# Help :)



## justadummynewbie (Mar 22, 2018)

Hello, first of all I wanted to say that I am new to all this and as in everything I learn I do not like to read a lot before doing something heh, I do not have much time, when I was ordering things in my fathers workshop , I found a homemade cnc, obviously I now want to see if I can get it going, I've read that these machines are controlled with different softwares on the pc and arduinos and such, this cnc has a kind of a box, more like a computer underneath, that has lights and different buttons, there are some cables coming off it, one of them is a cable which I could not find its name, it is a kind of vga but huge, very large, and according to a friend this cable could plug it into an old pc, which I do not have right now :'(, it has PAP engines. I am quite new in all this and I do not have time for anything, maybe someone who knows this things would guide me faster than me reading courses and that. I can not put pictures because I do not have access to the workshop right now, it is not here in my house, thank you and remember that I am a newbie !!

English is not my native language as you may already noticed.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

welcome David..
no worries on English not being your native language.. you are doing just fine...
w/o reading you just may be handicapped...
*ordering* - as in cleaning and organizing?
we have an outstanding crew here to help you w/ your CNC...


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## justadummynewbie (Mar 22, 2018)

Hello, I was cleaning it, my bad. Tomorrow I'm gonna see if I can take pictures and post them here too because I have no clue how that thing works! thank you Stick486


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

if you store your pictures on the computer you are posting from you'll be able to post them...
like I said no worries about the language.. 
common here to put things in order...
for some reason I'm fairly sure we have another member that is from Argentina...

Again, welcome to the forums David...


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## Multiwood (Feb 24, 2013)

Welcome to the forum David.


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## marecat3 (Nov 30, 2010)

Welcome to the forum


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## TenGees (Sep 12, 2012)

Maybe it's a parallel (or SCSI) cable? Parallel was usually used for printers before USB took over. Rare on PCs now but I believe you can get adapters but drivers might be an issue.


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## BalloonEngineer (Mar 27, 2009)

Bienvenidos amigo! The large cable is probably a parallel port cable that used to be common on lots of PC computers but is rare these days. If you cannot locate the computer that goes with the cnc, all is not lost. The good news is you can get parallel port cards that fit into a newer PC or use a device that connects to to the computer via USB or Ethernet and connects to this cable. 

The bad news is, to get a DIY machine up and running you are going to need to do quite a bit of reading and learning and configuring. You will need to decide whether to set up the control computer using LinuxCNC (free and very capable, needs a parallel port), or via UCCNC (will connect using a device such as a UC100 or UC300eth) or Mach3 or Mach4, or even an Acorn and Centroid. All of these are capable, but have learning curves, and will need to be configured extensively based on how the machine is designed. 

Of course, that just is the hardware side of things. To produce parts you will also need to lean about CAD design software and how to generate your toolpaths for running on the machine. More reading, or watching lots of YouTube videos or tutorials with even more options. 

I do not wish to discourage you, but realistically let you know that it is not a trivial exercise to embark upon, and will take time and work. If you do undertake it, a CNC Router is a wonderful tool that can do amazing things, but it will never be a simple “push a button and get a part” machine. Like any tool, it takes skills to learn and use, and even then not everyone will have the artistic ability like @Scottart. 

Post photos when you can, we may be able to recognize the machine as a common one that will make the learning curve much quicker. 

Welcome to the forums!


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

+1 What Richard said.

With all the advancements in these machines lately, practically speaking, it might not even be worth the while to even mess with - unless you just "want to".


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Hi David and welcome. Good pictures will be important. To post them click on the Advanced Reply button and then click on Manage Attachments. Then click on Browse Files and you’ll have to find the location of the photos. You’ll have to click a new Browse Files for each photo. Once you are done Upload them. This may take a few minutes. There is a message bar that tells you when it’s done. Then Close This Window and you’ll go back to the screen with text box where you can finish and submit the post.

Stick is correct that we have at least one other Argentinian member. His name is Pablo but last we heard from him he had taken a job in Belgium and moved there. We haven’t heard from in a while so he may not be doing any woodworking right now.


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## Roy Drake (Feb 10, 2014)

Welcome, David. You've made a good choice. There is a lot of help here. Your language is no problem - we all understood what you wanted us to know. I am not a CNC or even a computer person; but, I read it all with interest. Glad you are here. Again, welcome.


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## MEBCWD (Jan 14, 2012)

Welcome to the Router Forums David. Looking forward to seeing pictures of the CNC machine you found in the shop.


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## Shop guy (Nov 22, 2012)

Welcome to the forum, David. There is a wealth of information here from very friendly and helpful people.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Hey, David; welcome!


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## justadummynewbie (Mar 22, 2018)

Hi, thank you all, i wasnt expecting this amount of replys as i am new to all of this and i literally found a forum about cncs and post here, i got lucky today as a friend was helping me cleaning all the things, and i advanced quickly, i found some old pcs but none of them worked, i was messing around with old things like old screens that I found, the problem was the pc's, apparently my dad made this with his students as he was a teacher, in 2007, so the machine is 10 years old and homemade, not a good combination, sadly my dad passed away 6 years ago and at that time i was too young to be learning things like this. images: (it is worth messing with it or just leaving it there? i have a lot of time to learn, i mean, now i want to know more about this machines because i find them interesting, not really useful in my life right now but you know, I can create a new hobby without a problem!)


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## justadummynewbie (Mar 22, 2018)

well apparently the third image is upside down, i plugged the machine and the leds worked, i have it on a "workshop" i have on my house now, i'm seeing if i can get one of those old pcs working, if i cant, I'm going to buy like an adapter to usb and just plug it into my laptop, im seeing a lot of youtube videos about cncs right now and again, thank you all


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Welcome to the forum, David! Looking forward to seeing your progress on this CNC and the computer issues.

David


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## 4DThinker (Feb 16, 2014)

One thing that often keeps an old PC from running is an internal battery. You might check for and replace it if you can find it. It is basically there to keep the system settings and internal clock working while the system is off. I've got an old CNC Shark that I keep in my garage shop and at one point the PC that runs it appeared to have died. I replaced that internal battery and it acts like new again. 

4D


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## justadummynewbie (Mar 22, 2018)

Thank you David . 4DThinker, two of them didn't send any signal to the monitor, they just keep doing sounds like beeps all the time, tried replacing the rams with some old rams but nothing happens, tomorrow im going to try to make one pc out of all the old things i found there. Do i need a special software for those old pcs? i mean, i dont know if im able to run a modern OS with the specs that im limited to put on those motherboards that has the same cable.


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## 4DThinker (Feb 16, 2014)

The beeps are usually from a POST: Power On Self Test. The pattern of beeps can usually indicate what has failed that POST, but it depends on who made the PC/Motherboard. 

https://www.google.com/search?q=PC+.....69i57j0l5.8487j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Check first for that internal battery... likely a flat watch-type battery. The only thing I've found that truly kills an old PC is a failed power supply, in which case you wouldn't even hear those beeps, or a failed hard drive. 

If you do get one to boot up it may be running Windows XP or some old version of Linux. 

In any case, good luck with your quest.


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## MikeMa (Jul 27, 2006)

justadummynewbie said:


> well apparently the third image is upside down, i plugged the machine and the leds worked, i have it on a "workshop" i have on my house now, i'm seeing if i can get one of those old pcs working, if i cant, I'm going to buy like an adapter to usb and just plug it into my laptop, im seeing a lot of youtube videos about cncs right now and again, thank you all


As a quick note, your typical parallel printer to USB adapter won't work with your CNC. The reason being is that printers that utilized the parallel port only utilized a small portion of what the parallel port was capable of, and the adapters were designed specifically for that function. You will need something like the UC100 adapter or the smooth stepper boards.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Welcome to the forum David . Sorry as I have nothing to add, but will be watching your progress with great interest.


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