Hi All,

This is probably something simple but I am not figuring it out...  I am trying to set up the index pulse on my Takisawa lathe and just cannot get Mach to display the spindle speed.

It is a one-pulse per revolution encoder, and I have electronically lengthened the pulse to 20ms.  This gives me a nice ~50% duty cycle square wave at ~1500RPM.  It is also adjustable so I can decrease the pulse width to something shorter if I ever get it working :-)

So, my setup is this-  I have pin 10 of port1 set as the Index input, it is set to active high and the pulse is 20ms high every 1 revolution.  The index (virtual) LED lights up in Mach every time, and the (actual) LED on the CNC4PC card lights up every rev too.

The problem is that nothing happens in the spindle speed DRO.  I have it setup just like (I think) my other lathe running Mach (A different version) which will cut threads all day :-)

Any ideas?  It is probably just a check box somewhere, but it is starting to drive me a little nuts:-)

Thanks so much for any suggestion,
Dustin

Dustin,

Do you have the Use Spindle Feedback checked under Ports and Pins?

Daniel

Dustin

Are you using the latest version of mach 3? If so, spindle must be enabled before RPM will be displayed in the speed DRO. Go to ports and pins, spindle setup, and make sure that the "Disable Spindle Relays" is not checked (even if you are operating your spindle manually)

You can also click on the spindle button on your screen. The "spindle on" LED must be lit before you will get a speed indication in the current version.

Peter

Daniel and Peter,

Thanks for the suggestions, I have it working now!  I did have the feedback option checked but I did not have the "disable spindle relays" box unchecked, that did the trick!  And indeed, the Mach must think that the spindle is on for it to register the speed.  The next project is to get the VFD talking to Mach...

Thanks again,
Dustin