[jdoon5261]

Hi All,
I teach at a highschool level career and technology center. We have 2 plasmacams. One is a DHC2 the other is a DHC. The teacher that uses the DHC2 uses it for metal working and the teacher that has the DCH doesn't use it at all. In fact the first teacher scabbed the limit switches off the DCH. I checked on the price of Plasmacam's woodworking software and they want $3000 for it and it will only work on the DCH2. I can manufacture a router holder for the DCH but I was wondering if there is any software available that will allow us to cut wood with it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
John

[mmoe]

Are you asking about CAM software or the controller software? If the machine is running G-Code, you can use any number of CAM software packages to cut wood, but it would depend a little on what kind of projects you plan to do with it. If you're talking about signage type wood products, V-Carve Pro or other Vectric products would be fine. If you plan to do more than that, I prefer Bobcad (their website shows list prices, not the price you'd get if you contact their sales team).

[jdoon5261]

Thank you for your answer Moe. I am unsure how to answer your questions. When I spoke to the representative at Plasmacam he said that to do any type of 3D work that I would have to use the DCH2 machine and Plasmacam's proprietary software. Teachers are very territorial about equipment in their care so I won't be able to use that machine.
I haven't yet played with the DCH1 machine as I'm waiting on the new switches to arrive. I've created some designs with the Cut3D trial-ware but have yet to use in on a machine. My hope is that someone here has used the first generation machine with a router, and can tell me if the standard Plasmacam software can be used. I have been very interested in CNC routers for a few years now and have several things drawn up to make. But alas I am quite the noobie when it comes to actually cutting on anything.
Thanks again,
John

[ger21]

Looking at their website (which is nearly useless), it appears that the machines use the parallel port for communication with their control software. If this is the case, there's a very good chance you can control the machine with Mach3, if you can get the pinout information to setup Mach3.

Edit: I did some Googling, and it appears that it may not be possible without replacing some of the hardware.

[jdoon5261]

Just to clarify. we won't be doing true 3D type of work. We will be making grooves and holes and such in a single piece of wood. I guess this can be done just by layering single depth cuts instead of doing the whole thing in one pass.

Gerry, When you mentioned replacing some of the hardware, what hardware would have to be replaced.
Thanks,
John

[ger21]

I really have no idea. I read that the servo drives encoder signals are fed back to the control. Mach3 can't do that, so it sounds like you might need to replace the servo drives to be able to use Mach3. I could be totally wrong, though, as I've never seen one.

[mmoe]

I really have no idea. I read that the servo drives encoder signals are fed back to the control. Mach3 can't do that, so it sounds like you might need to replace the servo drives to be able to use Mach3. I could be totally wrong, though, as I've never seen one.

It's hard to say from the website info. I've seen many "closed loop" systems (as specified by the manufacturer) that are really open loop systems with encoder feedback to the servo drives, not the controller. They just don't understand what a closed loop system is, thinking that having feedback from an encoder is what defines closed loop. If that is the case, they are probably step/direction based drivers which makes more sense if the controller software connects via a printer port. In that case, I'd still probably go with a smooth stepper and Mach 3 or something equivalent rather than trying to figure out how to make the existing controller work with Mach 3. If they are truly closed loop, they will probably also be analog. Instead of replacing servos/drives, you could replace the controller itself with something like the CS Labs CSMIO IP-A, which would provide closed loop operation via Mach 3. Either way, it seems to me it can be done, but with the limited information on the website it's hard to say what exactly would need to happen.