin/wish8.5
LINUXCNC - 2.7.14
Machine configuration directory is '/home/john/linuxcnc/configs/thc-toma-stepper-final'
Machine configuration file is 'thc_toma.ini'
INIFILE=/home/john/linuxcnc/configs/thc-toma-stepper-final/thc_toma.ini
PARAMETER_FILE=plasma.var
TASK=milltask
HALUI=halui
DISPLAY=axis
Starting LinuxCNC...
Starting LinuxCNC server program: linuxcncsvr
Loading Real Time OS, RTAPI, and HAL_LIB modules
Starting LinuxCNC IO program: io
Starting HAL User Interface program: halui
Found file(REL): ./stepper.hal
Shutting down and cleaning up LinuxCNC...
Killing task linuxcncsvr, PID=3778
Removing HAL_LIB, RTAPI, and Real Time OS modules
Removing NML shared memory segments

Debug file information:
Error: could not insert module /usr/realtime-3.4-9-rtai-686-pae/modules/linuxcnc/trivkins.ko: Unknown symbol in module
./stepper.hal:5: exit value: 1
./stepper.hal:5: insmod for trivkins failed, returned -1
See the output of 'dmesg' for more information.
3778
PID TTY STAT TIME COMMAND
Stopping realtime threads
Unloading hal components

I'm not the best person to help you with the problems relating to code. Did you go through the Stepconf process to build your machine file? If you've altered that file at all, double check to make sure your alterations are not erroneous.

The next step, if that doesn't help is to go to the "stepconf wizard" and see if the guys there can help at all.

What kind of start is your CUT50? I'm going to insane lengths to protect my electronics from the HF start of my Eastwood versacut45