Hi all,

i have recently purchased a 4x4 plasma table and it has been nothing but a head ache from day 1!

i purchased the machine used for $6000. seemed to be in decent shape and came with a good plasma cutter. i have made a few small upgrades to it to make sure it was fine tune. (torch mount, a few small mechanical components)

the machine is a 4x4 percision cutting systems table (which happens to be a local company but there is no life on the other end of the phone line). it runs a hypertherm 1250. the computer came with some old software - viaCAD 2d , lazycam , and mach3. all older versions.

the issues at first were some serious bevel to the cut, even on a 1/8 material. and the accuracy of the cut. a few mechanical corrections were made and also i started downloading the newest version of the mach3, and combined it with sheetcam. after some major complications were sorted out, i was able to get the machine working again and cutting better. although there are still a few issues with the display screen on mach and i think it is related to the back up .xml files. since the company is uncomplient i am not able to get the peramiters to calibrate the machine, so i am stuck with the back ups until i have to learn how to reverse engineer the calibrations.

an issue that persist is the smoothness of the line (choppy, but not cut quality) and the ability to cut a small circle accurately. i see pictures and videos of guys cutting half inch holes exceptionaly well. mine is just unacceptable.

i am getting to my wicks end! so i am turning to you guys for a little insight.. a few thoughts i had and a few things i heard - i wonder if a lot of it is related to the CAD software? i also heard that it is not a good idea to run the CAD software on the same computer as the cutting software?? (currently a pentium4 with 4gigs) i am confident the stepper motors are in good working condition. if i need a new CAD program, any reconmedations? (i am not the most computer savy but i can figure stuff out) trying to figure out draftsight right now.

the purpose of the machine is to build accurate components, if i have to dress all the pieces and drill the holes by hand i might as well go back to my angle grinder.

again just looking for some insight before i turn to the tank of gas and a match.

thanks, Sam.