Still need help with the Proma THC.

Ross

Ross

Ross
I put the meter on to the plasma raw voltage and got a reading of 91volts.

In plain understandable English I need to know in which setting is the 91volts placed into the Proma.

Is it in the screen that displays first when you turn it on or do you have to go to the H-V setting and place it there?

The more I search the internet the more confused I get. Plus Proma's manual is absolutely useless for explaining how it to configure it.

Thanks to anyone who has constructive info to help me with this, from Ross.



"And NO I don't have a Everlast plasma and yes I think I can get speeds of 15meters a minute seeing I use closed loop 8nm motors plus all G-codes are working! " Sorry I had to add this but I just need help not rat bagging. Seeing I am a novice to all this.
 
masso-support

masso-support

MASSO Support
Staff member
Hi Ross,

I don't know much about Plasma but I know a little bit about meters and if you are using an off the shelf multimeter to measure your voltage the reading will be wrong.

As I understand it Plasma use high frequency and multimeters are designed to read DC and low frequency (50 to 60 hz) AC not high frequency voltage.

Air ionizes at about 15000 volts per centimeter so 91 volts won't strike an arc.

Looking at the Proma manual I agree, it really doesn't say a lot.

Cheers

Peter
 
Ross

Ross

Ross
Good to here from Peter,
I just came across a THC from plasmaSens and I see that they can speak plan English (page 7), looks the same as the Proma.
I have a few plans to get this thing going, first is to go to the electrician that wired our building cause he teaches at the local university to check that the Proma is reading the correct voltage.
Second is after that if I still can't get it working I have decided to ring an experienced company that builds plasma cutters and pay them to come and fix the thc to suite my setup.
Well if all fails their is always plan B, router table!
Thanks for your advice from Ross.
 

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J

jcoldon

jcoldon
ROSS you are chasing an endless battel with the THC i been working with an oem table builder they cant make the thc work right in the masso they giving up on the controller moving on . the controller works fine for mills and routers . untill masso puts some efort in the plasma controll sccreen good luck .
 
C

cncburn

cncburn
Ross,

I have the Plasmasense, and the Plasmasenseout. I had a lot of problems with the units. I could not get reliable communication between the two. I experienced a lot of noise issues. The adjustment settings are similar to the Proma,as far as I can tell. I have been running several test cuts with my new Capacitive unit, and so far it seems to be working. I am trying to fine tune the adjustment speeds. I still have the Plasmasense units installed, and I will run some more tests now that the Masso seems to be responding better with the latest updates.
 
Ross

Ross

Ross
Thanks cncburn and jcoldon, I just had sent Proma an email to send it back for repair. "Needs a full factory calibration"

I'm just chasing numbers up and down with the Proma It crashes when it has an up signal so I swap the up down wires and it still does the same.

A previous time lets say I set it at 114 it would crash so I would go up to 115 and it would raise to high. just crazy!

Will smash my head against the wall a few more times, Less painful doing that then to get the Masso and Proma to work together.

Can't understand why Masso would sell a product that is stated for plasma if they know that it won't work, saying you are correct about all this jcoldon.

cncburn let us know if you do get it all working, I might have to buy a new thc in the future,

Thanks all from Ross. "WELL OFF TO THE DOCTOR TO GET MORE STICHES FOR MY HEAD"
 
masso-support

masso-support

MASSO Support
Staff member
Hi Ross,

I'm sorry to hear of your problem with this.

Could I get you to try something and see if it fixes your issue? I'm hoping you still have the THC with you.

I saw tonight a suggestion that a very fast change such as up and down then up again or visa versa might be causing a problem and a suggestion that the addition of a capacitor on each of the tw0 THC inputs might fix or at least mask the issue. It hasn't been confirmed and I could be jumping the gun here but I think it would be worth a try especially as you are having so much trouble.

Would you be willing to give it a try?

Add a 100uF capacitor between the THC1 input and Ground and another 100uF capacitor put between THC2 input and ground. They will be electrolytic capacitors and need to have a higher rated voltage than you are using on your input voltage. May be 50 volts or so but anything above the input voltage will work. Electrolytics are also polarity conscious so watch which way you connect them. I'm hoping you have an electronics store in your area and they are very cheap. I bought 50 of them for about 3 dollars on ebay but that doesn't help you unfortunately.

Doing this will slow the response time of the input and should stop the fast change from the THC reaching the Masso. The Proma needs to be wired as per the diagram with the resistors feeding the input which from memory is how yours is set up. I have added the capacitors into the drawing below to show what i'm thinking.

I don't know if it will help or not as I don't have a plasma to try it on myself

Cheers

Peter
 

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Ross

Ross

Ross
Still no luck, tried a second Proma and still the same problem, It ether crashes or goes to high on one digit change e.g. 99 crash - 100 goes to high.

Now using four single line shielded cables now from the Proma as well no luck.

Would it be the pulse rate of the stepper motors?

The more I think about this I am getting more convinced the Masso can't do as it is stated in their sales pitch, thinking it is not a plasma suited controller!

I really think Masso should buy a plasma cutter and sort out this problem with their controller instead of selling it on to customers to use as guinea pigs!

Still need advice and help to fix the Masso problem.

From Ross.

PS: Wife is getting really annoyed about this! Can't say how I feel about this cause I'd get banned from the site.
 
J

jolbas

Jolbas
Did you try the capacitor workaround described by Peter? The bug that made the capacitors necessary is fixed and maybe you could ask to have the latest version sent to you. Your issues is very similar to mine that I had before I used the capacitor solution.

Best Regards

Bj rn
 
Ross

Ross

Ross
Hi Bjorn, the version I have is: Plasma v3.40.20pre , will ask if there is a newer version.

The capacitors came today but not sure how far along the lead they need to be, or just connect them into the Masso terminal block and then ground them?

Just don't want to destroy the Masso again by following their wiring diagrams.

Thanks from Ross.
 
Ross

Ross

Ross
Jolbas, OK, I will wait for the pre release to arrive in my email.

Will I need to install the capacitors?

Thanks from Ross.
 
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