Hello,

I have an issue with my plotter. First of all, it is quite the dinosaur. It is an Alpha Merics HPGL plotter from 1989. I think it was or for cutting cardboard originally.

The guy I bought it from converted it to a cnc plasma cutter by creating an interface which senses the plasma cutter's frequency and turns it off and on as opposed to pen up/down.

When I bought it last year, it would act up upon starting. It would not "go home" until it warmed up for a while. Then I moved it to my shop last week, and I could not get it to initialize and go home home at all. It would act really erratic, banging the car really hard against the end of the axis. Last time the servos worked at all, it slammed so hard, it broke the screw that holds the bearing and wheel. That was the last time the servos worked at all.

Now when I turn the machine on, all I hear is the power source an fans, the keypad does not initialize at all and the servos do not budge.

After inspecting and cleaning everything, nothing has improved. I even found 2 blown 20A bus fuses which I replaced, and nothing.

At this point, I would be inclined to think it is the original boards and controller, which I am assuming that the two boards make up the controller. (Sorry, just becoming acquainted with all of this)

So if that is the case, could I just get a new compatible controller & software and wire it my servos & power supplies?

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Servos - Pittman 14203, Pittman 14206

Let me know if it would help to know the power supplies?

Here are some pics of the POS.

Plotter pictures by gmarankie - Photobucket

Thank you,

Greg

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