IHC & THC problems (SOLVED - IHS contact plate out of position)

Hello everyone, I have everything hooked up but it won’t recognize the voltage for the THC. When I dry run it works fine. When I run a cut it moves a couple of inches and then stops. And it shows error. I have read some solutions but none have worked.

That’s an IHS fail, not a THC issue. I can see the IHS light on in Firecontrol. That light means the IHS circuit is open. The “expected state” is closed at the start of a program.

Check the two wires that come out of the Z axis and make sure the connectors are fully pushed together.

Make sure you have the IHS cable plugged in to the IHS port on the electronics enclosure.

Check the IHS switch inside the Z axis and make sure the wire connections are not loose. Also make sure the switch contact is not catching on the lead screw and holding it open.

Bottom line is the IHS circuit is a loop. When the loop is broken, that Green IHS light comes on. You have to find out why the circuit is open.

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I’ll start by asking if THC has worked previously. Depending on the cut parameters, you may not need THC at thìs point. If the cut is “normal” (ie fairly uniform & straight.) Then your settings are good.
If not, look at the cut charts posted here / elsewhere

I just assembled it. I wired it correctly as shown and checked the connections. I did notice one of the connectors is loose where its bolted at the Z axis behind the V groove bearing. I havent been able to cut at all. The torch does fire at the end of the THC test but no voltage shown.

There have been a number of instances of those connections being loose on the IHS switch. It will cause issues if it doesn’t get tightened.

What plasma cutter do you have and is it wired for divided or raw voltage? Please provide pictures of your VIM (the small plastic box) with the wires plugged into it and a picture of the front of your electronics enclosure with the cables plugged into it.

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I have a Hypertherm 45x I connected the red and black inside of the machine. I will have pics tommorow. On the IHS I can’t get to the connection unless I remove the pre-assembled Z axis v grove assembly.

If you do need to disassemble the z-axis to get to the connections, here is Langmuir’s guide:
z-axis disassembly IHS Contact Switch Components Swap Guide.pdf (7.1 MB)

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OK. Red goes to the work clamp(ground) side and Black goes to the torch side. If the polarity is reversed, it will show zero volts.

You should be using the PV out port on the VIM to go from the VIM to the THC port on the electronics enclosure.

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I was able to figure out both the THC and the IHS which I now know are seperate from one another. First of all I had theTHC wiring all screwed up. But the IHS baffled me, so I contacted Langmuir support. I explained my issue not thinking they would get back to me right away. With in 20 min. Zackery reached out to me and suggested a few solutions. I sent him a video of the Z axis and he was able to point out that the contact plate had rotated to the left where it was not making contact. Said may havebeen from shipping. So now I am a cutting fool. Thanks for everyones help

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Weird.

Glad you got it sorted. Glad @langmuir-zachary got in touch with you so promptly. Glad you are “a cutting fool.” And glad you let us know how it all turned out.

I am sure I could have said that with less words, sorry! :man_shrugging: :wink:

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