When things go wrong... How to fix?

[Tristar500]

Hey Guys,
I've been using Mach 3 for about 20 years but still far from being an expert and most of my experience has been with Mill, laser and router.

When something rotten happens during an operation I can usually just re-home and start again. (after obligatory swearing and changing broken cutters etc.)

Since plasma cutters don't take kindly to re-cutting a partially finished job (torch following previous cut, which is now just a gap of air)

What kind of strategies have you come up with to pick up where things went wrong?

Yesterday while getting some bugs out of a new plasma build I had a torch "no start". Mach 3 stops looking for arc ok.

I solved the issue by inspecting the torch and servicing the consumables and re-opening the cad program to delete the cuts already finished.

Anybody got any hints and tips on this?

Thanks all!

This forum is a lifesaver!, Glad I joined as a contributing member.

[ROKCRLER]

I keep a scrap piece of 16ga handy and place on the spot it stopped or over the part already cut to continue.

[djreiswig]

Back up to the previous m05. Disable THC and step until the m03 line. Skip that line and start code from the next line. Watch the torch and right before it hits the uncut material, fire the torch & turn THC on.

[34by151]

Have fixed up a lot of mach3 plasma cutters.

I always add a "save origin" and "restore origin" button to the GUI
Its easy to loose position with Mach3 and if you do it's a nightmare

Another tip is to have Mach3 in absolute (not relative) mode

Allways Home before staring a job
Jog to your start position and save the origin
Mach3 will make your start position 0,0
Home, restore origin
You can then move to M03 where the last cut was and restart

This is where having your PP generate absolute moves comes in handy
If you have it set for relative moves you would need to do all the moves from the origin to the cut you want
This means deleting all the M3/M5's before the cut you want

[Joe Jones]

On those occasions where the torch stops for any of a hundred different reasons, I start the cutting process again and turn off the torch. The machine goes through the motions and when it approaches the point where the torch stopped cutting, I turn the torch on and it picks up from there. The PlasmaCam table controller has a button that turns the torch on and off.

Joe

[Dingo74536]

I have not used it myself yet and it is not Mach3 related but one of the features of the Proma Myplasm system is the Resume Function that is built into the control software which theoretically can save your bacon when it goes wrong. I have pasted the text from the manual less pics obviously but it might give you the idea of how it works.

Resuming cutting.
Depending on the circumstances of the interruption, the work can be
resumed in several ways. In the case of a simple stop with the STOP
[ ESC ] BETWEEN TRACKS key ( recommended ), simply click
START [ F5 ] and the system will automatically resume from next path.

When you have stopped working UNDER CUTTING a track, the
START [ F5 ] button will start cutting it from the beginning. In order to
start from the stopping point, click START with the Right Mouse Button
or the [ F6 ] key.

It is possible to start cutting from ANY POINT by simply pointing to
it with the right mouse button and selecting " Start track from this point "
from the menu.

If a track is not cut enough, it is possible to start cutting it in the
opposite direction which will allow it to be cut "from the end". To do this,
select the one of tracks and click START with the CTRL key held down.

[Tristar500]

On those occasions where the torch stops for any of a hundred different reasons, I start the cutting process again and turn off the torch. The machine goes through the motions and when it approaches the point where the torch stopped cutting, I turn the torch on and it picks up from there. The PlasmaCam table controller has a button that turns the torch on and off.

Joe

That seems to be working for me although It can be tedious when the torch fails near the end or a large job. The program comes to a stop when it doesn't get an "arc ok" signal and I have to hit the torch off button at the start of every cut to make it move on to the next.

I'm still working on getting the hang of the "run from here" feature in Mach 3.

[djreiswig]

Move to the m05 right before the failed spot and hit set next line. Then single step to the m03. Skip ahead 1 line and hit set next line again. Then start and manually fire the torch when it gets to the uncut area.

[Tristar500]

Move to the m05 right before the failed spot and hit set next line. Then single step to the m03. Skip ahead 1 line and hit set next line again. Then start and manually fire the torch when it gets to the uncut area.

Thanks!
I'm a little weak on the set next line and start from here.

[djreiswig]

Never used start from here. I don't think I even have that button. I back up to the m05 so that I get the reference and the correct x y moves to get the torch where it needs to be.