Quote Originally Posted by Kitwn View Post
No doubt there are those who will say it's too complex a bit of gear for some people to use
I agree 100% with the sentiment of your post, but you hit the nail on the head here. Not that, as a tool, it's complex - yes they can be (and heaven forbid you ever try a LeCroy which - despite warnings - I bought one through the company and hit myself every sodding day for the reversed timebase/Y-deflection controls (everyone warns you about it - but you think you'll get used... you don't!) The problem is that a lot of people know what signalling is expected, and a scope would work for them - but even without a scope knowing what to expect allows a whole load of diagnostics with nothing more than a meter, LEDs, bits of wire and a cup of coffee with a hobnob.

For those that don't understand the signalling, a scope would just be a gateway to the unknown.

Perhaps we need a sticky for the typical signalling across a CNC system and easy approaches to test each node. But that assumes a convention to the controller design. There's no easy win to this.

It's frustrating as hell to try to help someone a couple of hundred miles away over a few days or weeks when you realise that in the long run it'd be quicker to just jump in the car and fix the problem yourself. No disrespect to anyone intended - we all have our own areas of interest/experience.