today, the same problems. after turning the machine on i attempted to jog the machine in to position. half way to where i wanted it, one motor on the x axis stops. i had to unlock the motors, push it back to home and try reset it.
after switching in off and on it worked fine... for an hour it cut fine, then just before the end of finishing the job the same motor stops. so the machine tries to tear itself in half. emergency button punched.

hopefully the contents of the XML file will show whats wrong.

other obvious problems that i cant seem to fix:

soft limits dont work, it always thinks it beyond the limits or the limits are far smaller than the values ive entered.
x axis is reversed when cutting from the display on mach3.

Everything you describe re: intermittent working/not working still (IMO) points at electrical problems. There is nothing in Mach that would cause a motor to just stop for no reason. When your motor just stopped did the DRO still show movement? I'd be very surprised if it didn't.

However, there are some inconsistencies in your xml which may explain some of the things you've described specifically re: homing.

You have A slaved to X with "home slave with master axis" un-checked. This means you're configured for "gantry squaring". However you don't have any home/limits configured for the A axis. I don't use homing gantry squaring but I think I'm right in saying this is not going to end well. When X hits the home switch, A will just keep on going and try to twist your machine apart. Maybe someone will confirm/correct that.

My best advice is double and triple check all your wiring and then sit down and read the manuals and watch the videos so that you can understand things like this in your config. if you haven't seen them yet they're here http://www.machsupport.com/help-learning. By all means come back if there's anything you don't understand but give them a shot first - it'll really help you to understand how things are supposed to work.

You have A slaved to X with "home slave with master axis" un-checked. This means you're configured for "gantry squaring". However you don't have any home/limits configured for the A axis. I don't use homing gantry squaring but I think I'm right in saying this is not going to end well. When X hits the home switch, A will just keep on going and try to twist your machine apart. Maybe someone will confirm/correct that.

Yes, that is correct....................... or it should be at least. But, not all motion devices handle homing exactly the same. I would check the motion devices docs. and/or other resources to see how they say it should work.

My best advice is double and triple check all your wiring and then sit down and read the manuals and watch the videos so that you can understand things like this in your config. if you haven't seen them yet they're here http://www.machsupport.com/help-learning. By all means come back if there's anything you don't understand but give them a shot first - it'll really help you to understand how things are supposed to work.

Rock Solid advise as well. Anything less is just painful.

the xml file came from cnc router parts. its supposed to be set up for this exact machine.
but it was obvious as soon as i tried to get the thing moving that it wasnt.
it also came with a complete lack of information concerning it.

that sounds about right. the slaved A limit switch behaves randomly. some times when homing, it lights up permanently but doesnt produce a warning in mach3. but A doesnt hit the bump stop either. but when i start up the machine after shut down the limit switch prevents me from moving the x axis. but when ever i tried to modify anything with A axis it wouldnt move.

i cant say if there was still movement on the DRO while running because i hit the emergency stop button as soon as i heard gears grinding. it did show movement when i reset and tried to jog it back out of the twisted y axis though.

ive checked all the wiring and plugs several times. ive gone over the diagrams, double triple checked them.
maybe my manuals were lost in the mail... which wouldnt surprise me, all i have access to was basic information on their website about construction, wiring, motors, etc. i have no fault diagnosis information on anything i have bought through cnc router parts and am reliant on google searches to get me through.

thanks for your help. ill give that 'home slave with master' button a check and reset the limits on A and keep on reading.

thanks for your help. ill give that 'home slave with master' button a check and reset the limits on A and keep on reading.

No.

This is why it's important to try to get an understanding of how things work before randomly changing things and hoping.

EITHER - tick home slave with master OR enable your HOME switch on A. The switch on A is intended as a HOME switch NOT a limit switch as you refer to it - the distinction is important.

TBH I just looked at the xml file straight from cncrouterparts and it looks fine to me. I'd start with a new copy and change nothing and see what happens. OK it's in imperial and you want metric but that can easily be changed later.