Hi all,
I asked a question on a plasma forum regarding getting a running total of pierce counts and cut time into Mach3 for tracking consumable life, costing etc.
I got this reply but it was slightly over my head, does any of make sense here??
Can this be done easily?
I did request it be added as a feature in Mach3 but have no hope of seeing it as it’s pretty low priority.
Reply…
There are several ways it can be done it depends on how comfortable you are working with mach3 and the screen designer and Cypress basic.
To count pierces you modify the M3 macro to do a count up to a Screen DRO. AND HAVE a reset button to rezero the count when needed. Each time the M3 (torch on) is run it adds 1 to the pierce count total.
You can also use a CB timer to track burn time. Add it to the M3 macro(STArt timer) then collect the time in the M5 (torch off) macro then add the time to a screen DRO same as the pierce count.
YOU can also use Sheetcam to ADD these items throught the post to add a total of pierces AND cut time thought the use of the #Parameters.
#500 = #500 + pierce count from Scam
#501 =#501 + total cut time from Scam
Each time the cut file is run it updates teh #varables in the gcode side. You can coolect the totals from the # vars and send them to a screen DRO.
Dave