Torch Height w/ THC

How do I change the default torch height when I have THC going?

It seems that when it is cutting it could be much closer to the metal for a much cleaner cut.

You can’t change it while the machine is running. You can make changes to your cam tool setup to lower the cut height and the THC will try to maintain that height based on the voltage readings. Somebody on here did some testing and found that .040" was an ideal cut height for his machine and the material he was cutting. I haven’t tried that low yet, but I get better results at .050" than I did at .060".

If the THC is getting bad voltage readings, due to electrical interference, that can cause the torch to raise or lower unexpectedly.

Any advice on how to check the cut height? I have a tool set up at .040" however, the actual cutting height looks over that when looking at it while torch is firing (through a welding hood of course)? It would be nice to somehow use gauges to measure the heights.

I have posted a program that runs the IHS cycle and then lowers to cut height without any backlash or springback adjustment. I’m on the road right now, so I’ll post it here when I get back to my computer.

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Really appreciate it.

This file will cycle the IHS system and lower to a cut height of .063" with no springback or backlash compensation added. Both the Fusion and Sheetcam post processors add .020" for backlash/springback, even if you set it to zero in the CAM setup. If you get .063" when you run the program, you will need to subtract .020" from your cut height in CAM to get the same height from a normal cut file. If you get .063" when you run the program, you should set your cut height to .043" to get the same height in a post processed file.

IHS Cycle.nc (188 Bytes)

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Awesome! Thank you. I will run it this afternoon.

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Don’t you mean “if you get .083”? Because your next sentence also says

If you set it for .063 and he gets .063 then he doesn’t have to do anything in CAM. But if it’s more than that due to the springback compensation that Fusion or Sheetcam added, that’s when he’d need to subtract the .020" that’s being added by Fusion/Sheetcam.

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No. It’s hard to explain without being confusing, but the program that I posted has the backlash/springback commented out. This means that it doesn’t execute that line and so there is no backlash/springback compensation in that file.

Any file that you post process will add that .020", so .063" in that file equals .083" in a normally post processed file.

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Do feel it’s safe to just say, “whatever cut height you want to achieve, just enter .02” less into Fusion/Sheetcam post processing targets."?

That has been my experience. At least on a new machine, the actual backlash is only a few thousandths.

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