Hello All,

With the advise and guidance of a good friend I have my Taig microlathe up and running under Mach3Turn.  Little steppers on both axes; spindle control and feedback - all good.  I have all the motor stuff - lead screw, bearing blocks, carriage drive - on the back side of the lathe.  It all runs pretty well from the diagnostics and manual screens.  I do have a few questions...

First - my spindle control is Step/Dir using a CNC4PC C6 board.  Is there a way to set a step floor in Mach3?  Some minimum number of steps to output to get the spindle moving?  The low end is very non-linear it seems and unless the spindle begins turning the speed feedback doesn't update and adjust power to bring to the correct speed.  I tried running through the automatic spindle calibration but that created other issues.

Second - since my carriage is mounted backwards do I need to change anything to get motion going in the correct dimensions?  Like I said, things run correctly from the manual screen.  For example, the up/down cursor keys move the carriage slide toward the front and rear as expected; pressing left/right moves the carriage toward the headend or tailstock along the bed.  Am I good to go?  How should the movement limits be input?

Lastly (for now) - what's the best way to come up to speed on using Mach3Turn to produce things?  I'm wanting to do some pretty simple things at first - turning stepped guide bushings of various materials and making some pen barrels - but don't know how to get started defining and running the necessary shapes.

Thank you in advance!

All the best,   Joe

Hi, Joe

In Config, Spindle Pulleys, Set a min speed value to start with, You may/will need to also set steps per value and vel, Accl values also in motor tuning.

I don't have spindle feed back hear, So not sure of correct procedure but it's a start.

Directions sound correct also, X- moves in deeper cut, Z- moves right to left tords head/chuck.

Chip

Thank you, Chip.  I'm trying not to completely cut out the low end of the range however.  I currently have my main spindle pulley configured to go from 0-2400.  When setting to 300 the actual rate I get is more like 50.  In the diag PWM DRO it starts at a value of 0.08 or so.  If I request 200 rpm there isn't enough control voltage output to get the spindle moving.  What I would really like to do is get Mach3 to start any low end request at that 0.08 value.  That provides enough power to get an actual speed input and allow the PID adjustments to kick in.

All the best,   Joe

Hi, Joe

What effect dose setting the pulley ratio up or Steps Per value up have on the start up speed.

I'm sure that someone with more exep. with spindle feedback will help you out, I know it can get quite involved, Just haven't been there yet myself.

Chip