Installing my new c3 index pulse card but having trouble

[mikeyz3385]

 Hi my name is mike and i think i need some help. I own a mini lathe (homier speedway 7x12) which i converted to cnc. The main board is Fet-3 which i bought as a kit. I just purchased a c3 index pulse card from cnc4pc.com. Today i was bored and decided to try my luck on installing it. Note that i am not an electrician but am willing to learn as i go. I began with that index disc that mounts to the back of the spindle. Just randomly making it to fit my machine i now realize there iis a formula for the width of the slot. I will remake that over again. The wiring i hooked up as the following but am not sure if its correct. The +5v and ground were added from the main power supply box that came with the kit. The output i am not too sure on where that goes but hooked it up to one of the pins for the "Y" axis since i don't have that stepper motor even hooked up. The ground is just connected to the board. Is that correct? Turning the power on i noticed if i turn the spindle the light on the c3 board will turn off  when it hits the slot leading me to believe it is somewhat hooked up correctly. My main question is how to hook it up to mach 3? Or if i even have the output wire connected right. Someone please help, i am excited to make some threads 

[Hood]

The output of the detector need to be put to an input on your breakout board, sounds like you have it connected to an output. Pins 1 to 9, 14, 16 and 17 of the parallel port are all outputs and pins 10-13 and 15 are Input pins.
Hood

[mikeyz3385]

your right hood. I reviewed the wiring diagram on my board and sure enough i have it hooked to an output. Tomorrow i will change it and keep you posted. As far as setting it up on mach 3 is that straight forward? Basically tell mach which pin its wired to and i would prob have to calibrate something right?

[Hood]

Yes, jst set it up as the Index in Ports and Pins Inputs and no calibration should be needed with the possible exception of Index Debounce on General Config  page. I have always found an Index Debounce of 0 works well for me but some have found they need a wee bit of debounce but its going to be a low number, probably just 2 or 3.

Hood

[budman68]

Mike,

Have a look at reply #25 in this thread: http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,6707.msg44145.html#msg44145

Along with Hoods past advice, this helped me a great deal as well to understand a bit more about the whole speed/index setup.

Hope that helps,
Dave

[mikeyz3385]

Thank you both for your help. Today i fixed my wiring and just like that i saw the spindle speed pop up on mach 3. Very happy. According to my machine i can go up to 2500 rpm max but when i turn it all the way up mach says its going 2770 rpm. Should i be worried? Is there a way to double check on what the true rpm really is? I quickly wrote a small program for a 1/2 13 thread and it seemed to work out really well. I am very impressed with everything. I just need to mess around with everything to get the hang of threading on mach.  I will keep you posted on how the progress goes on this. Once again thank you both for your time and help. 

 - Mike

[Hood]

Mach should be accurate as long as you are getting a steady reading, the only other thing that I can think of that could make the reading higher than it actually is is the pulley setup from Config menu, if you had a ratio there on the pulley you are using it could show an increase in speed. To see what pulley you are on look at Settings page and put it to 1 if you dont have pulleys, then on the Pulley Setup from Config menu make sure pulley 1 has your max speed and no ratio set.

Hood

[mikeyz3385]

Hood, are you familiar at all with installing a c6 variable speed controller?

[Hood]

Afraid not, have never used any of the CNC4PC stuff and only spindle control I have used is Step/Dir as I use AC Servos for spindles.

Hood