Its not so much about ease of use, Mach3 is a pain in the butt. Its about consistency in a shop w/ multiple CNCs. Its about consistent performance from a mature product as others have pointed out.
How does one cancel an order? Just email?
Is a connection to internet required to run this program after installed? Also can I still use Mach 3 if I chose to?
I would also like to see a post processor for Aspire!
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@Tricktuning @twopecker I agree. I would like the option to run Mach 3 also. I am a fan of consistency too. Plus if we don’t like this new software that no one has ever used then we are kind of stuck with it.
I agree this should have been disclosed during the presale. We might be learning now how the price was kept so low on this table.
@james1980still I hope it doesn’t have to be connected to the internet. They are saying no to being able to use Mach 3 still.
I know. That part sucks. If it crashes and they put out business, we screwed. Can’t even sell it then. I have no connection in my shop. I saw where they replied to someone else who asked “what if it crashes” and they responded “it will send info to us in detail” … well not if I don’t have connection
@james1980still @clemsontravis No you do not need a connection to the internet to run FireControl.
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@twopecker Yes just send an email to support@langmuirsystems.com and we will get you taken care of. Sad to see you go! We truly believe that FireControl and our THC unit are miles ahead of the outdated Mach3 software in terms of performance, features, and ease-of-use. Our decision to get away from Mach3 was based solely on the fact that we want to offer the best possible product to our customers.
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Does this also mean that that it will not be a price thc like you had released? You need to strongly consider figuring out how to have mach run this machine also judging by the comments that are being made on the Facebook pages right now.
@Tricktuning The electronics and THC unit will not be compatible with Mach3. We strongly believe this new setup is a drastic improvement to the overall system but if the lack of Mach3 compatibility is a deal-breaker for anyone, we are happy to fully refund any pre-ordered machines. Our intention was to make our offering better, but Mach3 was a limiting factor in doing so. We are confident that CrossFire PRO customers are going to be satisfied with the gen 2 system upgrades; especially those that are coming from other CNC plasma cutting systems including Mach3.
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We might be learning now how the price was kept so low on this table.
Your thinking is totally backwards wrt to pricing. It would have been 1000x cheaper for Langmuir to
continue to use Mach3 + 3rd party THC than to develop new software from scratch. Software development is not cheap. This represents a significant investment by Langmuir, if anything it baffles me how they kept the price so low while doing this.
Fact is Mach3 development is dead. While supported the developers of Mach3 are not working on any new features for Mach3, they want you to move to Mach4. There is no guarantee that Mach3 will continue to work with new versions/updates of Windows. Further Langmuir has zero control over Mach3 development.
With the new software/hardware we get:
- A full integrated THC, no messing with presets on an external controller, no test cuts. Well this remains to be proven by the end user, that’s the promise and that is a hell of a lot better than Mach3 with 3rd party THC.
- New purchasers save the Mach3 license fee, making getting a plasma table even more affordable.
- Simpler interface. Less time for new users to get up and running, less time spent learning Mach3.
- In house development, which should translate into a better end product tailored specifically for the Langmuir tables.
If you purchased this table for a business and are worried that Langmuir goes bankrupt in a few years your total investment is… $2500. If your table hasn’t made that back for you many times over, than it wasn’t a significant portion of your business anyway. Plus how much do you think a 3 or 4 year old used plasma table that retails for $3000 is going to sell for anyway? Lets be realistic here.
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@Greg9504 We appreciate your remarks. You hit the nail on the head with a lot of these points. Another thing that I didn’t mention that you touched on was Mach3 and future support. There have been whispers that Mach3 may not be available for future Windows updates and this was even more reason for us to get away from the software…
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@Greg9504 You are only right if their software is great and works flawlessly. They also created a THC that works specifically to this new proprietary software. Building your own THC is cheaper than purchasing one already designed.
I am all for this if it works.
You last argument doesn’t make any sense. You cannot compare the value of a 3-4 year old table that works to a table that has no software and doesn’t work. I don’t care of the value of my 3-4 year old plasma table if Langmuir delivers what they are advertising. I won’t have any interest in selling it.
Question about the SmartVoltage feature. (Keep in mind I haven’t used a plasma table or THC). If we find we need to tweak the settings, let’s say for a certain metal thickness. Can we manually adjust settings as they do on a traditional THC?
@geoffsteppler Yes absolutely. If you’d prefer to just run the THC like a traditional THC system where you input your target arc voltage you can do this as well. All settings are manually adjustable. Just think of SmartVoltage as the system working on ‘cruise control’. We’ve performed thousands of cut tests and studied these characteristics and have used these to develop how SmartVoltage automates the process. We think that once customers try it, they will be cutting almost exclusively with SmartVoltage.
A huge advantage of FireControl is that you have all your THC settings right in the software. If we were to use a third party THC, you’d constantly have to go to your THC module and make changes for each cut because FireControl has no way of controlling this unit. Many of these modules don’t even have a memory bank so you’d need to record all your settings for different plate type, thickness, speed etc. Running a THC in manual mode can get pretty involved!
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You willing to offer 90 day no questions asked return and you pay shipping back guarantee on its functionality and defects. Not asking about opinions. But we all bought it with the fact of have a proven software to run this machine. Bought a blue car and receiving a red 1 so to speak. Will you be able to scale and rotate in the new software.
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@Tricktuning we hope you understand but the logistics of doing this is just not feasible.
FireControl will not have scaling or rotating of g-code programs but it is something that we are working on to implement into future software updates. For the time being, scaling and rotating can be accomplished fairly easily in CAM software (Autodesk Fusion, SheetCAM, etc).
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@clemsontravis does Mach3 work great while being flawless?
If you find a bug in Mach3 will anyone fix it?
If you run into a software problem with your table, you now have one place to go. They will also be in a much better position to help you sort out these problems as they will have all the source code.
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Scaling and rotating is most to fit parts on a sheet that has been cut on and need to fit somewhere. Again in some cases I only receive a processed file I dont receive anything editable from certain companies. So I’ll have to have them rotate it or load another sheet. And on my inhouse parts that’s still nonsense time wasted to go back into cad to rotate and make another toolpath file. When it only take 15 seconds in mach on any of my 3 machines. A little concerning you wont guarantee it function correctly
I am glad for the stated updates and controller features. I have owned other plasma machines that had THC
that ran MACH3. All the points you made for developing you own are very strong. Other manufactures have also moved away form MACH exactly for those reasons you stated. No support and no ability to update. The THC features such as voltage control as well as memory are major improvements! Just before you announced I was getting ready to build my own with the features you added!
Thank you so much!!
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