[buckshot270]

I recently bought my first table and I’ve been going through the struggles of setting up for the first time, the guy I purchased machine from had never setup or used the machine before so have been running off third hand knowledge so I’ve had to throw out any information I was given and start from scratch. I’ve been trying to get my machine to move with both Mach 2 and 3 on my 2 computers that came with the table it seems both versions(previously installed and supposedly Mach 2 had ran the table with original owner) will not communicate with the breakout board? So far I’ve only been able to manually function my z axis with one of the control boxes but no movement out of x/y axis other than when I first power up the table they will briefly engage and twitch for a split second. I guess my question would be what could I be doing wrong with the computer that is stopping it from communicating with the break out as everything seems to be active in Mach


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[joeavaerage]

Hi,
I use Mach4 and an Ethernet SmoothStepper and have done for 8.5 years. I used Mach3 before that. Mach4 is light years ahead.

All development on Mach3 ceased 8.5 years ago, so whatever bugs and quirks it had it will always have. Not withstanding that it still works and has a loyal user base it is obsolete.
Consider going to Mach4 and an appropriate motion control board from the outset. You will spend a lot of effort to get this machine going only to find you are up against the limits
of Mach3. That same effort with Mach4 will put you in a much better place.

What motion control does your machine have. If it's a parallel port....its too damned old for me....good luck.

Craig

[buckshot270]

Yeah it’s an old machine running 25 pin. As of now it only has z axis movement with the manual toggle. The goal right now is to get it running as is then after it makes some money back(already have jobs waiting on it) spend the money and rebuild or buy a new table altogether, most likely rebuild first so the next guy has a smooth transition maybe run it for 6 months or a year while going through the learning curve


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[joeavaerage]

Hi,
sounds like a parallel port machine.

Is the PC original? In order to run a parallel port, it MUST be Windows & or earlier and 32 bit. If you have a 64 bit Windows OS then Mach's parallel port just won't work.

The goal right now is to get it running as is then after it makes some money back(already have jobs waiting on it)

I think that is a mistake, you are going to spend time, money and energy on an obsolete system. Spend the same time, money and energy but on Mach4 and an ESS and you'll have a control system
that you will have and make money with for twenty years.

Craig

[buckshot270]

I have 2 computers that came with it. The first being the oldest computer “the original” but the more I dive into it the more it seems it was hastily thrown together at the time of sale. The newer computer had a graphics card and demo version of Mach 3 loaded onto it without enabling machine operation so the plan was to delete everything and get it loaded properly. I believe it’s running on windows 7 or xp currently


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[buckshot270]

I appreciate the insite so far. I will be looking into the upgrades necessary to run Mach 4. Hopefully I can get it operational in the meantime while looking into upgrades. I had messaged someone with this same table that had similar issues and ended up rebuilding from scratch as the manufacturer went out of business some time ago


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[joeavaerage]

Hi,
it must be Windows 7 or XP and MUST be 32bit.

Quite frankly you are going in the wrong direction.....the parallel port is just too limited. Good luck.

Craig

[buckshot270]

I definitely get what you are saying. Just trying to make the best of a bad situation right now. Was told everything was in perfect working order which is why I got it. Of course knowing a small amount more now through diagnostics that certainly wasn’t the case. Again I appreciate the help you have given. The upgraded parts and system is being looked into now


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[joeavaerage]

Hi,
the 'full house' is: Mach4Hobby ($200), an Ethernet SmoothStepper ($225) and a WarpRunner ($449). The WarpRunner is a combination breakout board that allows you to attach
motor drivers, limit switches etc and a high bandwidth THC unit, that gives you highly dynamic THC but also quite sophisticated anti-dive strategies. This control system will give you a motion control/THC
combination to be a close match to full blown commercial plasma table solutions worth many thousands of dollars.

Even were you to replace or upgrade the table and/or plasma you will in all probability retain the Mach4/ESS/WarpRunner control system.

Craig

[arturod]

I think you are a good candidate for the C25XP from CNC4PC: https://cnc4pc.com/c25xp-smooth-step...ted-board.html
There are tons of options for integrating it into a Plasma or Oxy/Cutting system:
https://www.cnc4pc.com/blog/post/Plasma-Setup-C25XP

Arturo Duncan
https://cnc4pc.com

[buckshot270]

Thank you both for this information. I will look into both setups. And see what will be better suited for my table


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