I've about had it.  I can't seem to turn on/off the spindle using Mach3 and the c23 board without crashing Mach3 at all.  Right now, I have my spindle wired for turning on/off, and using it's own potentiometer as a speed control.  I can take those leads, one is forward, the other is 24volt, and connect them together, and the spindle turns on as you'd expect.  I connect those to output #1, which is defined as port 1, pin 1, and the 24 volt lead to the shared voltage in.  Then when you click the spindle clockwise button, Mach3 tells the spindle to turn on, but then it crashes.  The output relays are enabled, the outputs are enabled.  The smooth stepper is set to spindle type 'relay/none' (although I've tried all settings).  I'm about to just rig up an external switch that turns off and on the spindle manually, not ideal, but damn, how many hours is it supposed to take to get these things working?

Hi Barry,
Sounds like a noise issue more than a settings issue. Having the wrong settings shouldn't crash Mach3, It should just not work.
The real telltale is that when the VFD is not on it doesn't crash. You may have a grounding issue with the smooth stepper or some other component. Try a different computer temporarily to see if it helps or a p-port if you have one to eliminate the smooth stepper as a potential trouble spot just to see if it makes a difference.

I also realize that the learning curve is not a straight line, that is why it is called a curve.

When I was first setting up my DSPMC powered mill, it took several days to get the VFD to do what I wanted. There are so many variables involved such as Mach3 settings and VFD settings that it would be difficult to get it right on the first try.

Keep on going as you will figure it out in the end.

It may be in your best interests to in fact hook it up outside of Mach3 control and come back to it in a few days. A pizza and a few beers later, I always feel better and it puts me in the right frame of mind to give it another go. Remember that beer and machines don't mix so wait till the next day to get started.

Mike

Barry - I recently had a somewhat similar problem with a 3-axis router that uses a SmoothStepper and a Dremel for the router head (my PhlatPrinter). Due to the low amp-load of the motor, I wired a micro-switch directly to the AC on the Dremel and have been using Z-axis moves to start / stop the motor.  It's been working fine for nearly a year, but suddenly Mach kept crashing, every time the switch would open to stop the motor.   
Fortunately, I had recently installed a sight-window in my controller box, so I could see the lights on the SmoothStepper when all was running.  What I noticed was that BEFORE Mach would finally signal that it had crashed (it was freezing up for a minute first) - anyway, before Mach would signal, the RED light on the SmoothStepper had gone out.  The RED light is the "data-transfer" light on the SmoothStepper.
Apparently, as the Dremel and the micro-switch have aged, they have become electrically noisy enough to interrupt the data-flow to the SmoothStepper, upon disconnect, every time.

So what might that mean to you?  Your problem might be electrical noise that is triggered by starting the motor.  Maybe you need some shielded cables, an opto-isolated relay, a better grounding circuit.

Did you try a different lpt cable to the c23 board?I have found cables
mostly the newer ones that do not use all the pins.Easy enough to test or just grab
a different ones and try.