Setting up the taig cnc micromill 2000 to work with mach3

[stjohn4]

Hi Guys,
I have a question about getting the taig cnc micromill 2000 which is in the quantum cnc enclosure up and running. I am using a thinkpad T40 laptop with windows 98, mach3 and connecting the micromill2000 driver box to the laptop parralel port. I downloaded the mach3taig2000.xml config file and fired it all up accordingly. Axis x,y and z all work via jog at 50% speed reduction. Jogging at 100% caused the z-axis stepper to slip. My problem now is that I can't get the spindle to run (ac induction motor, belt driven). I would think it would be relay controlled with either an on or off condition (M3 does nothing). The emergency stop button on the quantumcnc cabinet also does nothing. Any suggestions how I can get the spindle going and how I can get the e-stop button working?

The spindle motor does work as I can get it to spin up in manual mode.

I am completely new to the taig and mach3 so any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated. I have read the mach3 documentation but think most likely I would benefit from some expert advice here...

many thanks,
St.john

[BR549]

WIN98 MAY be a problem the MINIMUM spec is W2000.

Just a thought, (;-)

[stjohn4]

Umm... back to the drawing board!

Changing that and testing again now..

thanks
St.john

[Hood]

Also be aware that Laptops are not officially supported as they can be very problematic with the Mach Driver, some work fine others dont.

Hood

[stjohn4]

Sorry - slight correction. I am running windows XPpro which should be fine as it is above win2k...

Any suggestions?

thanks,
St.john

[stjohn4]

Hi Hood,
yes I was aware of that, just giving it a go as a laptop is all I have spare at the moment. Would I be right in thinking that if the x,y and z axis where all playing nice I should be able to get the spindle going also?

cheers,
St.john

[Hood]

I would think so but as Terry says W2K, XP, Vista and W7 are really what you need. Never tried to run with W98 so cant say what would or would not happen.

I dont know anything about the taig but by the sounds of it you have a relay to operate the spindle, have you got that set to an output? also have you got the output set correctly on Ports and Pins Spindle Setup page?
Hood

[stjohn4]

Hi,
yes, I have xp pro setup. The spindle is operated by a relay. I am not sure now to find out what output the relay is set to and thus not sure what output to set on the spindle ports and pins setup page. I suspect that in not correct. Any ideas how to check that out?

many thanks,
St.john

[Hood]

Do you have a link to any documantation on the mill? Failing that really the only way is to physically look and see which pin the relay is connected to. As for which output, it doesnt matter as long as you have the correct port and pin numbers set up to that output
Hood

[stjohn4]

Hi Hood,
the documentation that Taig make available is an absolute joke. They seem to be stuck in the 1970's and believe DOS is the forefront of user interfaces. I contacted them and they gave me some crazy info about using it in conjunction with their driver which I know for sure would be a disaster. Unless someone tells me otherwise looks like I will have to open up the controller box and start following wires and counting pins...

cheers,
St.john