NEED HELP!! I have been using my new XR and Razorweld 45 for 2 months now with no issues. Here lately it has been acting up. Just performing a straight cut using the generated setting in fire control, causes my torch to hit the metal and drag. I also tried a design I had cut in past with no issues and all of sudden wont cut it with out dragging the torch. As a result one of my brackets (X-axis) is now bent.
Is this a software problem that anyone else has seen?
Doesn’t sound like a software issue. It’s more likely to be an issue with the IHS switch or THC voltage, depending on if it starts by dragging on the metal or lowers during the cut.
If it starts out by dragging, it’s probably something triggering or closing the IHS switch at the wrong time.
If it lowers during the cut, it is probably a voltage related issue. Are you using smart voltage or setting a nominal voltage?
Check to see if the tang on IHS switch is pushed into Z axis lead screw, if Tang is touching bend back away from the lead screw so not touching. If it is not, then clean Z axis screw and apply 3-1 oil or wd-40 to z axis screw and push torch up by hand and let go to see if it comes back down on own no binding.
Im using smart voltage. It doesn’t start out dragging, it lowers during the cut.
Watch the voltage display in Firecontrol. The behavior indicates that you should see it start out low, which is where the smart voltage is taking it’s sample. Then it will probably increase during the cut and the THC will drive the torch down to try to lower the voltage to match the sample.
If that’s what’s happening, you need to investigate the variable voltage readings.
Thanks for the help and a good place to start. Ill investigate it further. I had tried to also reach out to Cameron at Langmuir but he was out.
Thank you ill take a look at this as well.
Did you get problem resolved? I didn’t realize you were using THC, does torch hit and drag with THC disabled? If you haven’t tried a cut with THC disabled, try to see if torch drags or not. If torch doesn’t drag with THC disabled, then you will know problem is with THC .
Need help understanding this!
I ran some test running only straight cuts in Fire Control. The cut I was performing was 11" Long. About halfway through the cut the torch drops down and is maybe a 1/32 from the metal and does not come back up until it finishes the cut. Doing the same cut on the same metal I performed the exact same test to see if there were any inconsistencies. As you can see in the photos the voltage was way high and then at the back end of the cut it drops the torch low.
Im not sure what is causing this. Could this be a problem with my THC? With THC disabled the torch will not act this way.
Your torch voltage is all over the place. You probably need to call Cameron to go through some troubleshooting to see why the voltage readings are not steady.
The way the THC works in “Smart voltage” mode, is that it takes a voltage reading during the first .25" of the cut and uses that as the “target voltage”
The THC uses this “target” voltage to keep the torch at the same height above the metal, because the voltage (when everything is working correctly) will vary depending on the distance between the torch and the metal. The closer the torch gets to the metal, the lower the voltage will be. When the “live” voltage varies from the “target” voltage by more than 1.5v, the THC will command the Z axis to either raise or lower the torch to get the voltage back into the “target” range.
In each of your pictures, the THC is doing what it is supposed to do.
1st pic - the target(nominal) voltage is 113 and the Live voltage is 93.7, so the THC is commanding the Z axis to raise the torch to try to increase the voltage to match the 113v target.
2nd pic- the target voltage is 158.2 and the Live voltage is 221.7v, so the THC is commanding the Z axis to lower the torch to try to lower the voltage to match the target of 158.2v. Note: 221.7v is very high and will result in the torch being driven into the metal before reaching the target voltage.
3rd pic- same as the first pic. Live voltage is lower than the Target, so the THC is commanding the torch to raise to try to match the Target voltage.
The THC seems to be doing what it is supposed to do, but it is being given bad voltage information to work with. That could be from a bad voltage divider in the plasma cutter or the VIM box could be bad. I’m sure there are other possibilities for the cause of the voltage fluctuations, but those are the two that come to mind.
Have you tried using nominal voltage to see if problem goes away?
This happened to me when I didn’t home my machine before starting the cut.
