PlasmaCam Samson 510, many issues, spent money, my journey in this world.

[silverios]

Ok this is my first post in this forum, I am making this post in cnczone as well for anyone who might encounter the same issues, it is going to be long and entertaining as well for you, so go and come back with a coffee/bear/tea or whatever you like, hope you enjoy it.

I have been dealing with my PlasmaCam Samson 510 since the day I bought it NEW in May 2022.

I speak Spanish as my mother tongue, I was born and raised in the Caribbean, I graduated from Mechanical Engineering and fast-forward to today I own a PlasmaCam Samson 510.

The following is the list of issues and the "solutions" I have tried in order to have a "functional" CNC machine.

Communication errors, I believe you all know this, errors like "Could Not control carriage position", "possible noise from plasma cutter", "material surface not detected" <=== this last one has been a pain in the ass some times.

Here is where the solutions get tricky and expensive for me, considering my English is 7/10 I called Support From PlasmaCam many times only to receive the same stupid answer, "Please go to our really old quality video manual and check section this and section that, you will find there the solution to your issue, believe us, we know what we are talking about and it will just be some dust here and there", as someone that live in the Caribbean I believe you felt the same way with such answers every time you needed a decent solution from them.
So, after a lot of wasted time I decided to take matters into my own hands and that began with sending the controller to the support in the US at the cost of my first spent $250.00 via UPS, God that was expensive, considering again where I live, imaging doing that two more times… Yes, I had to send the controller back to support in the US again and again because I was getting the exact same problems, I could not believe it, $750.00 bucks wasted in only sending and receiving the controller with no proper solution from PlasmaCam at all!

That’s when one of my computer technicians suggested "let’s work with the computer" so we did that, the computer I have is a Dell Optiplex 5050 SFF, since the errors log showed a lot communication errors, the computer technician and I came with a "logical answer" it might be the port, this computer does not come with a parallel port so the cheap one I bought before "could not handle" the voltage the controller would need to work properly, so after some searching we decided to spend $220.00 in the, you guessed it, Axxon Lf119kb PCIe from Softio, Only to realize the goddam DE software was giving me the exact same issues.
So, we went back to the thinking spot and came out with the suggestion that the computer itself could not give the requested energy that the controller needed, its power supply was only 180wats, many people in these kind of forums suggested older computers with integrated parallel ports ONLY TO USE THE SOFTWARE, and I know those used to come with a stronger power supply, at least from 250w to 300 and some, so that made sense to us at the shop and then another $200.00 goes burrrr, I bought the SilverStone 700w Power Supply 80+ Gold, "man that brand is good" said the computer technician, but not my wallet.

Power Supply and the power cable adapter for that computer arrived, we installed them as good as we could because we had to remove and smash metal parts out of the case of the computer to fit the PSU in there due to low space, fingers crossed and computer booted, that was a good signal, we supposed that should be it, we started working, and we worked all day with no issues, we were happy.

But then the exact same error started to show up in the DE software again, we had our jaws over the floor in disbelieve, it just sucked, it was painful for me to start working in the machine only to encounter again all those issues after all the money spent to fix them, considering that the average wage in this country is roughly $250.00 for the average joe.

Back again to the thinking spot, the computer technician suggested, "well Controller should be good, computer as well, lets see the parts in the 5x10 table", we notice every time we had the error, the carriage Y sort of jumped, at first we thought these jumps were caused by the communications errors, but then we said "what if the communication errors came from these jumps?" so I said "well lets replace the Y carriage motor then" and there $500.00 plus $90.00 to receive the part in my country goes brrrr, dude my wallet was crying… only to realize we had the. same. exact. issues with the Y carriage, it was jumping again and again, and in PlasmaCam support they would just say the same thing, go to video support to blah blah blah.

So in the thinking spot we tough, "well lets see, it still jumps, but why if booth carriages are fine, they are knew" so the computer technician called another one that works with computers and printers and said "with printers is the same exact thing due to the fact that small parts used to wear down, specially the very little ones, this parts we can call them "disposable", try to find out what tiny parts could be damaged and replace them to see it that has an effect on the machine itself".

And that made absolutely sense, what if those disposable small parts were making the carriage jump and then the computer would read this as a "Comunication error", we disassemble the Y carriage and check the "roller rearings" or the Carriage Shaft as you call it in the US, at first it was soft but then I poured some 3 in 1 oil in it and the "balls" started to sound bad, like if they were worn out, I was shocked, why would this be damaged with barely a year of use for a new machine like this.
Anyway, I went and ordered the "Carriage Shaft suit PlasmaCAM DHC2 & Samson 510, part D-716" replaced it in the table and I could work "fine" for a day, because the next day the Y motor jumped again but this time those jumps were lighter, so I tough that the answer was close, I check the other tiny parts and saw that the Cam Followers were king of jumping in the table, more often than the carriage when it was working, these jumps were tiny but consistent, at first I thought that was not an issue, again because the table is new, but since replacing part D-716 had an effect as the Printer Technician suggested, why not replace it as well considering I have spent over $1,750.00 in this nightmare.

So I bought the "Us power CR-1/2 2rs Cam Followers", they came to my country, replace them and then the dream came true, dude, everything if working just fine, just like new, like finally I have what it was supposed to be, all without the useless support from PlasmaCam.

At the end, the message is clear, start with the tiny parts when you encounter issues like I had, these machine really do have disposable tiny parts, and PlasmaCam Support should acknowledge that and give owners a way to check if these small parts need to be replaced, because it is not "check if Carriage Shaft Part D-716 fells good when you move it", IT REALLY IS "go remove and pour some this oil in the part D-716, then move it with your own hands for a while and try to feel if the "balls" inside move evenly if not please consider replace it for a new overpriced one in our store" and then "go and check if parts D-139 seems to look completely rounded (or what ever term they use, I don’t know, I speak Spanish) and if not consider replace them only at our store, do not look for other places to buy our overpriced bad quality parts because we don’t like that" and suggest what other tiny parts need to be "properly" checked so we don’t have to come around these forums to share the hate they so much deserve xD

Thank you for reading my experience, I am new to these forums so please leave your suggestion, I have read many posts in this forums and my conclusion is this a really nice community, it is amazing how you help each other, comparing it for instance to the PlasmaCam Support.

[Joe Jones]

The cam follower bearings are a good thing to check FIRST for communication errors. If they hang up, they will cause the encoders in the motors to fail to report movement at the nanosecond the computer is expecting a pulse from the motor, and that will be received as a communication error. The gantry and carriage MUST move smoothly, with very little resistance. Those bearings are NOT SEALED, so plasma dust gets inside and causes the bearings to FAIL to spin freely.

I do like the tables and I do love the software, but all PlasmaCam table owners KNOW that " When they work well ... they work well!" But the tables can stop working for any of a hundred different reasons, and the video manual is basically useless to help you find the errors.

I am glad you finally found the problem that was causing you to wonder if you could carry your table to the roof to throw it off in a fit of rage. The struggle is real, brother.

Joe

This is the bearing for the table. The table uses 11 of them.

https://www.mrosupply.com/bearings/8612 ... o-bearing/

[rdj357]

I'm very glad you got your table working as it should. Their video manual is very good BUT only for a person who learns in the way it is presented. That is why I have been happily successful meeting and teaching owners all over the US and a couple other countries (by computer or phone). I wish I could speak Spanish but I was stupid in school and did not see the importance.

If I can ever help you or you can bear to watch my YouTube videos and the poor English in them, I am always willing to help in whatever way I can. I promise that I will only tell you to watch the video manual when I know exactly what clip to send you to and even then almost never!

Links to the information I have to share and how to contact me is in my signature. I wish you the best and hope you are well!