Tourchmate plasma software won't accept Rhino Cad DXF

[badboyblasters (Mark Cain)]

I own a TruCut plasma table now 7 years old. I am downloading Silhouettes from the internet to be cut on my Plasma. My Tur Cut Plasma table uses Rhino CAD and Sheet CAM cut software. it cuts fine on the sheet CAM along with Rhino CAD. But import the Rhino to Tourchmate it literally shuts down the Touchmate software. I called a tech at Rhino. They said to save as IGS file then load to my aguired Tourchmate. I need help a perfect plasma table but can’t run on Rhino CAD. I was told the Rhino curves are not a solid line rather alot of mini lines. This is the reason Tourchmate CAD freaks out. Any ideas? I was told maybe Lightburn might fix this.

[Rick (Technical Evangelist)]

LightBurn does not currently provide support for plasma cutters. We do have a few members who utilize LightBurn to design and build some basic GCode used as a starting point. Yet, and this part is important, anything produced using LightBurn will require post editing to include the missing bits needed to properly and safely drive and operate this device.

We do offer a trial, so if inclined, you can try this for yourself to better understand the scope. Download & Trial - Try before you buy – LightBurn Software

The specific edits, along with the procedure required to make these edits are beyond the scope of official LightBurn support.

I moved this to help with possible replies from other Plasma cutter users.

[badboyblasters (Mark Cain)]

with all due respect what’s the difference if its a plasma or a Laser. The both function on G code and basically run the same controller. Am I missing something? BTW thanks for the free trial how long do I have after I downloads to try. I really need help as I have a Wayfair contact to honor

[Rick (Technical Evangelist)]

Ok, so first - I do not suggest you pressure this trial over “a Wayfair contact to honor”, but I will not stop you. The page I sent identifies;

If you’re new here, we want to be sure that LightBurn will work for you, so to give you a chance to really use it, we offer a 30 day trial period, with no restrictions. Make some things on us. Have fun - this is the full deal, no watermarks, no limits.

There are different commands required to fully support plasma, such as commands used to activate the plasma cutter, and whether you need strike / touch-off controls.

We have it on the list of cutters we want to support but don’t support as of yet. Our longer-term plan includes versions for vinyl, plasma and other cutters, with a few options added to handle the specifics of those machines, but we’re a way off from that.

[Rick (Technical Evangelist)]

Here is an interesting post and discussion about plasma support:

Feature Request: per-cut focus touch off for plasma cutting w/THC

reference post: Plasma cutting working The above referenced post does a nice work sorting out the plasma cutter use case for LB. I’m in the process now of building a CNC plasma cutter, I expect to be ready to burn in about 2 weeks. I currently use LB on another router/laser CNC machine, and I like LB in many ways that I see will be beneficial and efficient when controlling and cutting on the new plasma machine. The system I’m building recommends CAD/CAM such as Fusion360 w/UGS, and I’ll use tha…

[Bonjour (Bo)]

@badboyblasters

I own a TruCut plasma table now 7 years old. I am downloading Silhouettes from the internet to be cut on my Plasma. My Tur Cut Plasma table uses Rhino CAD and Sheet CAM cut software. it cuts fine on the sheet CAM along with Rhino CAD. But import the Rhino to Tourchmate it literally shuts down the Touchmate software. I called a tech at Rhino. They said to save as IGS file then load to my aguired Tourchmate. I need help a perfect plasma table but can’t run on Rhino CAD. I was told the Rhino curves are not a solid line rather alot of mini lines. This is the reason Tourchmate CAD freaks out. Any ideas? I was told maybe Lightburn might fix this.

Both Rhino and Sheetcam work with DXF export/import. Try that.