PRO Electronics, Software and THC Upgrade

CrossFire ® PRO
1

CrossFire PRO Update 10/30/2019

First and foremost, CrossFire PRO production remains on schedule and we are confidant that a majority of Batch 1 machines will be shipped out in January!

Over the last 14 months the Langmuir Systems engineering team has been developing a new motion control software and electronics system for the CrossFire product line. Our main focus was the replacement of Mach 3- which is expensive, outdated, and lacking plasma-specific functionality.

This ‘Gen 2’ system includes a new motion control board, Langmuir Systems’ developed control software called ‘FireControl’, as well as a plug-in THC electronics package.

As you know, the CrossFire PRO was advertised to run with Mach3. However, our goal was to update FireControl with CrossFire PRO THC compatibility prior to release so that our early customers get all of the benefits of FireControl. We are happy to announce that thanks to some great work by our engineering team, FireControl with THC is going to be ready for January delivery with each CrossFire PRO machine! If you ordered Mach3 during the pre-order, you can expect to receive a refund for this software purchase within the next week.

Our goal has always been to make plasma technology more accessible and easier to use- and CrossFire Gen 2 electronics and software are the embodiment of that vision.

FireControl

The main benefit of the CrossFire Gen 2 System is FREE, cross-platform, plasma-specific control software with a modern user interface and ongoing support and development. The Gen 2 control software, FireControl, is designed and developed by Langmuir Systems specifically for CNC plasma cutting on the CrossFire and CrossFire PRO. A vast improvement over Mach 3, FireControl has many useful features that make it more powerful and easier to use.

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General

  • FREE - No cost to our customers.
  • Supported - Ongoing support for bugs or issues.
  • Cross-Platform - Compatibility with Windows and Mac OS. Linux coming soon!
  • New Development - Ongoing new feature development with free updates.
  • Fits Your Existing Workflow - Post Processors for Fusion 360 and SheetCAM will be available.

New Features

  • Dry Run Mode - Run your program without torch firing.
  • Pierce Delay Override - Increase or decrease your programmed pierce delay live while the machine is cutting.
  • THC Integration - Monitor and control all aspects of your LS THC
  • Straight Cut Mode - Simply generate programs to cut straight lines for sheet severance.
  • Incremental Jog - Quick access using keyboard shortcut for incremental jogging
  • Manual Nest - Optimize material use by moving exactly one part away in any direction to start your next cut.

We are very excited about FireControl- it’s a huge upgrade over Mach3 and other control software options and we believe our customers will find it extremely user friendly.

Langmuir Systems THC

The CrossFire Gen 2 System has been developed with THC upgradability in mind. The ability to provide a tightly integrated THC package for our customers is a core motivator in launching the CrossFire PRO with the Gen 2 system. The price of the THC add-on module will remain the same.

Our original intention was to provide a third party standalone torch height controller with the CrossFire PRO but after careful consideration, we determined that this would not be the most user-friendly or best performing solution for our customers. Our engineering team has spent the last year studying THC plasma technology and benchmarking the industry. We found that many THC systems rely on complicated settings that need to be changed for each cut including the type of plasma cutter used, material thickness, material type, moisture content of supply air, etc. Our goal with our products is to always make the process as easy as possible for our customers and we weren’t satisfied with how traditional THC systems worked.

Perhaps the biggest upgrade to our THC setup is our patent pending SmartVoltage feature. At the start of each cut, our system automatically calculates the optimal arc voltage setting in order to maintain the torch distance established by the Initial Height Sense operation. This makes it so that when you have SmartVoltage enabled, you will never have to reference a chart or perform line tests in order to determine the optimal cutting voltage - it does it for you. Since implementing this technology in our own test machines we can’t live without it and we think that customers will feel the same way! The following videos demonstrate IHS and SmartVoltage THC in action. If you watch on a full screen computer you can see the Z-axis lead screw turning by watching the coupler at the top as the THC makes Z-axis corrective moves during cutting. Note: the CrossFire PRO shown in the below footage is one of our test units and does not reflect the production offering in terms of fit and finish!

Cutting Videos

  1. Cutting a stainless dash panel using FireControl and Langmuir Systems THC w/SmartVoltage enabled.
  1. Cutting a large steel gate panel using FireControl and Langmuir Systems THC w/SmartVoltage enabled.

Below is a list of benefits and features of Langmuir Systems THC as compared to most third party THC controllers:

THC Feature CrossFire PRO THC Third Party THC
Realtime torch speed sensing to shut off THC when the speed drops below a certain speed threshold of the programmed speed to prevent torch diving YES NO
SmartVoltage: Automatically sets the arc voltage set point shortly after the pierce once the arc voltage is stable. This means that the operator does not need to manually enter the proper arc voltage- the machine determines the ideal value for you. Any material, any thickness. YES NO
Ability to adjust all THC parameters via FireControl YES NO
Variable THC Z-axis speed as a percentage of actual torch speed. In other words, when torch speed slows down, the THC speed also slows down to prevent torch dive around corners. YES NO
Does not require complex G code path rules to function properly YES NO
Torch Saver: If the torch contacts the plate during cutting, the THC will immediately ignore arc voltage feedback and instead drive the torch up rapidly to prevent damage to the torch. YES NO
Ability to download new firmware and features in the future YES NO
Can be run in manual mode with all settings completely adjustable YES NO
Real time voltage and torch speed readings during cutting in FireControl YES NO

The sophisticated electronics and software has been fully developed and the electronics are currently being manufactured. We are really proud of our new electronics, software, and THC system and we can’t wait to so what customers create with the CrossFire PRO!

We welcome any questions you may have.

Langmuir Systems

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What are the odds you might open source FireControl? If it’s free anyway, you might as well give me a way to send you bugfixes.

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We currently don’t have plans to open source FireControl due to our investment in developing this software as well as IP concerns. As for bug fixes, FireControl has crash reporting where bug fixes can be sent back to us if the user chooses to. In addition, our software engineers will be diligent in fixing any bugs from customers and posting frequent software updates for download.

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Not to be argumentative, but I’m a software engineer-- the odds that I can encounter, diagnose, and fix a bug without round-tripping to your team is quite high. Given the hardware aspect of the project those round trips are potentially very long, either because they involve getting into a particular state, because they involve my environment specifically, or because your team needs to examine my machine to diagnose. That’s valuable time to both me and your team, and I think it would be great if you would reconsider on that basis alone.

Regarding IP, I’m not sure what your concern is and so can’t validate or invalidate it. However, the things most businesses fear regarding IP and open source-- specifically, that they lose the ability to enforce patent or trademark claims-- are not accurate. You might also consider releasing under more restrictive licenses which do not permit redistribution etc, but do specifically allow authorized users to fix bugs.

If you’re open to discussing, I have about 10 years’ experience both in the open source world and helping companies navigate it and would be happy to help-- for free, of course.

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So if I read that correctly, we will not have to adjust our cutting amperage using the Langmuir software? So do you just set your plasma cutter to the highest amperage then let “smart voltage” do the rest?

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We thank you for our suggestions but we think we have a good strategy for any bug fixes and how to quickly implement updates to our customers. At the end of the day, the CNC plasma industry is competitive and we don’t want to make the inner workings of our software available for free to competition. Hope you understand!

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Thanks for your question. FireControl does not control the amperage of your machine in any way. You will still need to set this according to your manufacturers specifications for the material and thickness that you are using. What SmartVoltage does is automatically calculate the Arc voltage at the start of each cut so that you don’t need to tell the THC unit what optimal arc voltage range you want the torch to maintain. Arc voltage is proportional to the torch distance from the plate i.e. further away = higher voltage and vice versa. With normal THC modules, you would need to do line tests on every different material type, thickness, and cut speed in order to figure out manually what arc voltage your plasma cutter needs to maintain for a given cut which can become very time consuming. With SmartVoltage you don’t need to do any of that. It will work to calculate the appropriate cutting voltage setting for any plasma cutter, material type, and material thickness automatically.

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Mach3 is full of suck. It’s like its from the pre-GUI era of computing and just as convoluted. Sounds like you’ve hit a bunch of the features that I’d wished would have been there. Even the simple stuff like severing a sheet will be just so damn useful in the shop. Thank you! TBH, I also was worried that by being one of the first to get a pre-order in that I’d get a table that would need “fixing”. Seeing that it will have your unit and be firmware upgrade-able is great news. Now the only thing I have left to complain about is that the table isn’t quite 4x4. Oh, and of course I could complain about Fusion360 for days but that’s not your fault! :slight_smile:

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This is great!
I’d like to add the THC option to my order since I will be getting the Mach3 refund. What’s the best way to do that?

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I hope you guys do a toturial on this software. I took countless hours figuring out Mach 3 and that was from watching videos. Now I have to learn another program in which I don’t even know if there will be a tutorial?

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Let me be the first to pile on with 2 additional feature suggestions :smile:

Scaling & Rotation

Being able to adjust the scale of a project in FireControl would allow us to design once and cut in multiple sizes without having to regenerate paths & G-Code. This would make prototyping easier, faster & cheaper where we could to 1/4 size (for example) to make sure the design works before committing to full size or full sheet materials. It would also let us make production designs in multiple sizes for our markets if we’re selling those things. Mach3 allows this today.

Rotation in FC would help maximize material usage by letting us tilt or tweak the positioning of a design to fit into a piece of previously used material to avoid an existing cutout for instance. Now we have to go into the design and regen, etc.

(And the 3rd one, but I don’t expect doable in the next few months is to add a camera on a boom perhaps - the existing torch cable one comes to mind - with the mapping of the image to the FC display so we could place the design via software on the material visually which would really make using partially used sheets of metal even easier.)

Of course I might be wrong and no one would care about these or there are other suggestions that other folks may have that would be more useful. Just wanted to get a few ideas into your development hopper.

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Yes, we absolutely will have tutorials for this software both in video format and PDF format so that you can print out and have it as a reference while you run the machine. We can say with full confidence that FireControl software is much more user friendly than Mach3 and very intuitive. If you were able to pick up using Mach3, then learning FireControl will be a breeze for you (especially with SmartVoltage THC enabled!).

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Hi @Dannnn. Glad to hear it! Please contact tech support at support@langmuirsystems.com with your order # and they will get you squared away.

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@jamesdhatch Thanks James! We are always open to suggestions and after the initial roll-out of FireControl V1.0 we will be looking to make enhancement as time goes on. This was also one of the reasons that we developed our own electronics & software; we want to be able to control how everything works so that we can offer the best possible product to our customers! We’ve also made both the electronics & software so that they can both be updated with firmware/software in the field any time we release an update.

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I would definitely second both of those feature requests. One of my other tools has a fiducial camera on it and the workflow is 1000x better.

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It would be nice to see a post-processor for Vectric V-Carve Pro and Aspire. I use their products for all my 2D stuff.

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@richloen we can definitely look into this for you. The way that we designed our THC is so that it does not use complex path rules to prevent ant-dive functionality. We do it all with sensors in the electronics and it provides much better feedback and makes programming much easier. As a result, posted programs are almost bare-bones standard outside of the Initial Height Sensing function so making posts for other CAM software is not too challenging.

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I don’t think that I am a fan of this. Mach3 has been around for a while. My other equipment uses Mach3. I have a big database of Mach3 files. I wish this would’ve been explained before now.

So will the table’s still work with Mach3 if we want to use Mach3 still?

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Will all current tap files be able to load in firecontrol or will we have generate new code for it current files. Will mach be able to run the new electronics