Xalky's cnc plasma table build log.

Darn, that just sucks. If everything is slow it may be a virus too. I had a virus called "Trojan" and it was a real PITA to completely get removed. Every time I removed it, it would clone itself in a new file location. Once I found it's root code I killed it with malice and malevolence. Cant understand why some one would write a program to deliberately mess up anothers computer. It's just plain rude and uneccessary. Hope it gets better and you get your system back up and running. Don't forget them pics too, I'm hooked on CNC plasma in the worst way too. I got my ready to assemble as a bolt together directly from Torchmate in 2005 or 2006 and it has been a monster with a Hypertherm PM1000 G3 and a 25 foot machine torch. Just need to finish the darn Z column asap, after I doze out the shop to make running room again... Been a year or two since I saw the concrete I poured for the floor.....

Bob
 
xalky said:
The child support payments ended October of last year so I have a whole other mortgage payment to spend on goodies that I've been longing for for 16 yrs. I paid my dues, now its time to have a little fun.

I find it funny that you think I have a lot of room. It's just a 2 car detached garage packed to the gills with stuff. I feel jealous when I see some of these guys with 40x40 play areas. My dream is really to buy or to build a 40x50 steel building with tall cielings and a car lift so i can work on my vehicles or maybe build myself a hot rod. We can all dream.:drool:
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My shop is only 20X20 with a slab out in front to do the car lift and suspension work on along with the big fabricating when I have a project that won't fit through my 6 foot wide barn doors. Have fun, and use what ya got, it's what makes it so much fun to accomplish a lot with a relatively little.
Bobber!!!
 
You know. That's a good point. It could be a virus. The only way it would have gotten in is thru a thumb drive that I plugged into it last night that I used to load a cut file onto the machine. That's when my problems started. The cnc computer is not normally hooked up to the internet nor does it have anti_viruss on it. Thanks for the heads up. Now I gotta scan the thumb drive to see if its contaminated. There were other files on the thumb drive but that drive had been parked away in a drawer for at least a year .I Just grabbed it to load a file onto it . The file donor computer has av software so it probably didn't get infected. Its a place to start.


Upon a scan of the thumb drive, it seems that the thumb drive is clean. I'm just gonna try a fresh install of xp and mach3 on the cnc computer to see if that fixes it. It's not too bad really when you think about it, theres not much on that cnc computer. I'm trying a windows xp repair first from the xp boot disk. If that doesn't work then I'll just do a fresh install. I never backed it up yet because it really hasn't done much yet. Once setup and configured again I'll backup the whole thing onto an external HD. What a drag man :rolleyes::rolleyes:

I'm just thinking out loud here. the machine posts up fine up until i get to the welcome screen with the user name icon on it. Once i click on the user icon to get to desktop screen it screeches to a grinding halt....slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww like so slow it aint worth waiting. I'm thinking windows got corrupted somehow. It could still be remnants of the dreaded chicom plasma HF noise demons haunting me. which is what may have corrupted the files. That Chicom blew out a power supply on my last cnc computer, so this is not out of the realm of possibility.

The fresh windows install seems to be loading at a decent clip, lets see what happens.
 
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just another thought about the change in speed
i was having a problem with one of mine and didnt locate the problem until i went into bios setup and found my processor was over temp. the fan and cone that cools the processor heat sink had broken it's seal to the chip and was not cooling the processor enough. if you dont find a virus you might check there.
steve
 
I did a new windows install repair and it seems to be running tip top now except I can't connect to windows update. So I might have to do it over as a new install . I tried a few of the remedies to cure the problem but none of them worked. I really think the old chicom plasma corrupted the data on the hard drive. I'm just gonna start from scratch and reformat the hd. I wrote down all my settings for the steppers now, after I got it back running again. That was the reason why I did a repair rather than a fresh install. Now that I have the settings there's no reason not to do a fresh install.
 
Alright. I'm back in business. The PC is back up n running.

I'm a complete novice when it comes to using Sheetcam and Mach3... a kindergarten baby! :eek: So it might be a few days before I can fire up this torch and actually cut something worth looking at. :thinking:
 
Yeah, I have to stand over my machine and adjust the torch height manually and that means I can't do anything beside cutting when it is acting up. I finally found that 14 Ga doesn't react wuite so strongly to the Plasma stream heat and allows me to make less adjustments to the torch height during a long cut series, I try to cut up a whole 4X8 sheet when I push the start buttib. That makes finding an item much easier and much less difficult to locate than an axle. Have fun and glad your machine is acting about right again. Good luck!!!!
Wheelchair Bob
 
Rbeckett said:
Yeah, I have to stand over my machine and adjust the torch height manually and that means I can't do anything beside cutting when it is acting up. I finally found that 14 Ga doesn't react wuite so strongly to the Plasma stream heat and allows me to make less adjustments to the torch height during a long cut series, I try to cut up a whole 4X8 sheet when I push the start buttib. That makes finding an item much easier and much less difficult to locate than an axle. Have fun and glad your machine is acting about right again. Good luck!!!!
Wheelchair Bob
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This machine has torch height control which is great but its more tedious for initial setup. I'd be cutting already if it didn't have it. It'll be worth the effort once it's set up. I have some people helping me out online , they clarified a lot of things for me already. My problem right now is that I'm itching to get this thing fired up and I just don't have the time. It'll be Thursday night before I can get back into the garage to play with it.
 
I'm making sparks and I cut out a simple square a few times. No videos yet because I'm trying to get the THC dialed in. But it's pretty damn exciting. The first few cuts were with no THC. I have an 85 amp machine and it came with 85 amp tips which is presenting a problem when cutting 16 guage with the THC on. The material is too thin for the 85 amp tip and the THC to work in tandem. I have a scrap piece of 3/16 sheet that I'm gonna try and cut with THC and the 85 amp tips. I need to order some smaller tips for the Hypertherm to be able to cut this thinner sheet with THC.

I've been doing a whole lotta reading on Sheetcam and was finally able to get something going.

The obstacles I've had to overcome to get to this point have been just huge. The learning curve is very steep....and right now I need to focus on getting more proficient at sheetcam and CAD. The issue I have is, staying on this thing . When I walk away for a few days, it feels like I forgot 1/2 of what I learned. My wife is getting ****** at me because I've been in the garage every spare moment. I need huge blocks of time to get anything done otherwise its 3 steps forward and 2 steps backward. This will not be in vain...I promise you that.a2guns.gif

a2guns.gif
 
at least now it is a learning curve and adjustments not boards frying
you'll get it 3 axis mill was hard at first then it clicked for me.
i'm still slow at it and the 4th axis is coming slow but when i run the gcode its right now and i can find mistakes reading the code.
good luck
steve
 
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