What do I have here? bought second hand plasma table

[Tristar500]

I picked up a CandCNC table today second hand.

It's missing the Plasma cutter but is outfitted with the Hypertherm plasma machine torch.

Here's some pics of what I got.

I'm pretty good at fixing stuff and have built several cnc machines from scratch over the years so familiar with the basics or drives, fabrication etc.

I haven't put power to the control box yet as there is a lot of dust that needs to be cleaned out.
I figured when I bought it, worse case, I'd just toss the machine controller and assemble my own with a couple or stepper drives and an ESS (ethernet smooth stepper controller)

One thing I noticed right away is that this machine has not homing/limit switches. Wondering if they can be added tot he CandCNC electronics?

Thanks in advance guys! See the pics?

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PXL_20231117_232056515.jpg

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PXL_20231117_175625065.jpg

[djreiswig]

That controller is run by mach3. You would need to purchase a copy and get the candcnc plugin to be able to run the dthc through a serial port.
It looks like all of the components are there, just need a PC with a parallel port and the software and it should go.
The row of male spade terminals on the I/O board is for your inputs. You can use any of them for any functions, they are just labeled to correspond with the functions in mach 3. Just need to assign the correct port & pin in the settings. You can download a manual from their website. It's probably in the legacy section.
Good luck with your new toy.

[Tristar500]

That controller is run by mach3. You would need to purchase a copy and get the candcnc plugin to be able to run the dthc through a serial port.
It looks like all of the components are there, just need a PC with a parallel port and the software and it should go.
The row of male spade terminals on the I/O board is for your inputs. You can use any of them for any functions, they are just labeled to correspond with the functions in mach 3. Just need to assign the correct port & pin in the settings. You can download a manual from their website. It's probably in the legacy section.
Good luck with your new toy.

Yeah, I was wondering about all those unused spade terminals. The only thing hooked to it was a floating head sensor.
I have both Mach3 and 4 licenses and run several machines under both of them.

All of my machines are running the Smooth Stepper (one USB and the rest ESS)
I haven't dissected the control box so don't know what components CandCNC uses. Are the drives separate or all on one board? How much of this stuff is proprietary and is there a work around?

Doesn't CandCNC use Mach or do they have their own software?
I think I saw something about using Linux in some posts? (not familiar with it and have been with Mach since Mach 2, 3 and now 4 (not a big fan of 4 for simple 2D work)

I got the whole package for $800 so I think it was worth it for the hardware alone.

[djreiswig]

Pretty sure they're gecko drives. I think their motors are proprietary. The dthc is their own design and requires the plugin to work.
You might be able to switch the parallel port to an ess smoothstepper, not sure.
The serial port I think is used for the dthc.
Grab the manual and flip through it. I'm not familiar with the older model, asi have an ethercut with the ess.
Their newest version uses Linux and the hardware is different. You might be able to send your box in and get it updated, but if you're familiar with mach, it would probably be easier to stick with that.

[acourtjester]

You may get a post for Tom he has been on here before answering question about his produces or reach out to them. I think with that model it used a screen set that was Mach 3 based. You can switch screen sets to got back to the normal Mach screens very easy, and flip back and forth between them for checking different things. I had a slightly newer version of this setup and did that for motor tuning purposes. You may see if they will do an upgrade for you to a newer setup (linuxcnc based now). That may be easier then finding a PC or adding a parallel post, to get the table fully functional.

[Tristar500]

You may get a post for Tom he has been on here before answering question about his produces or reach out to them. I think with that model it used a screen set that was Mach 3 based. You can switch screen sets to got back to the normal Mach screens very easy, and flip back and forth between them for checking different things. I had a slightly newer version of this setup and did that for motor tuning purposes. You may see if they will do an upgrade for you to a newer setup (linuxcnc based now). That may be easier then finding a PC or adding a parallel post, to get the table fully functional.

I haven't used a parallel port to drive a CNC since Mach2. I switched to USB with the first SmoothStepper came out and now all but one of my machines use the ethernet SS.

I'm going to poke around in the control box this afternoon and see exactly what is in there, give all a good cleaning and figure out what direction to take to get it all up and running.

Thanks all!

[acourtjester]

Looks like replacing the controller electronics should be about all to do. Looks like nema 34 motors so new drivers and control board of your choice and the software to match. Many newer options available, like mini PCs and USB or either connections, with a little research you will be cutting soon.
Great start for $800. The table I am using now I got an all in one PC with windows software for about $150 and went with LinuxCNC and Mesa board for the controller. LinuxCNC and Meas card is a easy price for the THC too.

[Tristar500]

I am curious about the THC that is in this unit and what and how it needs to connect to the motion controller/computer.

Got both computers that came with it blown out and up and running. Looks like one was dedicated to run the machine and had Mach 3 installed with a CandCNC custom screen. The other machine has files and some CAD software (Inkscape and AutoCad 2017 (expired license).
That is the way I have all my machines set up with the computer dedicated to running the machine.
I think I'm going to keep and eye out for some aluminum extrusion and lengthen the table. Will need to source some rack gear as well.

Anybody know the pitch of the gear drive?

[acourtjester]

This is where I got the racks for my tables.
https://www.mooregear.com/custom-and-st ... -and-gears

[Tristar500]

This is where I got the racks for my tables.
https://www.mooregear.com/custom-and-st ... -and-gears

Looks good, I'll keep them in mind once I find some extrusions for lengthen the machine. Sooner or later that stuff shows up at our local scrapyard.

[tcaudle]

You can save you self a lot of time by:
1. Going ot the SUPPORT /Manuals section of the website and getting the old manuals for that system.
2. Join the SUpport Forum that is monitored daily and post there. PlasmaSPider is not our forum for support/
3. Understanding that the DTHC is an integrated part of the motion system and has hard ware drivers (plug-ins for MACH)
4. Will not work with MACH4 , no drivers and no hardware compatibility
5. Knowing That DTHCII won't work with the ESS . You have to have at lest the DTHCIV that bypasses the internal THC in MACH for 10X performance.

You may like to build you own stuff and that is fine, but we just introduced a new Home Shop Controller that is ready-to-run and those mots (23 frame) will plug right into the new controller. It's all run off a quad processor Mini PC (included) with CommandCNC , SheetCAM and several options for CAD and Drawing.all Pre-loaded If Linux scares you then all of you drawing and CAM (sheetCAM) runs on Windows too and files will move either direction. You can network the LINUX PC to you LAN or other Windows PC's using either the built in WIFI or add a USB to Ethernet adapter to the Mini PC.

The HS-4 5 Plasma with no Motors is $1300.00 https://www.candcnc.com/store-home/hs-s ... ontroller/You can add a 5th (rotary pipe cutting) axis and all kinds of accessories.

New controllers use Real time Motion and DTHC 5 is an integral part of the motion . Allows us to have real time anti dive (VAD) ane several other features not available on MACH systems.

The ESS is a good product for MACH but it has a significant delay between code read and actual motion. The EBOB in all of our current controllers is a high speed FPGA based Real time Motion control and works with Linux and CommandCNC.

You can get that old controller upgraded to a Linux CommandCNC system but it costs as much as the new Home Shop Series!