Octal bootloader entry on a PDP-11 control panel Although that was in high school.
So, it looks like the Mach3/Sheetcam time issue. I uploaded a customized Sheetcam post-processor that takes care of the Sheetcam post issue - it doesn’t handle sub-seconds correctly so you use Mach3’s ms mode but then Sheetcam doesn’t do the math to do ms correctly. I created a post-processor that fixes that. But there’s also a handy easy hack that you can do in Sheetcam’s default setup by telling it that it’s seconds but entering the ms value. Sheetcam will see 1000 “seconds” and set the G-code G04 P1000 (pierce delay) which Mach3 will see as ms and will delay for 1 second instead of 1000 seconds (which is what Sheetcam thinks you asked it).
You want to do this becase anything under 1 second (say .5 seconds) Sheetcam doesn’t translate to the proper value and treats it as 1 second so you can’t get 1/2 second pierce delays.
Check out this post for a fuller explanation.
If you want to try the cutomized post-processor it’s in a post further down that thread. But if you use the hack that’s just a bit of mental math - specify your values in ms (but tell Sheetcam they’re seconds) and you’ll be good & not need to go down the custom post-processor rabbit hole
Although that was in high school.