Fusion 360 - Post process with initial pierce delay

I just finished my CrossFire Pro table setup today, using the Thermal Dynamics Cutmaster 42 I’ve owned for a while. I discovered that the first time the torch was turned on in a toolpath that the arc takes several seconds longer to engage, I suspect as a safety measure to ensure the air is firmly running and cooling the torch before allowing the arc, as the air stays on for ~15 seconds after the arc stops and during the time it will restart immediately.

Since there didn’t appear to be an option for this in the Fusion 360 post-processor I took a look and noticed that the post processors are in javascript, so I modified it to add a setting for this initial pierce delay. As a note: *** USE AT YOUR OWN RISK ***, I accept no liability if this doesn’t work right for you. This is modified from the 1.6 version of the post-processor for the PRO or others with THC.

Here’s the diff, its a pretty limited change. I’ve also attached the modified version to this post.

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< description = "FireControl Plasma v1.6";
---
> description = "FireControl Plasma Initial Pierce Mod v1.6";
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>     pierceInitialDelay: 2.0, // specifies the added delay for the initial pierce
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>     pierceInitialDelay: {title:"First Pierce Delay (sec)", description:"Additional delay added to the initial pierce.", type:"number"},
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>     if (firstLoop) {
>        // This is should be the first pierce, add an initial delay for cutters
>        // that have a delay after the air is first turned on.
>        seconds = seconds + properties.pierceInitialDelay;
>     }

initial_pierce_post.zip (4.9 KB)

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