he is very passionate about making sure people are not misled…he is mostly “by the book”…and I respect his blunt forward answers…
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I do too, @toolboy. His “old news” about Fusion 360 just really bummed me out today. It’s the nature of software to constantly evolve, and that’s fine, but yes, it changes everything when what works today won’t work next week.
I want everyone to succeed!!! It will be a little while before I get a chance to look I had to powder coat some more parts. On word of advice. Change one thing then test so we know the fix… hang in there man you will get it
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No worries, @Phillipw. It will be the last thing I address. The wiring fixes and cable management need to happen anyway.
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well Casey i have to admit this laptop i am using now is a little more powerful that what i thought.
it has a 2.6ghz processor and 8 ram… which shocked me to see what it had. it was one of those garage sale type computers.
with that said i ran a win 7 laptop for a year that was around 15 years old. i still have it i just can’t check it to see what the specs are because of a busted screen.
i still don’t see it being your problem or all of your problem because if i remember correctly you said you could run with success until you end up with a load on the electrical system.
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Ok, so @TinWhisperer and @ttoy360, I’m all wet about the desktop machine I use for Fusion 360 (big surprise there I know). It’s an Intel Core i7-6700 @ 3.41GHZ with 16GB RAM and a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti DirextX 12 with 12198 MB of graphics memory.
The upgrade this computer wouldn’t allow was from Windows 10 home to Windows 11, because (it says) the i7-6700 isn’t on Windows list of approved processors (and not that it isn’t capable of running the operating system?). I don’t know, this stuff is over my head.
I really don’t want to stick this machine out in my garage even for a day, but I’ll email Langmuir Support to see if the graphics card is even compatible with FireControl, and maybe I can do it to rule out the laptop as being my source of trouble.
As long as you have a fully updated copy of Windows 10 it’s fully supported by Fusion 360 currently.
You would likely need to see what the model number of your motherboard is and with that information you could find out what the most upgradable CPU you could get for that motherboard is and then cross reference it whether it’s okay for Windows 11.
But you have no need for Windows 11 currently
I wouldn’t use your nice computer in the shop either. ( Mind you I am a bit of a saddest and I bought a brand new super fast gaming laptop for the shop I think most people would cringe) but originally I did the same as you had an old Windows 7 lappy I upgraded to Windows 10 and used that to run both fire control and fusion
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you have a computer that is very simialar to my desktop it is a very good machine and I am very upset that windows is not allowing it to be upgraded to windows 11.
PM me with your phone number and I will call you to discuss.
Also some guys on the forum are using these type units you would have to add a monitor and key board and mouse. https://a.co/d/6doct60
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I appreciate the offer @ttoy360. I’m still out of town, working, so I’ll have to take a rain check until I’m back home, but I’d love to bend your ear before I buy a new laptop, if I end up needing to do that.
You know, one thing that I will reiterate from a previous post, that may have been glossed over by all the other information…
My 1.2GHZ Laptop is ONLY used for FireControl and the occasional YouTube video (never at the same time). I had Langmuir remote connected into that laptop, which I’m sure uses a fair bit of processing power, and as such I had WiFi on and email updating, etc. and more windows than ever open at once, and under those conditions we could NOT get FireControl to freeze ONCE.
But with all of that stuff off/disconnected, as soon as the compressor and dryer are both running at the same time, it will freeze EVERY SINGLE TIME I attempt a straight line cut.
I know I boned up the laptop purchase, and many other things to, and I don’t really know anything at all about computers, but that sure seems to point away from CPU speed as the culprit, doesn’t it?
If it doesn’t, I sure would love it if somebody could explain to me why…
I gotta get back to work before I get in trouble. 
take you desktop out and try it for a few cuts and see if it works or not if it works there is a good chance it is the laptop. if it doesnt work then you will know it is something else.
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Desktop or any other laptop or computer belonging to family or friends that will let you borrow it for a bit.
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Alright, so, I’m convinced my laptop’s processor “speed” isn’t an issue.
I’ve been noticing that most computer manufacturers list processor speed as an “up to” number these days. At least for laptops. A couple of the computers that you guys have shared links to in this thread have also shown “up to” numbers in the 2-4GHZ range, versus FireControl’s 1.6GHZ requirement.
So, I went into Costco on my lunch, and checked System Settings on every single laptop they had under $700; Celeron’s, i3’s, and i5’s, and they all showed processor speeds of 1.1 to 1.2 GHZ in the System Settings window. But when I Googled the specific processor model they all show “up to” speeds (either “turbo boost” or “burst” depending on the processor type) anywhere from 2.5 to 4.0GHZ.
My laptop’s Intel Celeron N4500 processor uses “burst” technology to provide speeds “up to” 2.8GHZ, but its base frequency is only 1.1GHZ. I did some Google reading, and it seems like laptops in particular have their processors designed and rated this way to maintain maximum efficiency (i.e. battery life) in low workload scenarios, but that they could pretty much run at the burst or turbo boost speed as long as they had enough battery power to do so.
In short, it seems like a processor that has a 1.1 to 2.8GHZ speed range should be fine to fulfill a 1.6GHZ system requirement. In fact, one of the articles I read on a gaming website said that you should use the higher number of your processor’s rating when looking at system requirements for games.
Also worth mentioning is that I looked up my desktop’s ratings, being an older (6th generation) processor, and it’s base frequency (3.41GHZ) and “turbo boost” (4.0GHZ) numbers are much closer together than your average NEW laptop’s, which might be why some of you guys jumped so hard on that 1.2GHZ number that popped up in my System Settings window.
One last thing; the Asus laptop I got as a Black Friday deal for $149.99 is back up to $349.99 on Best Buy’s website. I was thinking that it was a “closeout” rather than a “door buster”, so instead of feeling like I got “hosed”, I’m choosing to feel like I got a really nice deal on a decent entry-level machine that should be perfect for running a program like FireControl.
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The NEC has changed course on this recently and I believe the most recent edition requires accessory buildings to have their own ground system and thus bonded neutral at the distribution panel. Depending on your locality it may have met code when installed. Also, a home inspection is not a code inspection so don’t be too hard on the inspector.
Regards,
Todd
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@smithto, as just a half-way handy home-owner, I’m super bummed out that I can no longer access the NEC online (the latest version anyway), because I would always “double check” anything I had questions about. I’m also a bit bothered by how often they “change course” on things that are so seemingly fundamental. Do you have a copy of the latest version?
Man, talk about running in circles.
I hope you are right I can’t believe it takes a $800 computer to run fire control. I just don’t understand a computer being underpowered causing problem when your compressor or dryer kicks on… I am cheering for you.
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Regarding EMI Management:
Since the NEC rule change about bonding sub-panels was brought to my attention by @smithto, I decided to tackle the basic EMI reduction steps first (cable routing best practices).
Per @nicaDd’s recommendation I got some extension cables for the Div Voltage and Torch Firing connections, and got my plasma cutter a full 8 feet away from the Langmuir Electronics enclosure. I also routed those cables away from ANYTHING else, per @DnKFab’s recommendation, just loosely for now, as I am unsure if putting them into some sort of split-loom and p-clamping them to the table will negate my rerouting efforts.
I have uncoiled my work clamp lead, and routed my torch cable so that it doesn’t make contact with any other cable in the system.
My question is regarding a comment/article posted by @TinWhisperer, regarding taping the work clamp and torch lead together for field plasma cutting. Should I tape, or otherwise connect my plasma torch cable and work clamp cable together for the portion of their run that is near each other? The principle seems sound enough. I just wasn’t sure if that was something anyone else was doing. Would it lessen the antenna effect of those cables?
Whatever the recommendation winds up being, I’m going to consider this “phase 1”, and then make some cuts.
I would say, have all cables separated, run a few test cuts and see how that goes. If everything performs well without firecontrol bugging out THEN tape or wrap the torch and work clamp cables together and do another test run.
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technically i believe that both of those cables will exhibit similar rf emissions. An interesting concept i saw in that video shared by @TinWhisperer a while ago about rf emissions and nullification could possibly incorporate. Following the concept of the twisted wired method in ethernet cables it is a possibility that the work and torch lead attached to one another could experience some noise cancelling. Even if not, both of those i think experience the same noise (a lot!) and i dont think having them together would have any negative effects and in fact would be positive simply by decreasing the number of really noisy things you are trying to avoid. both of those cables will have the max rf noise i believe. seperate you have to avoid both of them. together you only have to avoid 1 less cable.
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