1st of many home-built CNC

Greetings,
I am new to this list and hope to be able to contribute and benifit. I am building a 2 axis (rotary/linear) plasma cutter.
The Mechanicals are 99% complete and I am getting ready to implement the controls. I am using surplus steppers and drivers, and
trying to decide on which software controller to use (freeware or what?). Drivers are Anaheim unipolar bi-level with integrated
power supply. Motors are old unipolar slo-syn (180 step/rev.)
I have hooked everything up and jogged the motors using DanCad. But DanCad will not let me import the complex toolpaths I
need to get the desired results. (getting from .dxf to G-Code) I am not an electircal guy. I have built several machines but
this is the first NC.
I am worried about a couple of things and was hoping to get some input that may help me prevent any damage to my equipment.
Number one is the HF of the plasma. I am using a Lincloln Pro-Cut 55. I am worried that the firts time I fire up the
plasma arc that the controls will go haywire. Do I have to physically separate the machinery from the computer? Sheilding or
what?
Number two is the multiple solenoid switching. I have three separate solenoids for automatic chuck, bar feed, and plasma
trigger. I plan to use solid state relays (logic triggered) and AC solenoids. I also understand that activating a solid state
relay is not a simple as just hooking +5 and COM.
So far I have copies or demos of DeskNC, ProCAM, DanCad, Stepster, and Practical CNC (P_CNC_D) I really don't care which
controller I use and I am willing to pay a few bucks if the shareware can't do the job. Any reccomendations on where to go with
controllers?
Any suggestions or experience would be a great help.
Thanks.
Joe Vicars

Dan Mauch wrote:

> From: "Dan Mauch" <dmauch@...>
>
> I had one other customer run into this problem. It was a solder bridge under
> the socket. There should only be continuity with the Chips removed between
> pins 18 and 19.
> bet that is the problem
>
> Dan
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