help with PracticalCNC

[tomloewen]

I'm hoping someone can help me with this. My neighbor runs a small welding shop and just bought a used 5x10 plasma table. The software is called PracticalCNC. the cad program is BobCad, I think. He knows nothing about running a plasma table and I know enough to get myself in trouble.

He figured out how to run the gantry back & forth, so at first, that was working fine. He asked me to come over and help figure out how to cut out a piece. But as I brought the gantry ahead, it stopped hard and won't go forward; it moves backwards and from side to side, but not forward.

I apologize for the crappy screen shot, but if you look at the bottom left, it says,

"Aborted - Limit Switch Low Y"

I also noticed a red arrow to the left side of the Y coordinate box on the top right of the screen.

The Help file isn't very helpful. Is there a simple way to reset the Limit Switch Low Y?

Like I mentioned, this was a used table and the OS is Windows XP. I'd appreciate any help to resolve this. Or perhaps the best answer is a newer OS and different software?

Thanks,
Tom

[tcaudle]

Practical (RIP) used mostly WINCNC control software. They are still around. They might sell you a manual but it will cover just their software bus card. It has a WIN.INI file that harbors all of the settings. It's possible either you have a soft limit set and/or you are not zeroing out the DROS at the beginning with the torch at table 0,0.

Hope your friend does not have too much invested because getting parts or support may be an issue. The fact you have any motion is encouraging but the devil is in the details!

Does it have any form of THC? PCNC used several but early ones never worked.

[tomloewen]

Practical (RIP) used mostly WINCNC control software. They are still around. They might sell you a manual but it will cover just their software bus card. It has a WIN.INI file that harbors all of the settings. It's possible either you have a soft limit set and/or you are not zeroing out the DROS at the beginning with the torch at table 0,0.

Hope your friend does not have too much invested because getting parts or support may be an issue. The fact you have any motion is encouraging but the devil is in the details!

Does it have any form of THC? PCNC used several but early ones never worked.

Thanks for the info. And yep, there's separate hand-held control for the THC.
Tom

[acourtjester]

If you don't think it tripped a normal limit or home switch if may be a software position limit and doing a software reset may clear it. I worked on a big commercial router in town where the guy lost the software disc. I changed out the BOB and set it up to run Mach works fine now. If his has stepper motors you may be able to do something similar to get him going.