@Riverside (Peter McAuley) posted a new topic, subject "Hi all, plasma!". It read:

   any plasma guys or gals running lightburn? And is there any info on future development for plasma…? Just curious… i run it and it works great, first time with any cad, just dont have a thc … cheers

@jkwilborn (Jack Wilborn) replied

    I don't but many of us would like to hear about yours   
    Is this a DIY?

After which, @Riverside (Peter McAuley) added

    Sort of, the guy who i bought the rails/gantry off usually does cnc wood etc, im in Melbourne Australia. He ventured into plasma with mist kits being myplasm with thc(torch height control) etc…Because i could only scrape together enough cash for the standard setup, it came with lightburn and xpro v5 grbl instead which he said worked, but no thc…as it was my first time with any cnc ever, i took my time and learnt what i could in lightburn, with the thought of upgrading to myplasm and another controller etc… its been about 4 months now and i love lightburn and im trying to see if i can hook up touchoff and thc somehow !.. anyway cheers

After which, @Greolt (Greolt) added

    Peter
    
    I have a plasma table that I built. But do not run it with Lightburn. Use UCCNC.  
    You will really struggle without THC. Can Lightburn do kerf offset?  
    Possibly Lightburn Gcode output could be manipulated to insert custom code at the beginning of each cut to do touch off etc.  
    Never looked at that side of Lightburn.  
    In Melb 3781

@Riverside (Peter McAuley) replied

    Cool, in the hills like yourself, im just around towards the hume 3717. Yes, the kerf, inside or outside is fully adjustable and works, lead ins work …speeds all work, even the slow/speed up on the fly works too… yes, i was given the codes for touch off, to enter into lightburn, havent done it yet, and im sure a stand alone thc could work… neuron? or proma or something like that… yes i want thc for sure, i do lots of thin stuff and need the accuracy. Truth be known, im actually waiting to decide to pull the trigger on an centric acorn board, thc board etc, its just about to be released but i need 4 controllers as the grbl wont do it…but for now, i enjoy what i can with lightburn and even with other software, i will still use lightburn for drawing etc… cheers mate

To which @Riverside (Peter McAuley) replied

    How do you like uunc? I was recommended it…

Then @jkwilborn (Jack Wilborn) said

    Don't know if it would be an issue for you, but you can only set the kerf on a closed object.
    
    I have a couple of parts that are larger than my table and some of the objects are not closed, so I can't use the kerf option on those cuts. I have to compute it when I do the actual drawing.
    
    Pictures would be nice… 
    
    Take care…

To which @bLouChip (Lou Cipriano) replied

    Peter, greetings. I've been using LB for design and gcode to run my CNC plasma system for about 8 months now, making refinements to the process along the way. I have the process very stable, reliable, and repeatable right now and consider it complete until LB may choose to implement direct support of plasma process. I'm happy with it for sure. I've used LB on CNC laser system I've had going on 3 years and like it so much I was determined to adopt LB to plasma process. So for plasma use, I post process the LB generated/saved gcode using a VIM editor script; the script replaces M3 and M5 commands with code blocks to perform torch touch off which sets the Pierce Height and then transitions to Initital Torch Height before each cut and to retract the torch after each cut. I use a stand alone THC also, Proma THC SD.
    
    The latest version of my VIM script is in this thread/post - Update on plasma use case success, albeit post processing gcode - #12 by bLouChip
    
    I should add that a key element of my post processing method is to use the LB device type GRBL-M3; other LB grbl device types make use of grbl laser specific behaviors such as use of M4 variable spindle power relying on G0 move at effective S0 rather than M3/M5 combinations.
    
    I'm happy to share what I have discovered and offer assistance if needed.
    
    Cheers,  
    Lou

Then @system (system) said

    This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.


{'source': 'discourse', 'url': 'https://forum.lightburnsoftware.com/t/hi-all-plasma/55001', 'title': 'Hi all, plasma!', 'views': 402, 'has_accepted_answer': False, 'word_count': 742, 'like_count': 0, 'reply_count': 5, 'participant_count': 4, 'posts': 9, 'tags': '', 'author': '@Riverside (Peter McAuley)', 'participants': '@Riverside (Peter McAuley), @jkwilborn (Jack Wilborn), @Greolt (Greolt), @bLouChip (Lou Cipriano), @system (system)', 'image_url': [None], 'created_at': '2021-12-21T13:41:22.739Z', 'last_posted_at': '2022-01-21T16:33:06.211Z'}