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« on: February 06, 2022, 04:21:41 PM »
I have a Mach 3 driven Tormach machine that I converted to a laser a while back and recently I wanted to see if I could cut down on the dwell time that is built into the spindle on time and off time. I'm using a 5 volt signal to the laser which comes from the spindle at full rpms. I have physically removed the spindle and simply use the wires J1-1 and J1-2 on the PCNC Control board to get that signal. The VFD is not even connected. It worked fine, but someone online had noticed how slow the laser was. The titanium part I was cutting in a video had lots of short cuts with stops and starts between them. The stops and starts all seem to have delays built in. I decided to investigate and try to reduce that non-productive time.
It seems that I must have had an old .XML file that I used as a backup that I renamed to be the actual working file, and now I can't get it to work properly. Somehow I screwed up on my files while trying different parameters and my Tormach is in a permanent dwell while it tries to get "up to speed". I can press the cycle start button again to get past it, but it seems that I must have messed up some settings that were allowing it to work. Some of my other .XML trials were worse, most not responding to an M3 at all. I think it has to do with pulleys and ramp up speeds and such. If the spindle was actually there, going from 0 to 5140 rpm would take some time. I can't seem to get a combination of parameters to get it to work again.
My original thought was to use the M7 (mist coolant on) command to turn it on, but I use M8 (coolant on) for argon, and I believe they are actually the same relay. I don't know if there might be some other work around with an M code, or if I just need to be saddled with the 1/2 second delay from the spindle-on signal. Right now, the 1/2 second delay would look pretty good compared to not getting past the M3 dwell at all! (The additional dwell numbers that are shown in the setup screen are all at zero.)
Any insight on what to try would be appreciated.