Anything Manufacturing - Small to Medium Scale Metal Work (CAD/CAM included!)

God damn

How are you not running a full blown production for high-end stuff right now?

 

I’m still hunting for additional mental capacity. Until then, the tools continue to outpace my capabilities.

I really want to keep using build funds to purchase tools so that when I retire then I can spend more time learning how to use them. I grab them up when I can at different sales.

 

To summarize what I shared on the Langmuir forum, I had to alter my cut height on all my program files from now on.

And here's a great example of that. My stool I posted in another thread? Well, I've already sold two "kits" and someone else wanted a set too.

Rather than run the same file I already have (prior to the update), I opted to post process it again at an even lower cut height (lowered by .02") and cut it out today.









I don't know what it is that Firecontrol version 21 ran all my files as expected, but running the same exact file cut them with dross and beveling. Now that I altered the cut height, you can see they are perfectly square all the way around.

Even opted to cut a different material thickness and it cut as expected (with the newly revised height).





So it seems, version 24 is altering my heights for some damn reason.

 

A new hidden 'feature'.

 

They're like "how else can we fuck with this guy? He's solved nearly every issue anyone can ever have"

 

Maybe they have some ex-Microsoft programmers. They were great at causing problems in software that worked perfectly, then never fixing it.

 

How do you “unlike?” Ugh!

 

At this point they must be trying to keep me on my toes

I am back at checking out STV again though

 

unfortunately, a lot of software is like that. many companies are already prepping to add new features, so they kill 2 birds with one stone. they release a new version with new features while patching old bugs. unfortunately, many have poor code control, and the butterfly effect comes into full effect.

i had this in my stint installing, maintaining, and repairing camera recording equipment. the main vendor--avermedia, never only fixed bugs. they just released a new version of software every 3-6 months with random new features, and claimed repairs of previous bug reports. but for every new feature they implemented, there were normally at least 2-3 older parts the software broke. i called it 'corporate whack-a-mole'.

my first year, the resident repair guy cherry picked one version with the fewest bugs to use for system-wide public release. after that, i got 'upgraded' to repair, took over, and was given full access to all the releases on their corporate backend-- publicly available, beta's, and pre-beta's. i ended up running support for avermedia as well, as it seems i was part of the only company actively using and documenting all the various failure modes in all the different new versions.

it's tiresome walking the bleeding edge of software updates.


and that's how i now happily run away from software updates and try to spend my time fixing old mechanical things instead that either are more predictable, or can at least be hit with a hammer.

 

God damn.

Add to that a methodical personality, and you're just stacking shit on top of shit on top of shit combing through everything.

Good to hear it's pretty common, but shitty that it occurs this much.

 

i blame the 80% rule. the rate of return on getting 80% to work correctly is quite high, and serviceable for the majority of users--most people wouldn't blink twice at the cut quality the new software is offering. but getting that last 20% could be a never ending battle, with only a few extremely picky users even reporting the issue. so they're faced with the option of spending 80% of their budget chasing 20% of the issues to satisfy 20% of the users, or they can blow 80% of their budget on 80% performance, and still have a top-10 product at 80% of the cost of competing options.

it's one of the things that apples ecosystem did/does so well at. they very critically control the hardware being released, which eliminates a ton of issues with variables in the software. the problem is that many other companies incorrectly attributed apples hardware and software success as separate entities, and released similar software packages for generic global hardware standards. which is how we end up with oddball issues across motherboards, processors, or memory configurations. but apples success also conditioned much of the public to believe that any and all software updates are inherently good things. enter all the companies without apples operating budget, and you get lots of companies that release suboptimal software. even googles android has a lot of issues directly attributed to the wide variety of hardware and custom-tweaked versions every other OEM uses it for. the core software engineering scheme is a 'release-first, patch later', due to upper managements pushes to being 'first', or 'fastest'.


the long and short of it is to NEVER EVER UPDATE any system that is working correctly--always assume the update will break critical core functions.

 

A good friend of mine has a hand in writing code/developing software, and this is something that higher ups push like crazy

And yeah I wholeheartedly agree with you on the no updates part. That laptop I've been using is the same one I started with when I got my first CNC table a few years ago.



My oh my how that garage has changed, but that laptop has remained on the same old shit for as long as I can remember and it's only recently that I was forced to update Firecontrol.

I'm not sure how my laptop avoided the 'Child Process' error, something regarding how Firecontrol is spread between the CPU/GPU (well, APU since that's what my Ryzen 5500U is basically). My video graphics driver is several years old too as I checked ensuring nothing updated itself even.

You still in the same above profession?

 

nope. now i'm building/upfitting trucks, mostly semi trucks. pays better without being stuck behind a desk, and i get to use tools. i mostly got all the software stuff out of my system during that time. between the work software stuff, building a car computer to control my cars audio system, and building a gaming computer that almost got me banned from battlefield bad company for playing too much...

i can still figure out software issues faster than most, but it's a tertiary skill these days. still have a lot of 'brain logic' from the experience though, which works for and against me in terms of problem-solving and critical-thinking of mechanical systems.

 

Thread has been a little dead, let's revive it.

Cut some 3/8" for the first time on the Hypertherm. Thing is, the scrap is super small so there's very little testing to actually do.

Here's a clip.

https://youtu.be/RcjBvBxxNzs?si=77ZsX8tLsTdlMfYY

Now, I did get some responses that basically took my thorough assessment and troubleshooting as if "I'm new to this shit" (this is regarding the Langmuir forum, not here)

But nope, the results here are plain and simple. Only by having adjusted my programmed cut height (due to the forced change in software) is my table cutting material properly.









I understand a lot of newbies ask dumb questions on the forum, but some know me as a regular there posting clean and accurately cut parts.

So when a suggestion like "are you sure you measured height correctly" or "what nominal voltage are you using" when my initial statement stated - using smartvoltage, and using the same programmed cut height as always. Same computer, same table, etc.



The book speed for 3/8" mild is 33ipm. I ran this at 28ipm, and smartvoltage captured an average of 135.2v which is damn close to what book says it should be. Book is 136v

 

Thats hot, I use 3/8 for the mounting brackets for my rear bumper. In your opinion think your old PW plasma could do that?

Machining them sucks....

 

Shit man, machining is the BEES fucking KNEES.

But yes the PrimeWeld could absolutely handle it. Although, I never did try 3/8" with the PTM-60 torch, just a few times with the UPM-105 and it cut really well.

Downfall is that consumables got wrecked easily, and there would be a bit of taper on a radius edge.

Where the Hypertherm stands out is how I'm able to run a short pierce delay (only .7 seconds) and still penetrate the steel really well, get a crisp square edge on a rounded corner, and get crazy smooth cut edges.

The reason for the little divot at the bottom is due to the slag on top from cutting the tiny 0.35" hole. If you watch the video you'll see where the torch literally raises the torch as it adjusts its cutting height due to the build up of material on the surface.

One should not cut a hole smaller than the thickness of the material, but I did it cause...

 

I swear I thought you were working only with the nominal voltage. I got my stories backwards. I have been using only Hypertherm nominal voltage book values. I am going to switch to smart voltage. I just need to recheck my torch height against current values to ensure I’m still sitting at .06”. As I go thicker though spring back isn’t much a thing it seems beyond 11ga.

 

No sir!

Lots of people still use smartvoltage on their Hypertherm, myself included.

Depending on where you touch off even when cutting 16 gauge, springback compensation isn't needed since not many tables have large gaps between the slats. Thinnest material I ever cut is 16 gauge and I still use smartvoltage.

Nominal would be handy if you're doing HVAC work and cutting really thin stuff like 18 gauge or thinner.

 

Sidenote, been sitting on the stool as I work in the shop.

Man, beats the hell out of the HF chair I've got by a long shot.

 

I forget, who was it that said their work does or receives parts that are made to even worse tolerances than stuff posted here?