Learn/GcodePilot/Running programs
Consumable Tracker
Updated v2.5.1At a glance
- A compact floating wear meter — pierces, arc-on time and cut distance per consumable
- Place it anywhere over the machine view; collapsed it shows your most-worn item
- Green to 70%, yellow past 70%, red past 90% — past 100% it says so honestly
- Counts every pierce, program runs and manual test fires alike
- Reset per item like an oil-change reminder — every reset logs what the set achieved
- Learns your shop's real numbers: one button makes your average life the new limit
- Plasma and oxyfuel, including dual-torch machines — each head metered separately
Consumables don't fail on a schedule — but they do wear predictably, and the machine already knows everything that wears them. The Consumable Tracker turns that into a small health meter: every pierce, every second of arc-on time and every inch of cut distance accumulates against a life limit you control, per wear item. When the bar goes yellow you start planning; when it goes red you change parts before they ruin a cut.
Turn it on with View → Show Consumable Tracker on any plasma or oxyfuel machine. It's a compact card that floats over the machine view — drag it by its grip to wherever it stays out of your way. Collapsed, it shows a single bar: your most-worn item. Expand it for every item with its own bar, percentage and reset.
What it counts
- Pierces — every arc start, whether from a program or a manual test fire.
- Arc-on time — actual cutting time, read from the torch signal itself. Holds and pauses don't count. On oxyfuel this is cutting-oxygen time, and it works whether or not your oxygen solenoid is under program control.
- Cut distance — off by default until you give it a limit; the tracker still records it.
Wear items match your torch: a SYNC machine gets one Cartridge meter; a standard torch gets Electrode, Nozzle and Shield; oxyfuel gets Cutting tip and Preheat tip. The list is yours — rename items, add an ohmic ring or swirl ring, remove what you don't track. Dual-torch machines (plasma and oxyfuel on one gantry) meter each head separately.
Reset like an oil change
Installed a new nozzle? Hit its reset — the meter zeroes and the old set's actual life is logged. Changed the whole stack-up? Reset all. The confirmation always tells you what's being zeroed, and resets are always available even when the machine config is locked — the operator who physically changed the parts can always reset the meter.
It learns your numbers
Limits start at Hypertherm's published figures — 800 pierces and 2 hours of arc-on time — but your air quality, material and amperage decide the real number. The settings dialog (the gear on the card) shows what your last few sets actually achieved, with an average and a one-button Use average as limit. After two or three sets, the meter predicts your shop, not a brochure.
Distance limits read in feet (or metres in metric mode), and time limits read the way you say
them: 2h 30m.
Wear data lives per machine and survives everything short of deleting the machine — clearing run history doesn't touch it.