New Floating Head ... Problem .. Lets put our Minds to work!

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blueriver
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New Floating Head ... Problem .. Lets put our Minds to work!

Post by blueriver »

We have a Longevity 62i hooked to the 5 axis 5x10 table ... Proma THC, PTM60 Machine torch. All has been working well, we've had our fair share of troubles ... a lot of learning to get things configured to work but all in all its been doing what its supposed to do. Recently decided to add a floating head. Installed it ...in the test mode all is well and it finds the sheet and sets to the height!!! UNTIL WE TURN ON THE PLASMA CUTTER ... then it just doesn't respond correctly ... fires the torch about .75" off the sheet!!! Shut off the torch and run a test ... Perfect. Turn on the Plasma and same result torch fires about .75" off the sheet ... the head goes thru the motions just doesn't find the sheet ... kinda like it has its own setting?

Messing around we unplugged the CNC plug on the plasma machine front... turned on the plasma cutter and the floating head went thru the motions PERFECT! That leaves two things ... the CNC plug has the THC and the On/Off for the torch ... so we disconnect the on/off ... turn on the plasma and run a test PERFECT ... then plug in the torch on/off and run again OOPS ... torch fires at .75" above the sheet ... We've concluded that the floating head failure must be associated with the CNC plug torch on/off ... BUT WHAT CAN IT BE?
blueriver
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Re: New Floating Head ... Problem .. Lets put our Minds to work!

Post by blueriver »

Wow ... no responses !!! Anyway, I've read all over about grounded this and grounded that ... shielded wire... on and on and on!!!

As a last resort I took any wire that was not shielded and replaced it with shielded ... PROBLEM SOLVED!!!!!

Next step is to drill a hole thru the concrete floor ... drive in a ground rod and ground the table, the control box, the computer. the plasma cutter ... and anything in between!!!
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WyoGreen
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Location: Cheyenne, Wyoming

Re: New Floating Head ... Problem .. Lets put our Minds to work!

Post by WyoGreen »

Glad you found the problem. When I first fired up my machine I had little gremlins every now and again. I knew that noise can really muck things up from a router machine build i did a few years ago, so I did all the things you mentioned and the gremlins moved on to somewhere else (your machine I guess, sorry!) :mrgreen:

Steve
Precision Plasma gantry
CommandCNC Linux controller w/Feather Touch & PN200 hand controller
HT-45 plasma cutter
Plate Marker
Router
Laser
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WyoGreen
4 Star Member
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Posts: 897
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2014 8:36 pm
Location: Cheyenne, Wyoming

Re: New Floating Head ... Problem .. Lets put our Minds to work!

Post by WyoGreen »

As an after thought, don't get too carried away with the grounding. Make sure to keep computer type grounds separate from noisy plasma type grounds.

Steve
Precision Plasma gantry
CommandCNC Linux controller w/Feather Touch & PN200 hand controller
HT-45 plasma cutter
Plate Marker
Router
Laser
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