Hal Eckhart wrote: > Sorry about the OT post, but I don't know where else to turn. I'm a long-time > lurker and I'm finally getting close to having EMC running with Jon Elson's > USC > on my ancient plasma machine (replacing DOS and a Microkinetics contoller). I > had a Dell GX270, which seemed to work fine until I tried testing the plasma > arc. Seems to have fried the motherboard instantly. I've spent the afternoon > troubleshooting all the possibilities, and it's very dead. > Oh, MY! You really want to get a commercial-grade noise filter and surge supressor and put all your computer and motion-control hardware on that, and make sure the Plasma machine (both the box and the gun) are insulated from the gantry. > The Microkinetics card was plugged right into the bus, and it regularly locked > up from the plasma noise, but it never fried anything permanently, so this > was a > surprise. The very long run of ethernet cable seems like a probable cause, > but I > really don't want to waste any more equipment if it's not the problem. > > Ethernet is isolated to 3000 V, I think. (I did get one popped by a lightning storm, but it damaged about 3 other things at the same time, so it must have been a strong one! That computer is still in use, but I had to plug in an ethernet card to replace the on-mobo net interface.) > Does anyone know of a good, reliable computer for using with plasma? It's an > old > Esab with HF start. > > Well, those Dell Optiplex machines have been very good, and are known to be compatible with the USC. But, I can't say I've tested them with a plasma machine. (I do have a TIG welder with the hottest HF I've ever seen, you can actually WELD with the HF output! Never any computer problems, but they are just nearby, not actually connected.)
Jon ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
