New member

[Clouts]

Hello guys, Im new here.

Few month ago, i got a new jobs as R&D Tech and heritated of and unfinish project, a "Custom build Plasma table/rotary" . Having ZERO knowledge into that process i did a lots of research about Plasma cutting. I was able to figured and fix most of the problem on it. And now im hitting a wall. I think, i am now dealing with EMI problem. The wiring is a total mess but everything seams grounded "properly".

My issues:
- After running for few minutes(5 to 15mins), when it come time to probe before the next cut, i get an error about "Active probe" and it stop there.

Thing i've tryed & observation:
- I grounded the table on different metal object surrounding the table (different big metal table, a huge press).
- when a cut is finish, there is air blowing out the torche for few second and my "touching LED" on the probe pcb stay ON until the air stop blowing.
- I swapped the nozle on the torch with a new one and the problem didn't follow (im using "Hypertherm Finecut Mechanized Cutting 428926").
- I added dwel time in the program to wait until the air stop between cut but didn't work.
- On the rotary i don't get this problem only on the table while cutting flat stock

Hardware & software:
hypertherm powermax65
Mach4
4" Water table (it was leaking so the level of water was very low (not even 0.5" of water) and was at 3" away from material)
controler: Pokeys57cnc

I've added few picture of the machine. If anyone have some idea i am gladly taking them.

Thanks,
Alain

[acourtjester]

You may be getting water in the torch tip, if you can find you way around the software, and look at the probe input signal when you have the stoppage. Or you may have an intermittent short of that signal circuit. Boy that is some rats nest wiring there.
Do you have a schematic for the controller circuits??

[adbuch]

Since you only get this problem with the flat stock and not the rotary, I would assume that perhaps it might have something to do with the water tray. I would try draining the water out so that there is no possibility of water fouling the consumables (torch nozzle/shield) and see what it does. It is also possible that a small piece of slag has lodged between the nozzle and shield causing the problem.

Some folks use anti-spatter spray on the nozzle/shield to help prevent spatter from sticking and fouling the consumables.

That is some sort of rotary mechanism you have there! I've never seen one like that before. It appears to have lots of small motors and/or solenoids.

Good luck!

David

[Clouts]

You may be getting water in the torch tip, if you can find you way around the software, and look at the probe input signal when you have the stoppage. Or you may have an intermittent short of that signal circuit. Boy that is some rats nest wiring there.
Do you have a schematic for the controller circuits??

Thanks for your input ! i did empty my water tub and no problem so far. Sadly there is no wire diagram and i fear to day to come that i will need to clean this up.

Alain

[Clouts]

Since you only get this problem with the flat stock and not the rotary, I would assume that perhaps it might have something to do with the water tray. I would try draining the water out so that there is no possibility of water fouling the consumables (torch nozzle/shield) and see what it does. It is also possible that a small piece of slag has lodged between the nozzle and shield causing the problem.

Some folks use anti-spatter spray on the nozzle/shield to help prevent spatter from sticking and fouling the consumables.

That is some sort of rotary mechanism you have there! I've never seen one like that before. It appears to have lots of small motors and/or solenoids.

Good luck!

David

Hey David,
Thanks for the feedback, i will try the anti-spatter sprays sound like a good idea. so far with no water its cutting fine without interruption.

The guy who designed that rotary went crazy on it for sure haha ! its for feeding tube in. Sadly its not working properly due to bad contact on the slip ring but this is a problem for later !

Thanks again and have a good day,
Alain

[acourtjester]

Clouts If you can give me the name of the controller board I will see if I can find a manual on it and draw up a simple connection diagram. Does the table use 3 of 4 stepper motors, and does it have a THC, and Ohmic sensor or floating head switch?? It may not be an exact schematic but should give you a better idea of what is there.

[Clouts]

Clouts If you can give me the name of the controller board I will see if I can find a manual on it and draw up a simple connection diagram. Does the table use 3 of 4 stepper motors, and does it have a THC, and Ohmic sensor or floating head switch?? It may not be an exact schematic but should give you a better idea of what is there.

It would be much appreciated and help me a lot since my electronics skill aren't my biggest strenght.

Hardware i have is:
the controller is pokeys57cnc it does have a thc, it also use an ohmic sensor.
For the motor, there is 4 motor on the table(Y axis got 2) and 5 additionnal for the rotary (A axis=1 , B axis=4)

I added picture of all component, due to short wire i can't move them a lot for now.

[acourtjester]

Is this what your control card looks like??

PoKeys 57.JPG (60.64 KiB) Viewed 1799 times

PoKeys 57.JPG (60.64 KiB) Viewed 1799 times

[Clouts]

Is this what your control card looks like??
PoKeys 57.JPG

Oh yes, i forgot to add the picture of the controller

[acourtjester]

I sent a Private Message from here with a question about the driver model numbers.