I just wish it had come with Mach3 like it was specked when I bought it. Had they advertised it with Alpha software I would have bought a different machine. I need a working table and I’m going to have to buy from a different manufacturer and sell this one if I can find any takers…
What a fiasco.
Yeah I have stated bf there should have been much more trials and protos sent out to people bf this hit the market. The price is great and I can make do for now but I don’t like the PRO in the name right now. I think it just should be called something different bc most professional shops would only have this for prototyping not full production. I cut 3-4hrs a day and I have some good days and usually not 1 day goes by with out some type of issue. The FC freezing has just been another variable that needs dealt with asap.
I have used my pro extensively and was one of the first production orders. The only issue I had was the noise issue where you had to jumper the control board, which Langmuir fixed with their future shipping units. Other then that every fire control software has worked just fine as well as the table. It seems that there are a few issues that some people are having, but I really think it comes down to something with there setup and not Langmuir’s software or table. I remember when the first x fire came out (which I was in the pre order for that one as well, and was one of the first 100 tables) people were complaining about issues they were having, pointing the finger at Langmuir because they were new to cnc and were really unaware of how to operate or troubleshoot.
That’s the hard part of trying to sell a product that has uncontrolled ancillary items attached that makes it all work.
If you think about it, you need the Langmuir built table plus a plasma cutter plus environmental things like air volume & quality plus user issues for designs, toolpaths, computer (& computer connections) and even something as simple as how the work clamp is attached.
I’ve seen at least a dozen different plasmas here. Each of those have two or more torch options (machine, handheld and aftermarket knock-off versions of erratic quality).
If you want to figure out what the total number of combinations are it’s simply a matter of multiplying all of the options - 1 machine times 12 different plasma machine mfg times 3 torch types (should be more to account for lots of different aftermarket torches) times 2 types of connections (50:1 or CNC port) times 3 types of air volume (sufficient, too little, too much - which varies by plasma) times 2 types of air quality (dry vs not dry) times 2 toolpathing solutions (Sheetcam vs Fusion) times 2 consumables quality (good vs worn) times 2 consumables mfg (should be more, but OEM vs 3rd party)…just to start.
Right off the top there’s almost two thousand common combinations and that’s before you get to electrical noise in the environment or how well the work clamp attachment is made or whose USB cable they use or how the design was drawn or how they spec’ed lead-ins/outs, speeds, amperage, etc for the cut file.
This can’t be Smartphone plug and play simple at this price point and flexibility to chose the components you use.
Couldn’t have said it any better myself James
Well shoot, so much for my wanting to wire it up to operate off a garage door opener…
Well said.
I have extensive CNC experience and own mills, lathes, lasers, 3D printers, etc. none of my other equipment has the issues that I have with FireControl. I also worked and entire career in big Tech working for Nokia and Hewlett-Packard Name a few… This isn’t my first rodeo.
Having a program lockup half way through running a g-code program and stalling out with a lit torch still on does not come down to setup or use… it comes down to program instability.
Having a program crash to desktop when it’s trying to validate a file because I used the application to change the part home is coding, not user error.
When you click return to XY home and it doesn’t do a clearing movement to lift the z to a safe height prior to moving home is poor coding and downright dangerous to the machine and operator.
Not being able to program XY and Z soft limits or install limit switches is poor coding and dangerous.
This is beta software at best and definitely should not be called PRO…
How would you explain my having not encountered any of the issues you mention, yet I am using Firecontrol as well? Program instability or buggy software should present itself in a repeatable manner regardless of tertiary workflow components, shouldn’t it? I was order 98 of batch 1 and have had one issue regarding arc voltage in the first release of Firecontrol.
I definitely understand frustration but with your experience you’ve got to know how many of the variables that go into one of these setups can change the experience. Cutter brand, compressor brand, power supply, moisture, spatial distances causing interference. Since getting my setup I’ve read a few horror stories of issues people have had they are in stark contrast to anything I have experienced and I’ve cut a lot.
Admittedly I am on a Mac, so perhaps that code base is on a different level of stability…
I fully agree with the necessity to raise Z prior to returning home.
Well the way I see it is like this, I have been working with most of what egardner71 has mentioned for over 25 years, and all have had their own special problems. It is simple to raise Z before homing X&Y. Yes, it would be nice to hit home and have Z raise up first and then X&Y go to home. I am still using 20.4 and am running off from an HP lap top. The lap top is next to the machine but is isolated by a piece of plain old ply-wood. I am not having any problems that are serious. I ran into some bad tips and a dirty bearing on Z. Just remember these are not $50,000.00+ machines. There are Plasma cutters out there that start around $17,000.00 that will do what egardner71 mentioned. I am not trying to be nasty and apologize if I sound that way. I bought my Pro plug and play and am very happy with it. As for the soft limits; remember rapid is only 300ipm and I was used to 1500ipm on some of the machining centers that I worked on and programed. So 300ipm is pretty slow. Soft limits would be great! I run the outline manually before I hit cycle start just to make sure. An E-stop is the one thing that I would like to see. Well that is my take on things. Everyone be safe!
But if these issues are coding/software issues like your stating, wouldn’t everyone be having these issues? That’s why I’m saying I think majority of issues people are having are on their end, not Langmuir’s. As far as limit switches, Langmuir never marketed any of the plasma tables with them, so if that’s a concern you should probably not even look into buying a x fire, or do like others have done and add them on. I have yet to run into an issue where I go “damn, if only there was a limit switch”
They marketed the Pro as running on Mach3 which I have for other machines and know well. Mach3 is compatible with limit switches and firecontrol is not. They can not be added to this machine.
When a cut fails because firecontrol locks up or crashes, limit switches would allow me to consistently home the table getting me back to a known absolute zero. From there I could restart the cut and save the workpiece instead of scrapping a $50 sheet. That is how most every other CNC machine that you claim to be such an expert on works, but you must have already known that. I’m glad you are a fanboy of Langmuir systems but you advice is not needed, not accurate, and not welcome. Have a nice day.
Not accurate? Show me where Langmuir stated a single time the pro would work with mach 3… I will wait.
Wouldn’t say I’m a fan boy, but someone who is plenty capable of tracing down issues, and fixing them instead of blaming a manufacturer for my incapabilities.
Here you go:
@egardner71 the PRO MCB was designed to be compatible with limit switches. You can check it yourself it has LIM1 LIM2 and LIM3 pins on the board. We also put an expansion port in the enclosure to account for this. Our plan was to offer a limit switch upgrade kit and with the success of the PRO it has taken us longer to get caught up but it is still in the works.
Not really sure why the name calling, but that was over a year ago that they stated it was originally supposed to be compatible with mach 3 (I never saw that) but even before the pro shipped, Langmuir stated that it was going to only work the FC. I’m not sure when you purchased your machine, but I’m going to assume not to long ago. Which would mean that if others were having all the issues you were having, and you were active on this forum, you would have been aware of these notorious issues before making your purchase. Which leads me back to it not being a Langmuir issue, but either a plasma, laptop, electrical noise or the hundreds of other possibilities. If every person were having the same issues as you, then yes I would agree it’s a software, coding issue. Do you not agree?
Mike,
That is good news, please put me down at the top of the waiting list for this.
Purchased Order #8996 9/23/2019
The reason for the name calling is that you don’t know what you are talking about but you decided to attack me in your arrogance and ignorance anyway. You should have just minded your own business as nothing you have said in you responses to me would be helpful to me or to anyone else on this forum. You acted Like a spoiled brat to me for no reason and I responded to you in kind (which I admit that I should not have done). This is my last post on the topic because there is nothing to gain from interacting with you.
Lol ok man. Keep using your machine with it’s problems and I will continue using mine without issues… guess I got lucky since I don’t know what I’m doing.
We’ll you’ve only been here for a couple of years. Maybe some new intel has come out recently that you didn’t notice because you’re just cutting away. But if you had just joined in the past couple of months you’d probably have better information and then known exactly what you or Langmuir are doing wrong so you could suffer too 