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1
General Mach Discussion / Spndle Calibration
« on: September 25, 2010, 12:23:14 PM »
I am having a lot of issues with the spindle calibration on my MaxNC lathe. The Auto calibrate feature does not seem to work properly with my setup.

Does anyone know where the calibration data is stored? I tried looking at the turn XML files but I can not find anything in there. I was expecting some sort of table the had PWM to Spindle RPM values. I also looked in the registry and found nothing there as well.  was hoping a table existed that I could edit manually to correlate PWM outputs to my spindle rpms. Does anyone know the procedure for a manual calibration?

My spindle will not run slower than 300 RPM and has a max rpm of 3000. The auto calibrate does weird things when the spindle is not moving at the low speeds so I thought I would set the pulley speed configuration to 300 to 3000. When I do this the auto calibrate will not even work. I get errors saying spindle speed to low, using minimum and the program does not perform the sweep.

I was using version 2.63 so I tried and upgrade to 3.042. Now Mach3 can not read my index pules. No matter what the spindle is running at it always indicates a spindle speed of 148rpm. Does anyone know why this may be?

Thanks



2
General Mach Discussion / Re: Can't get enable2 to work in Turn mode
« on: June 24, 2008, 12:29:01 PM »
Thanks, that fixed the problem. I enabled the Y axis motor even though it is not connected and now enable 2 works. I do not understand why it is this way but its working now.

Shawn

3
General Mach Discussion / Re: Setting up MaxNC T2
« on: June 22, 2008, 06:28:50 PM »
I figured out how MaxNC does the thread control. You have to send a pulse on pin3. This enables the spindle encoder's quadrature signals to be relayed out on pins 4 and 5.

I doubt this system will work with Mach3.

I am going to write my own program for the one PIC16C84 that is used for the spindle encoder to output a sync pulse that is expect is what Mach3 requires.

I will provide this code to anyone who would like it.

Thanks
Shawn


4
General Mach Discussion / Re: Setting up MaxNC T2
« on: June 22, 2008, 12:36:10 PM »
I thought the enable2 problem may be because of the MaxNC NC Mode, but when I turn MaxNC Mode off and restart the program the enable LEDs still do not function for enable signals 2 and up. So its not the MaxNC mode but something to do with the MachTurn profile itself.

I have managed to get the axis working and the Spindle speed and Spindle reverse. The only problem I have now is I can not figure out how to get the encoder working on the spindle. When I run the spindle there is no output waveforms from the lathe controller on any of the pins 2 through 4 like I thought there would be.

Its getting close though.

Shawn

5
General Mach Discussion / Re: Can't get enable2 to work in Turn mode
« on: June 22, 2008, 11:32:15 AM »
I am not exactly sure how setting get changed between the mill and the lathe. When I installed mach3 it put 2 icons on my desktop, One for Mill and one for lathe. I have been using the Mill profile for years with my Taig mill. I just got a MaxNC lathe so I have been trying to set that up.

When I switch from one to the other the settings are definitely not common. Any changes I make only affect the one profile.

Shawn

6
General Mach Discussion / Can't get enable2 to work in Turn mode
« on: June 22, 2008, 01:10:36 AM »
I need to use a second enable line for my lathe. For some reason when I activate enable2 and give it the port and pin I want to use, the enable2 led will not turn on in the diagnostic screen nor does the output change state when I reset the machine. This works fine when I run Mach3Mill but does not work when I run Mach3Turn.

Can anyone suggest what I may be doing wrong?

Thanks
Shawn

7
General Mach Discussion / Re: Setting up MaxNC T2
« on: June 21, 2008, 11:17:24 PM »
I have confirmed that if you select MaxNC CL mode quadrature drive becomes active but you can not change the port pins used for the motors. They have no effect. You can disable the motors but changing the pin or port numbers does not have any effect. In Mach3 Lathe, the X axis is locked to pins 6 and 7 of port 1 and Z axis is locked to pins 8 and 9. This is how the MaxNC Mill is configured. Of course the lathe is reversed compared to the mill so X controls Z and vice versa. It looks like a special adapter will be needed. :(

I feel a feature request coming ;)

Shawn

8
General Mach Discussion / Re: Setting up MaxNC T2
« on: June 21, 2008, 09:13:04 AM »
Hi Jim,

I am not so sure  :(. Art may have done this automatically for the MaxNC but I am sure it would be for the Mill that has four axis. That would make pins 2 through 5 outputs.

I took the controller apart last night to confirm some of the wiring.

Pin 1 is definitely PWM
Pin 14 is going to a reversing relay for the spindle.
Pin 2 in unconnected.

Pin 3, 4, 5 Are going to the Micro that would control the z axis on a mill if that board was used on a mill. I am pretty sure that that micro is just re-broadcasting the encoder for the spindle and maybe a sync pulse on pin3 every one revolution of the spindle. I will confirm this tomorrow.

I will have access to an oscilloscope tomorrow so I will be able to determine if MaxNC CL mode does what I think and whether I can control the pins it uses with the ports and Pins function. Best case scenario is I can run the MaxNC mode off port 2 and then make pins 2 through 9 inputs and configuring everything without re-wiring. However, I think chances are slim.

Shawn


9
General Mach Discussion / Re: Setting up MaxNC T2
« on: June 20, 2008, 11:15:34 AM »
Hi Jim,

This is for a MaxNC lathe so they use the quadrature control not the standard step and direction control. I assume the MaxNC CL option enables this waveform type. My worry when viewing the video is that it mentioned that when you enable this mode it ignores the pin configuration you set in the outputs setting screen. I would like to know if this is true or not.

The only pinouts I can find is on the FTP site here. These are what was on the site

> Pin(01) Spindle PWM
> Pin(02) None
> Pin(03) Threading Control
> Pin(04) Spindle Encoder (Quadtrature)
> Pin(05) Spindle Encoder (Quadtrature)
> Pin(06) ZAXIS (Quadtrature)
> Pin(07) ZAXIS (Quadtrature)
> Pin(08) XAXIS (Quadtrature)
> Pin(09) XAXIS (Quadtrature)
> Pin(10) Control Feedback
> Pin(11) None
> Pin(12) Limit Switch
> Pin(13) Tool Setting Sensing
> Pin(14) M3-M4 Output
> Pin(15) None
> Pin(16) OUTPUT - Disable Power to Motors (Low-Normal High-Disable)
> Pin(17) OUTPUT - Reset Controller (Low-Normal High-Reset
> Pin(18) All Signal Grounds
> Pin(19) - Pin(25) None

I have no way of knowing if these are accurate, MaxNC will not give me this information for some reason.

Now I assume pins 4 and 5 are outputs from the spindle encoder on the lathe. Pins 2 through 9 CAN be inputs on a parallel port. Mach3 supports this on port 2. I could just wire these to other inputs but I wanted to check if there is a special MaxNC CL mode that would enable this functionality. Probably not as it is most likely for MaxNC Mills that have quadrature output for two other axis on those pins.

MaxNC sell a program called Max III that looks identical to mach3. I am not sure if it is just re-branded or has a special version of Mach3 been build for them with drivers that support this configuration.

Shawn



10
General Mach Discussion / Setting up MaxNC T2
« on: June 19, 2008, 11:49:15 PM »
Hello,

I have purchased a MaxNC T2 lathe. I would like to set this up on Mach3 2.63. I found the pin outs in the files section of the site and watched the installation videos and have a few questions. The lathe does not have the A and Y axis but it does have the spindle encoder on pins 4 and 5 and a threading control on pin 3. I assume these are outputs from my controller and inputs to the PC. The normal MaxNC Mill with Y and A axis would have these pins as outputs from the PC.

I assume I have to use the MaxNC CL mode within Mach3. When I view the video on setup it said if you choose this option you do not have to select the pins used by the motors as this is done automatically in this mode. I believe this will not work with the lathe as the program will be sending quadrature signals to pins 2 through 5 which will conflict with the spindle encoder on those pins. Also I believe PC parallel port 1 can not use pins 2 though 9 as inputs.

Its its possible to set up this lathe using port 1 only? If not, I was planning on breaking up the cable into two and running the thread control and spindle encoder signals to a second parallel port. This is not optimal but would this work?

Also Does anyone know how to control the direction of the spindle on this lathe? I could not tell from the pin outs what would do this? Is it a signal pin for direction or a specific PWM waveform?

Also what is the threading Control signal for and can it be used in Mach3. Can Mach3 synchronize the spindle to cut threads using G76?

Sorry for all the questions.

Shawn

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