There are a lot of people that will be happy to help you sort this system out. You purchased a kit from Precision Plasma....and likely a kit of electronic components from CandCNC. Every time these are assembled it is likely that cables and wiring is routed a bit different....based on how it was assembled.

As you mention that the stop and restart is completely random.....I would first suspect that you are getting some sort of electrical noise into the system.....likely is generated by th plasma system, but could be picked up on drive cables, computer cables or through the input power line.

First things to do:

Isolate the power inputs from your electronics box and your PC......easiest and most effective way to accomplish that is with a good quality UPS (uninteruptible power supply) from an office supply store. I recommend that it is 1.5 to 2 times the total input wattage of everything you plug into it....and that the computer and electronics are connected to the filtered and isolated outlets on this device. This will help to isoltae any electrical noise coming in from the power line, a very common source of noise for any type of cnc equipment that uses an office PC as the cnc control.

Another common step is to drive an earth ground rod (this is mandatory on all Industrial cnc plasma cutting machine...and in my opinion should be on all cnc machines.)...the ground rod should be very close to the machine (right next is best)......a building ground or electrical ground is not sufficient in most cases. The chassis gound for the plasma should be connected to this ground, the cutting machine axis (each) should be connected to this ground....as well as any of the electrical components such as electronics box (if metal) should be connected here as well. The Plasma work ground should go to this ground rod, then another cable of the same size should go from this point to the slat bed on the machine.

Electrical noise will act differently and often will be solved differently on each machine installation. I have dealt with it for over 35 years on both industrial and entry level machines. No need to get discouraged.....a little work and practical troubleshooting and you will get it sorted.

Jim Colt Hypertherm




Quote Originally Posted by p-j View Post
Jim, I wired the switch up, but I not going to get back out there for awhile if ever.

I went into sheetcam to make some test files and magically it wouldn't let me seperate contours anymore. I fought with it for hours. Another new problem. Then I went to cut some old G-code files and one cut went fine (without messing with the switch) and the next would be on and off and totally random.

This was so random in everyway I literally had a melt down.. I've wasted so much material, consumables and time on this, Everytime I go out and use this thing it's a new problem, it has yet to do a cut from start to finish without problems. On top of drivers failing and sourcing new parts, scribe plumbing being messed up, limit switches wired wrong ect.... I'm done. Hand cutting would be better at this point.

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