I created a decent plasma screen set. It has the consumable warning light and you can set the max pierce counter/alarm reset the total cut + consumable cut time, and total pierces. You can click the warning to dismiss this but, it will light up after a few cuts until you fully reset the alarm. Full screen view works. There are flame shaped indicators for stack lights. THC up and down indicators, corss hair button for a laser, and a ton more stuff. Working on a “Dry Run” macro and button now.
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nice work!
it is unfortunate that 90% of Langmuir products are now on Firecontrol…and all future tables will be…
Do you like using Mach 3 better than fire control?
Fire control is one of the things I really like about the langmuir system
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Mach 3 is old, but still works and the reason it still is able to be used is that it’s configurable. Mach3 owners didn’t have to wait two years to get something as simple as Limit Switches added to their systems. I had my THC running before Pros were shipping for two not-so random examples.
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Plenty of people still use Mach3. There is nothing wrong with that.
Besides Fire Control runs on the STM32 F103C8T6 or similar blue pill clone. Its prone to freezing and other issues due to lack of EMI shielding and adequate grounding of the control box and table. These boards don’t have, enough pcb layers to segregate signals and layer the grounds in-between for the appropriate drainage. The performance issues are enhanced with the inclusion of the THC processes. It’s a very common complaint you can find among owners in comment sections of other forms and YT videos(before creators delete them). Plus, users are always stuck with fire control or other GRBL UI’s / Skins and can’t upgrade stuff like the Z axis drivers or incorporate additional I/O.
You can really dumb down a Mach3 Screen to emulate Firecontrol. Mach 3 users can modify and improve their machine and have endless customization. They could even update from the cheap tb6600 stepper killers (that humm coming from the X and Y axis motors) to a crazy powerful closed loop stepper if they want. The only thing Firecontoll does that Mach can’t is nesting. But you can write a basic nesting macro that can get you close. Most fabricators nest outside of our Gode sender anyway. That Screen above saves work offsets as 1, 2, 3, 4 ,etc. similar to Fire. Mach users have better control over thc. Mach users can locate their work piece automatically from the edges or previously cut parts. Mach users can still use the little Bluetooth/wifi keyboard.
So for those users that want to stay with what they have and, maintain the ability to update or improve their machine in the future, those individuals may want a different look. I switched to an Esp32 in dozens of my own projects like (my dog feeder) because an Arduino isn’t sufficient why would I run a CNC on one. I personally would stick to a modified version the original red board first, add an Esp32 with Modbus and have a million I/O’s.
HERE IT IS.
MACH 3 “FLAME” CONTROL Screen Set… 
Took 38 MIN to design it so far. I have about another 45 min or so left mapping buttons and adding scripts to finish it.
I really had to hold myself back from fixing some of the horrible layout issues. But for those Mach users that want something dull, dumbed down, and semi organized. Just hide the Mach settings bar and your good. I still got to design the toggle icons as Mach Leds and make a few notable changes to avoid a possible cease and desist…LOL.
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Both of those came out great! I wish i had the time to teach myself how to do this to simplify my Mach 3 screen, but i already have too many projects going on at the same time. I guess that’s a good problem to have though… Anyways, awesome job!
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Do you have a download so i can use this setup as well?
I enjoy all the different perspectives.Some people like to build machines and some want to build things with their machines and some do both.Really no wrong way.
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