I have a Primeweld Cut60 with the PTM60 machine torch from @mechanic416. I have successfully cut a few parts from 1/4" and 3/16" steel with the 60A nozzle it came with, and up to this point my Crossfire Pro and the Firecontrol Software have been acting normally.
Today I changed the nozzle out for a 30A nozzle (also from George) to cut some 16ga. When I went to pierce the material, and ever since then no matter what I have tried, the nozzle goes to pierce, and as it pierces the Z axis starts to lift. I have also had intermittent misfiring both when manually triggering through Firecontrol and as part of the program. Sometimes it’s like a delayed fire like in this video.
Increase cable distances beyond the gap that worked fine previously
Tried piercing on fresh steel
Snap on Ferrite chokes on THC, torch on/off, and USB cables
Z axis components clean and tight (did not clean, but they are quite clean already)
Top side machine torch connections
Air pressure
Air quality should be excellent, I have a copper condenser followed by a Max Dry XXL from HTP
Ground attached directly to the sheet
Relay and THC daughter boards fully seated
Power cycling of computer, plasma cutter, and Langmuir control box
Tried the PT60 hand torch
Smart voltage 0v, and manually setting to 85v
I’m all in if someone has any ideas of the next things to check. I can dry run without issue, but turning the THC off still causes the lift, but instead of erroring out it will stay up at whatever it raised to, plasma cutter turns off because there’s no continuity, and it proceeds to run the file with the torch up and nothing cutting.
I questioned if it was even firing with much power, or if it was just the pilot arc. So I put a piece of 1/4" steel on the table so it would have a solid plate to try and pierce on, it still had no trouble piercing 1/4", even at the 33A setting, before lifting up.
edited to add other things I tried in the main post
When the machine is moving into position to cut (during the rapids) to you see any voltage readings from the LIVE voltage on the THC? Are you using a two prong adapter for the PC or Laptop?
It is odd the machine keeps running and doesn’t throw the lost arc error.
Computer runs on a 2 prong DC wall wart, no ground prong to worry about.
Live voltage hovers around 0v during rapid, basically unchanging till it touches the plate when it’s always 0.0v, then as the torch raises the voltage goes up until it hits about 130v.
It does throw the “Torch started moving before voltage was sensed” error after it gets high enough with the THC on. With the THC off it raises, then wanders around doing the program an inch or more off the part with the torch off.
Regarding machine cleanliness, if this is a THC problem, would the Z axis cleanliness even matter? The IHS does appear to be doing its job correctly each time.
The machine torch can be eliminated as the culprit. I tried the hand torch and had the same result.
And just to verify, I checked and have no continuity between the USB ground and frame checking between the USB input on the controller and the Y axis frame rails.
They seem plenty slack from what I can tell. If there was a problem with the IHS I would expect it to present itself in setting the initial pierce height, which it seems to do correctly and consistently. Wouldn’t be the first time in my life I made the wrong assumption about how something SHOULD work though.
I have not, though I suspect I may end up having to.
I tried running with the THC turned off and unplugged, the plasma cutter off, and guess what. It still does the IHS routine, goes to the pierce height, then starts its upward drift to .599"
make sure to fully delete the 20.6 with your control panel add/delete programs…
the fresh install…sometimes a full clean install works better than an update…
