Plasma not triggering. I made sure the plasma on and off was selected and it still is not activating the plasma. Antone had that problem?
See docs.openbuilds.com > BlackBox 4X section > Plasma wiring section There is a more indepth section for the relay itself higher up in the menu on the left of the docs page too
Any CNC compatible unit, LF/Blowback (don't bother trying to use a hand-cut HF unit - too much EMI) and you can get LF plasmas under $500 (Cut50L and Hynade T60DN for example) Or
Also watch the following video attentively. Some CAM info is outdated (OpenBuilds CAM improved touchoff set up, we have a Fusion 360 post too etc that came since that older video) , but still worth a watch
I have looked at all these videos, but none of them show how to make the plasma cutters work with the 4X blackbox. I did hook the relay connector on the blackbox to the 2 pin connector on my plasma cutter, but it still does not fire the plasma cutter.
What are you doing to tell the plasma to trigger? Using the testing menu (Tool On in CONTROL?), manual commands (forgetting the S-Value?) or from within gcode (sure you have grbl plasma compatible gcode?) Log screenshots and detailed information would help us help you (otherwise we have to guess) Wiring is really as simple as shown in docs:blackbox-4x:connect-plasma [OpenBuilds Documentation]
I suspect the problem is my plasma machine. It has a 2 pin and a 4 pin connectors on the back of the machine and all that the blackbox has is a 2 pin connector, so I guess I have to do something with the 4 pin connector on the machine to make it fire up the plasma. But Thanks for your help.
Some inverters use a 4-pin connector where 2 of the pins are 1:50 voltage sensor output, the other two are triggers. Refer your Plasma manual But first, do answer the questions we had so we can help you (even if that help is later on) Also, do you hear the relay Clicking when you test it from CONTROL > Tool On? (lets you mentally eliminate controller vs plasma?)
I do not hear any clicking like a relay would do. I probably need to hook up 2 of the 4 pins on the plasma machine to your control box. I will give that a try.
Do I need any jumpers to activate the Relay. In the photos there does not seem to be required, but I still cannot hear a relay clicking.
I am turning the Plasma on in the Tool control as well as telling the Gcode that I am operating a Plasma cutter. Is that what you wanted to know?
Log copy out of CONTROL from connection, to test, so we can check the Grbl Settings, command log, etc Relay should click before you need to bother looking elsewhere You asked this, but the default jumper position has the relay enabled - did you change anything in that regard? I did give you the info very early in the thread, but you asked about it again later, so I assume you didn't check the docs yet:
Didn't you read the whole page? Just one of the 4 options has no jumpers (VFD/Laser/IoT) By default the jumper is installed in the factory on M3/M5. Did you remove yours?
The top photo shows no jumper for Plasma Cutter. The second photo shows a jumper for solenoid or water pump. I see you show the jumper in place in the second photo, so should I have the jumper in place? The blackbox did not have a jumper on any of those pins. Sorry for not understanding the drawing.
Header > Content > Picture. The first option is : Disable the Relay Typical for Lasers, or when you have a Spindle wired to the PWM/0-10v (VFD) Terminals, you are using the IoT Relay, or when you are using a Servo With the jumper removed the PWM signal will not be sent to the relay (which would make it chatter) Nowhere does that state It lists Lasers, Spindles, IoT Relays and Servos. But it certainly does not list Plasma
OK, it appears my current plasma cutter will not work with your control box. So, will the plasma cutter in the attachment work with my Blackbox?
