LinuxCNC, Plasma, THC questions

tommylight wrote: I will be around in case you need any help.

Thanks for that Tom

Greolt wrote: Not in person. Seen it on the Mesa website. Info is a bit light on.

Did you find the link to the manual (under "Support Materials")
www.mesanet.com/pdf/analog/thcadman.pdf

It works in a different way to the up/down type, it is a way of getting an analogue voltage representing the arc voltage into LinuxCNC. Once it is there you have the option to run a PID loop on arc voltage, and to change the arc voltage setpoint in the software.

Yes I have read that Andy.

When they say something like, "advantage of the 10V THCAD and external resistor is that the resistor can be selected to work with high-frequency start torches"
That probably is self explanatory to some readers. But I would need much more hand holding.

andypugh wrote: It works in a different way to the up/down type, it is a way of getting an analogue voltage representing the arc voltage into LinuxCNC. Once it is there you have the option to run a PID loop on arc voltage, and to change the arc voltage setpoint in the software.

I get the general gist of that, but have no hope of implimenting it without a lot of help.
Many on this forum have a good grasp of programing and the inner workings of linux. On the other hand I am just a carpenter.

hand holding is not a problem , thats what some of us are here for . your not all on your own , as is the case with some
forums ,you'll find help is at hand .

I need to add some info regarding THCad card.
I do not have one, but i would love to get my hands on both verrsions and see what they can do, from what i have read on this forum and thanks to BigJohn and PCW and others, i have no doubt it is beter than most of the THC on the market, it has direct feedback to the computer so it opens up a lot of posibilities to configure it however needed and tailored to the actual plasma/machine/material beeing cut to fine tune it to perfection.
Unfortunately i can not get my hands on one or 2 of them till i get to US next spring. I would prefer to use it on machines i build, but for adding THC to existing customer machines i liked the simplicity and reliability of Proma. And it works with HV and HV/HF pilot start plasma.
As for me personaly i have to get my grubby hands on a lot of MESA cards, i love the capabilities of them and they are very reliable from what i gathered reading here and on other forums, and support for them is awesome thanks to members of this forum. When looking at what the combination of Linuxcnc and MESA cards can do, there is very litle that can not be done as far as the automation of machinery goes, not just for routers or plasmas but for any kind/type/shape/function of machinery, no matter how complicated.
Regards
Tom

tommylight wrote: Unfortunately i can not get my hands on one or 2 of them till i get to US next spring

There are EU stockists:
eusurplus.com/index.php?route=product/pr...3_296&product_id=612 (Portugal)
www.duzi.cz/shop_cnc/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1 (Czech republic, but doesn't seem to list the THCAD)