I would like to add a D0 or D1 to the end of all G1, G2, and G3 lines. D0 to turn off THC and D1 to turn it on. I need the post to decide which one based on the speed. If a rule is slowing it to below 95 percent of feed rate it should be off and otherwise it should be on. Can anyone tell me how to go about this?
Unfortunately sheetcam pp logic and Path Rule logic do not communicate with each other, they are independent gcode production features. Thus your proposal is not feasible, yet. Although a feature request is on the books to add an interface between them, its not imminent.
However, what is imminent is an enhanced ShopSabre pp and WinCNC version that solves this and other issues. For your issue, see below the new L37.2 gcode for WinCNC.
Other- Soon it will not be necessary to select a material definition in WinCNC to apply cut parameters, rather sheetcam’s tool and operation cut parameters will populate the gcode and WinCNC will honor them, as is the case with most other controllers and sheetcam. No need to duplicate the cut parameters in WinCNC and sheetcam.
You should contact ShopSabre customer support for more information re. the time table for the release of these new WinCNC features. The supporting sheetcam pp is complete and in their hands for testing.
WinCNC V3.1.06d (4-7-25), === currently still in ShopSabre final testing…
- Added new parameters (E#, N#, A#, and C#) to the L38.1 command used to set
internal variables associated with plasma/THC. The new command syntax is as
follows.
L38.1 T#F#W#S#E#Z#X#R#L#K#V#Q#U#N#P#A#C#
T# - set target voltage
F# - set feed rate
W# - set THC delay
S# - set pierce delay
E# - set end delay
Z# - set pierce height (enables pierce height)
X# - set cut height delay
R# - set cut height (enables cut height)
L# - set lift height
K# - set slow start time
V# - set slow start feed percentage
Q# - set early torch off distance
U# - set touch distance
N# - set plunge feed rate
P# - send proc. Id (XPR)
A# - send air pressure (Powermax)
C# - send amps (Powermax) - Added a new command, L37.2, to set the default state of the recently added
G1/2/3 D# parameter. This creates a method for setting the one line THC disable
without having to add the D# parameter to each G1/2/3 command. Syntax for
L37.2 is as follows.
L37.2 D# (# can be 0 for THC enabled and 1 for THC disabled). - Added a new M# setting to the “THC=” line in WINCNC.INI, which can be used to
enable or disable the material selection option on the main WinCNC screen. Use
M1 to enable material selection (default) and M0 to disable material selection. - Updated tangential knife support to prevent the knife from lowering for an XY
command that does not result in XY motion. - Fixed a bug found where, if multiple commands occurred rapidly prior to
WinCNC IO initialization, a program fault/crash could occur.
I have v3.1.07 so this should work for me, Thanks
I’m not sure the v3.1.06d ever made it to promotion for general release. You can check the release/change log notes to confirm one way or the other. The companion pp I know has some issues to address from customer beta testing 6 months ago. I’ve been waiting for ShopSabre to scheduling their lab testing before refining the pp changes, as some issues are rotary axis related.
If you do have the enhanced WinCNC as described above, I’m willing to connect with you on some testing, rotary or not. The companion pp provides flatsheet and rotary gcode. Send me a DM with your findings on L37.2 D# support. For the other functions, there are WinCNC macro changes I have to provide for you.
L37.2 D# Works as it should. Not sure how to send a DM.
Jon, that’s great. A ShopSabre tech confirmed for me that same today. We scheduled time on Tues next week to conduct testing of WinCNC v3.1.07 on the enhancements listed above for flatsheet and rotary, so perhaps by end of next week, we’ll have macro artifacts and a new pp ready for distribution. I’ll post info on this forum when ready.
I’ve been looking around and found L36/L37 for turning THC on and off. Why did they add D0/D1 if there is already a command for it? I know that it can be used on G1/2/3 but they also added L37.2 to use the D0/1 on a separate line.
D# on a cutting motion block (G1/2/3) temporarily changes the THC state for that single block AND it does so with continuous motion.
L37.2 D# has the same effect except that it latches the state On or Off until changed. The key difference from L36/37 is that L37.2 D# is consumed with continuous motion, where L36/37 are consumed with synchronous motion to preceding and following motion blocks, which causes motion to decel to a stop, consume L36/37, then accel to resume motion, so it appears as a pause for mere milliseconds, but a pause none the less. I did not find this description explicitly in the doc, I’m recalling from memory. I will confirm with ShopSabre when we test these features next week.