I'm stumped!

[abmetal]

I've got a problem that I can't figure out and I'm hoping somebody out there has the answer. You can see by the pics what my problem is. It does it on the Y axis only. I've checked and rechecked belts, pulleys, shafts, you name it. The torch was off just a tad so I adjusted that feeling certain I'd found the problem, but that wasn't it. When it first started months ago, it would happen maybe 2 or 3 times during the course of cutting up a complete 4'x8' plate. It has slowly over time gotten worse and then it got bad yesterday. We cut up 2 4x8 plates and I'd say about 1/3 of the cuts on the first plate were that way and probably half on the second plate. The plate shown is 1/4" but it does it on other thicknesses. The first pic is what we were cutting and what it's supposed to look like.

We started with a 4x4 Plasmacam in 06 and went to a Samson 5x10 in 2010 and we've never seen this problem until recently. We've reached the point where we can't cut anymore parts until we get this figured out.

We do have advanced DesignEdge, but not installed on the machine. Wifey has it on her computer in her office but she didn't want to put it on the Samson. So because of that, tech support won't even talk to us until we have the latest version of it installed on the table. I know they don't support version 3.11 anymore but she feels comfortable with it, but now I'm wondering if there's some way it could have become corrupted? The table isn't connected to the internet.

I'm at a loss. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Allen

[mdwalker]

check to make sure your table is perfectly square then pull the gantry all the way to the end of the table and make sure it is contacting the limit switch on one side and the stop on the other side at the same time.

[abmetal]

I've checked the squareness and travel of the gantry. If it wasn't square, I'd think it'd make that kind of cut every time it would cut in the Y direction, right? Is the X servo receiving input?

Allen

[robertspark]

Can you swap the motor with one of the other axis and see if the problem moves

(Motor coming to end of life....)

[abmetal]

Swapping the motors was one thing that'd crossed my mind but I wanted to get some educated guesses before I started tearing things apart, especially if it could be software related. Occasionally I'll hear a noise when the machine is cutting that sounds like a low moan but by the time I get over to the table to check it, it has stopped. I've wondered if that was a motor. But I never heard the noise at all when Wifey cut up the two 4x8s. I've got a feeling this problem is really going to tax my old worn out brain.

Allen

[abmetal]

FOUND IT!....I think. When I was running the torch assembly back and forth across the gantry I noticed that the cam follower would move out slightly and right back in but in no particular pattern. So I removed it from the gantry and found a small buildup about 1/8" wide and 2/3 of the way around the small drive gear. If you look closely at the left side of the drive gear, you can see where the buildup was. Whatever that "stripe" was, it stained or etched that gear. The rest of the gear was clean and the rack was also clean. This little "stripe" on the gear doesn't jive with how the cuts were turning out especially with the cuts gradually worsening over the period of several weeks but after I cleaned it we cut 4 test squares and 24 parts and they were perfect. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Allen

[Old Iron]

Good find. I too hope that is the culprit.

[SegoMan DeSigns]

Glad you found it, sucks when your can't make ends meet.