Just finished building the rails and rack and pinion setup for my plasma build. Running the black box controller and motors with the zaxis setup from openbuild. Still getting everything setup but running into something that's making the speed of the parts being cut super slow and thinking since I'm using the custom machine tab on control it's not In the right range of settings. Is there anyone that had worked with those settings for rack and pinion. Is there a right up on something like that. I put a video up of how it runs now. That was from openbuilds also for making the file on the cam program also. Also for a post processing setup for fusion 360 what would I use for the black box. Motors are the high torque and rack and pinion are 20 Pitch / 20 Degree Gear Rack and 20 Pitch, 20.000 Deg Angle, Bore 1/4", Teeth 13, .65" PD
The CUSTOM profile only sets $1=255 and $4=1 which BlackBox needs Rest of the values are stock standard Grbl (github.com/gnea/grbl/wiki > Check the Configuring Grbl page there) The grbl defaults are very very conservative, start bumping up max feedrate and acceleration entries, trial and error from there
Ps: looking at your pictures, Thats not a meanwell PSU (; and being one of the people who see the warranty emails, i've seen one that looks exactly like that (chinese psu sold as 'led psu') explode a BlackBox. If you have a scope test the PSU under load to make sure it still gives clean power. And they also tend to overshoot massively (the one that customer asked us to look at for him peaked at 137v for 40ms) on startup, so check that too. Unless it is a good brand, but i'll leave that up to you Ps: warranty does not cover damage from PSUs that we didnt supply Also, your emergency stop looks like it cuts DC power. What if the emergency is the mains PSU on fire? (;
Ok I'll download that and flash it. That's what I figured. I got the steps per setup just having problems with it going super slow and not running smooth. Also on the the open builds cam, I make a outline of Michigan and when I ran the file it fired mid air for the m3 but then shut off when it got to the path. Is it still in the works for the cam online for plasma or will I have to check the gcode each time.
No no. Its already flashed. Configure the values, read the page: gnea/grbl so you understand each setting, then configure it using the easy interface in Grbl Settings on CONTROL
Ok cool I didn't know if it needed to be flashed or not. I'll check the power supply also on that too.
Shutoff = EMI: shielded wiring, ferrite cores around wiring, star grounds, etc (as with most plasma builds) GCODE: it works, i use it all the time. Did you setup a floating head and initial height sensing?
The Not yet for a floating head setup and what I ment on it shutting off is the torch and not the controller. It fired mid air where it would raise up and then go to the point of where it should start firing and cutting if that makes sense.i still have to make a mount for my torch for the zaxis.
I will post the gcode tomorrow. About 12am here so I'll look over the settings tomorrow. Thanks for your help!
Still working on it lol also I'll let you know I ran a vcarve toolpath on it and it ran fine but the gcode from openbuilds was all crazy. I'll record a video later today. Is there any posts in fusion 360 can I can find or make to run on the black box. Or will I have to write my own for me firing etc. I'll be messing with it later today.
If you own Vcarve (; don't even bother with OB Cam, its the freebie for the stingy (; There is a OB milling post for fusion, you will have to modify for plasma: Fusion 360: grbl post processor install (the easy way)
Ok sweet I'll check that out and yeah it was definitely the gcode on ob cam. It was all kinds of crazy and when I ran a shapoko gcode it ran smooth. I still have to adjust the arc and other settings because on circles its having a hard time. Still messing with settings so it will be a little bit more tuning everything and getting it right. Right now 3d printing some mounts for the zaxis for the torch.
I tried the post but still not working on my black box. I did use the mach 3 plasma post and after restarting the alarm 2-3 times it finally acted like it wanted to do the plasma toolpath but it's still throwing codes.
I can't find any other post that will work. The ob cam ran the machine not how it was supposed to run and when I used the shapoko post off vcarve it ran fine like no problems at all.
Post the gcode and workspace export from OB CAM if you want me to take a look at that. as mentioned last night: RE finding a post, Googling for a "GRBL Plasma post for <application>" should help, remember, BlackBox just runs Grbl, so include Grbl in all searches its very widely used
Here is a file from the ob cam online that im having a problem with. it doesnt turn on the tool/ plasma and is acting nuts with the tool path where its just not right. For the grbl post i cant find anything that will work and ive google many things on for grbl and plasma. The other ones i used on fusion throw those codes are have parts in it that dont work.
Any of the posts I use in fusion dont work and i need to know how to modify the other one you told me to download to try out. Certain ones dont have the m3-m5 code and it will pierce and then stop firing so its something to do with the code but being right.
Fusion specific questions might get better exposure on the Autodesk forums: Fusion 360 Manufacture - Autodesk Community Will check your CAM gcode later. I use CAM for all my plasma work, so it should work, just something in your setup or workflow thats off. Ps, thanks for the gcode but also give me the workspace export from CAM (file, export obc) - the OBC file shows me what you have on toolpath params etc. Also the original CAD file etc in case thats wrong (not polylines etc). The more details and files included the faster i can check for you after all. Post pics of "going crazy". Post all the relevant files. Help us help you
How do i load up the obc file on here? I tryed on the file upload and it wont let me from downloading. Setups and everything else is good, I just think the post processors arnt the right ones because everytime i try to use them they throw error codes like i posted. Also the video i uploaded shows how its moving slow and jerky. When i ran the shapoko pp it worked fine. Ill try to get more video of what its doing. How do i edit the pp that you told me to download from github?
Will check in detail when i get to the office. But SVG doesnt look like a closed vector when viewed on the phone. For CNC work you need closed vectors. For svg it should be PATHs. For DXF it should be Polylines
Ok ill zip that file and those i made in illustrator and have used them in vcarve no issues. I just think its a PP that's not firing and making it not work with what i want it to do.
Fair enough, like I said before, paid software will cope better with files that are not ideal, than the free software. That said, OpenBuilds CAM does need CLOSED VECTORS. So if you want to use CAM, you need to make sure you draw closed vectors (also converted to PATHs for SVG, or Polylines for DXF. If using DXF save as R14 revision for even better compatibility). I have a little more info here My DXF or SVG doesn’t want to work when I try to load it into CNC CAM Software! | openhardware.co.za CAM doesnt have a Post processor, and at this time I don't have one you can use for VCarve or Fusion ready to go (as I use CAM). To find those, best bet would be to go the respective products own support forums and describe to them what you need (Plasma post that is GRBL compatible. Uses M3 S1000 to turn on plasma and M5 to turn off) Looking over the GCODE from OpenBuilds CAM all looks correct. M3S1000 on line 16 turns plasma on, G1 moves run the course, M5 on line 3120 turns it back off. So CAM itself is still processing correctly. Ran it through a frame here on my desk and it doesnt do any random moves etc, runs totally fine. If you have erratic behaviour, do some EMI hardening (Ferrite cores on all wires near enclosure, star grounding, space inverter away from electronics, use seperate mains circuits for plasma etc) In your Header though (OpenBuilds CAM -> Settings Tab -> Settings Button -> Scroll down to "Start G-Code" you have an extra M3S1000 in there that fires the plasma prematurely. Just edit that section and remove the "M3 S1000 ; Spindle On" line and click Save. Thats more for the Spindle guys.
I'll have to change the closed vectors then for the other cam but I'll look around for something else hopefully. I'll see if vcarve or fusion has someone that can write it or knows of a pp for those codes.
