I have started playing around with the THC using my hypertherm 45xp with built-in divider. My question is, is there a good starting point for the settings, and if so could anyone share those? I’ve been having some trouble keeping the torch from bobbing up and down, and when I adjust the velocity comp. to correct this I dont get much, if any, responsiveness ( maybe I am adjusting it too far?) I know in the instructions it says to make small adjustments but it doesn’t really specify what that means. Small decimal adjustments? or whole numbers? Thanks in advance for any help!
Trevor
The first thing to mention is to make sure you have the latest firmware and simple trace.
A massive improvement was made to the firmware in recent updates.
Try increasing the smoothing to reduce the bobbing up and down vel comp is for when turning corners say on a square cut where the torch is still for a moment as it turns a tight 90 bend
also reduce the gain to reduce the compensation given
Thank you for your response! ill give that a try. I do have the latest simple trace and firmware installed. I was getting dips when changing directions but also while moving in a straight line. what increments would you suggest to adjust in?
1 or 2 at a time - also reduce cut speed - this helps a lot I have found
I made my own 50:1 voltage divider and decided to add a 100nF capacitor to the low voltage output to help a little with smoothing it also helps to reduce noise/spikes. i found with this capacitor I could reduce smoothing to 1 or 2 and get good results
That is a good idea, I will give that a shot. Thank you for the help!
Straight from Arcdroid when I got the unlock code.
“1.5 sec delay
smoothing 2
Gain 5
Vel Comp 4
Auto set point ON”
It works well for me…Didn’t you get these?
I did not get those settings. There is a snap shot in the instructions I got that are much different. The default settings on my arcdroid are also much different. Thank you though, I will run a cut with those and see how it does.
Cmsoke, what thickness and of material and cutting speeds for these settings?
Thickness should not matter for THC. It is only reading voltage to set the height distance. Warpage and unsmooth steel change this distance and the voltage read changes, which THC adjusts for accordingly.
I guess speed could be a factor due to reaction time, but I haven’t had a problem yet.
Did you ever get this figured out @twentz ?
Check your output voltage on your divider with a multimeter. Or check your TH value. 90 to about 100 or so works well. Over 120, you’ll likely have issues.
The Hypertherm dividers usually work pretty well. Though I’ve sold a few of my dividers to some who had burned up components on theirs. Sometimes a straight 50:1 leaves you with too high a voltage and you actually need a higher ratio to get the voltage down to where the THC protection diode isn’t limiting. Or there’s just noise in the signal.
My start settings are a bit different.
Delay:1.7s
Smooth: 6
Gain: 2.75
Vel Comp: 3.0
Auto SP: ON
With that in mind, everyone is subject to the machine lottery. Component tolerances and variances can make machines behave differently.
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Hey thank you for your response! I did check voltage with an oscilloscope and I was getting pretty consistent voltage around 2.3 volts with no spikes out of the plasma cutter. I emailed Andrew and he informed me I was going the wrong direction with the velocity compensation ( I kept increasing the number instead of decreasing) unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to test that out but I am guessing that should fix my issue.
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