ATTENTION! IF YOU PLAN ON USING CandCNC.COM BLADERUNNER. READ ON!!!
So,
This is the "what you need to do to your EVERLAST plasma cutter BEFORE RUNNING BLADERUNNER", IF you want your warranty honored, technical service, or even acknowledgement that you're a human being from the folks down there. I am in NO way trying to discredit EITHER company. Just that Neither of you has yet taken the time to work TOGETHER to get a few technical questions answered and put to bed, and until that is done, unless you're careful, you'll void the warranty of at least one of the two. Being relatively new to this end of a CNC (but with 20+ years running and programming other CNC machines) I had some technical questions about the hookup between the control unit, and the CNC port on the back of the PP60c. That's when I made a call down to Texas, where the Cand CNC factory is, for technical support. What started out as a simple question regarding divided arc voltage turned into the purchase of a RAV-01 (raw arc voltage card) for $41.50, which he explained was due to the fact that "Them Chinese welders is different", and he just will NOT trust them after more than one incident involving such, although he wouldn't mention EVERLAST specifically as a culprit, he said that they were one of the brands not covered by his warranty, unless this card was installed, along with the DCP-01 (digital current probe) for $85.00 more. Which in itself isn't ALL bad, as the digital current probe is ultra-simple to install, gives the OK to move signal to the control instead of the plasma cutter, and adds functionality to the MACH software, as well as real-time actual cutting amperage on the screen while running. Nifty. Actually, he was a little short with me at first, but I think it was because it was Friday at ten to five, but he stayed on the line with me for about 1/2 hour longer, and became more helpful once I agreed to buy the cards. He actually turned out to be a pretty nice guy. His name is Tom, and I found out that he's VERY busy most of the time, so he prefers that you come to him with questions that are not in the extremely well-written documentation, without looking there first. I have found out that 99.9% of the info needed to successfully install and set up this system is in their manuals, WITH illustrations AND photos AND schematics. ALL written in plain AMERICAN ENGLISH and easy to understand. The cards came the following Tuesday, and the following posts will be a rundown of the install. If you don't have at least SOME electronics experience, I would NOT recommend that you attempt this install, but then again, I wouldn't advise that you build your own CNC table, Either :D
INSTALLING A RAW ARC VOLTAGE CARD IN THE PP60c
HI! Due to the time it takes to generate these posts (I'm a slow typer, but like to get the wording right so folks can understand) This will be broken down into multiple posts. Maybe I should get that Dragon voice recognition software-If anyone uses it, please speak up, I need to know if it's worth it. Anyway, The RAV card comes mounted to a plastic base, great idea as it protects it and makes for an easy install.
http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/a...a%202/1PP3.jpg
The instructions for the card say to mount it at least 2 inches from any other electronic components insidse the machine. On the PP60c, all I had to do is make a little mounting bracket, and I was in business. Good luck on others, I have no idea what the inside of any other plasma cutter looks like. So, I made the bracket out of a piece of 1/8" aluminum (DARN, no welding needed!)
http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/a...a%202/1PP4.jpg
Sawed it with my 12 volt Milwaukee Hackzall, Bent a 90 at one end, drilled clearance and mounting holes for the card, then mounted the assembly on the front panel of the machine, using that 3M mounting tape. I was going to epoxy the bracket in place, than I thought, Airplane companies are using this stuff to fasten skins to wings these days, so I'm confident it's up to the task.
http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/a...a%202/1PP5.jpg
http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/a...a%202/1PP6.jpg
Below are some shots of the card in place from a top and bottom view.
http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/a...a%202/1PP7.jpg
http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/a...a%202/1PP9.jpg
You will notice in the bottom view, the wires are already hooked up, next post will show the rest of the install. Please bear with me on these images, as I use photobucket, and they are messing around with it, so I have some tweaking to do to ensure I don't have postage stamp sized images followed by poster size.
Raw arc voltage card install part 2
Since I actually have a decent connection, I'll keep going til I run out of time. Below is a shot of the whole unit, right before I replaced the covers.
http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/a...%202/1PP13.jpg
Before I hooked up the wires, I drilled a hole in the back of the cabinet, and installed a rubber grommet, for a finished look.
http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/a...%202/1PP10.jpg
Before drilling this hole, I used tape and plastic to TOTALLY isolate the area and prevent ANY metal shavings form getting near the innards of the machine. Keep in mind that one tiny shaving getting on a board could cause a short and a blown machine, so extra extra care MUST be taken for this operation, I can't stress this enough!!!!
http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/a...%202/1PP11.jpg
Rather than risk tapping into any wires, what I did was used my ohmmeter to locate the proper wires from the CNC port for torch on/off and arc ok, and used the EVERLAST supplied plug to run those wires back into the machine and to the RAV card.
http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/a...%202/1PP12.jpg
The 2 black and 2 green wires in the pic of the card in the last post are those wires. By FAR, the SAFEST way to hook into the card. I made 20 gauge wires with proper connectors to tap directly into the ground and torch output where they attach to the front panel, and ran them to the RAV card, as instructed, then ran the 2 cables supplied with the card from the RAV card, through the new hole in the back, and to the THC module.
http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/a...%202/1PP14.jpg
One of the cables is a flat, 4 conductor cable, the other is a round, black cable like a stereo headphone style jack. The 4 conductor is for on/off, and arc OK. Next to it is the Digital Current Probe, which is also plugged into this box. Below is a poor (sorry) pic of the controller mounted directly to the plasma table. The yellow CAT5 cable is the only wiring that links the controller to the plasma cutter.
http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/a...%202/1PP15.jpg
From the controller, there are 2 cables that link up to the serial and parallel ports on the computer. And that's where I have to stop for now. I have a few hundred things on my to-do list. More later. Feel free to ask questions or leave comments, Feedback is good!
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