Plasmacam update - now help needed urgent....

[johno down under]

Hi all, I'm hoping someone can guide me in the right direction to fix issues.
I received an email telling me that an update would be needed for my machine!
A few days later my machine crashed, i tried for the update, but wasn''t able to down load it.
Finally get it done after some advice from the techy guys.
Then i couldn't initialize the machine, back to the downloads and got it done finally, so i thought.....
Now i have a notice coming up saying... "SHORT CIRCUIT IN POWER TO ONE OR MORE OF THE MOTOR(S) CARRIAGE GANTRY Z
COMMUNICATION ERRORS
(READ MISMATCH)
POSSIBLE NOISE PROBLEM FROM PLASMA CUTTER, PARALLEL PORT OR
CABLE.....!???

Does anyone know what it all means?
I'm pretty well on my own at this point as the company that i purchased from in Melbourne Aust went under during the covid outbreak,
Does anyone know if the is another company that do servicing in Australia.
Thanks for any help/advice with this.
Cheers Johno Down under

[adbuch]

Do you have a copy of the Video Manual? If so, then take a look at the following.

video manual.jpg

If not, then here is the contents of these diagnostic pages.

"If no problem is found and the short circuit error happens infrequently, it may be caused by EMI in your shop rather
than by an actual short circuit."

I expect that Robert will have some additional diagnostic ideas for you when he sees this later this morning.

David

video manual image.jpg

video manual image 1.jpg

video manual image 2.jpg

video manual image 3.jpg

video manual image 4.jpg

[rdj357]

David has provided excellent info here. You have to find the source of the problem and there are some great troubleshooting steps in the manual.

[tinspark]

I get that same message when the torch lead coming out of the plasma cutting machine is too close to the signal wire that also comes out of the machine. I try to keep them as far enough apart as possible. Once in a while the signal wire gets too close to the plasma torch lead and it will happen again.
I move my table occasionally to clean and such as I did the other day, and forgot to separate the two, and it gave me the same error message, but has worked flawlessly once I remembered what my problem was...
Hope it helps.

[johno down under]

thanks heaps for all the advice, I have fiddled around with it all day..
I've disconnected, and reconnected all i could..... and separated my torch leads (thanks for that one tinspark) I thought i had it with that one! I had some success after all that.
I could initialize, i could go up and down the bed, i could go right..... then that was it when i tried to go left?, the message come back again.
If i went back through the whole procedure again it would be fine again, go right it was fine, go left back to the same message?
I do appreciate all the comment, i was hoping that it was going to be an easy fix, but maybe not! and as i said there is no back up support here in AUS now the Melbourne shop has closed.
Thanks again guys,
Cheers Johno

[adbuch]

Johno - you need to go thru the diagnostic steps in the Video Manual in a logical order. Simply unplugging/plugging and moving cables around is most likely not going to fix your problem. Have you followed any of the diagnostic steps/procedures in the Video Manual yet?

David

[toasterman12]

same happend to me with one of my ganrty moters(crossfire, with plenty of room for upgrades). i hadnt tightend the port on one of my cables and it let out the magic smoke. Check out your connections and make sure to tighten everthing down, drive for 25 miles and check again. the end result was langmuire sent me out a new moter(was cool cause they sent out an upgraded unit).......hope this helps someone someday

[johno down under]

i did go through the steps as described by you above, but its still the same with slight improvement as in my last post.
I WILL be doing it again tomorrow, i need my machine running
Cheers Johno

[adbuch]

Let us know how you make out. We are here to help.
David

[tinspark]

Johno - you need to go thru the diagnostic steps in the Video Manual in a logical order. Simply unplugging/plugging and moving cables around is most likely not going to fix your problem. Have you followed any of the diagnostic steps/procedures in the Video Manual yet?

David

Yep agreed!!

[tinspark]

thanks heaps for all the advice, I have fiddled around with it all day..
I've disconnected, and reconnected all i could..... and separated my torch leads (thanks for that one tinspark) I thought i had it with that one! I had some success after all that.
I could initialize, i could go up and down the bed, i could go right..... then that was it when i tried to go left?, the message come back again.
If i went back through the whole procedure again it would be fine again, go right it was fine, go left back to the same message?
I do appreciate all the comment, i was hoping that it was going to be an easy fix, but maybe not! and as i said there is no back up support here in AUS now the Melbourne shop has closed.
Thanks again guys,
Cheers Johno

Also., separate the serial port wire coming out of the computer to the controller and away from the power cord wire if they are close. some have experienced noise there. I was having problems with that too. Even though I bought the cable and port from PlasmaCam and didn't mind paying up a bit so that I could have peace of mind and eliminate any error on my part for buying the wrong stuff out of my own ignorance at the time. But since I knew that I had the right stuff, I could concentrate on the other possible problems which was a task by itself at the time.

You mention in your initial comment that you are getting the message, "COMMUNICATION ERRORS
POSSIBLE NOISE PROBLEM FROM PLASMA CUTTER, *********PARALLEL PORT********
OR CABLE.....!???", so this could be it also.

Also, some have grounded their computer case to the outside of their controller box and have had similar messages go away.
Maybe try a wire with alligator clips on both ends and attach to a cooling fin on the controller and the other end to teh outside of your case somewhere that looks to be a good metal connecting point that grounds to the case, and see if doesn't solve it..
But this has not been my problem, but I have read in the past that it has helped a few.

[johno down under]

guys, i don't know how i can thank you guys for all this information and suggestions.
I'll be back out in the shed this morning going over everything again, and checking, checking, checking.....
Thank you again guys for the help.
Cheers Johno

[johno down under]

I've been out in the shed for the last 6 hours.....
I have redone all that has been suggested, unplugged and re plugged a few times.
the more i do it the better it seems to be getting.......sort off!
After reading the video manual, and going through the steps again i noticed that the *paused* light stopped working.
So, disconnect and wait 2 min, restart and it's fine again...... for a while,
I could trace a pattern a few times over then the message comes up again, so repeat the disconnect and go again.
Does this indicate anything in particular to anyone???
Almost fixed, but just not quite!!!
cheers Johno

[rdj357]

To clarify - the pause light only flashes until the machine is initialized and then it only lights up when the machine is actually paused.
Because of the intermittent issue, I assume it is probably plasma dust shorting you out somewhere. Possibly a bad motor winding but you'd have hopefully reported back that doing the swap test narrowed down which axis is giving you the error if so.