I tried hitting the stop button on my VFD to see if it would trigger an e-stop. Instead of instantly flashing zero's and triggering an e-stop like yours does in the video, it first spun down (the numbers got smaller and smaller on the display), then triggered an e-stop once it reached zero. Think im missing something in my VFD settings?

I think it's due to PD026 which is set to 0 (try set to 1).
When you hit the vfd stop button, th vdf stop, but it does not send any kind of information to the plugin.

The plugin tries to detect the spinning default. That's why it detects it near 0 rpm.

By the way, I will have a look to this behaviour, trying to improve the detection.

The main difficulty is to keep the plugin lean so that it does not represent a heavy cpu load for mach3...That's is all the challenge!

Yep, PD026 is what was causing the estop on the vfd to not work properly. It now works as in your video, but im guessing the plugin isnt actually picking up the e-stop event but rather its picking up the event of the flashing 0000 (or in other words, no RPM reported).

Although it works with PD026 set to coast, im guessing most people are going to want a controlled deceleration. However, I think this is a side issue and less important since most people will be hitting a real e-stop switch and not the tiny button on the VFD.

So yea... the issue that any external e-stop button doesn't trigger a slow down or an e-stop on the VFD is still the bigger issue for me. I haven't tried, but id bet that the problem will probably also occur when a limit switch is hit. Id say probably the only thing that puts the vfd into e-stop mode is the main software red/green flashing reset button.

do not worry Mikemaat, i'll fix all problems.

Hi Mikemaat,

You'll find a new version (1.5) on my web site.
Simply replace the vfdPlugin.dll file in Plugins directory.


Fixes and improvements:

1)the problem of external Estop. I checked it with a simple wire connected to my board. I saw the emergency led flashing in diagnostic screen, and i checked that spindle stopped. (but hope you'll confirm it works)


2) Improved the vfd stop detection. Previously , i simply did a test 'like spindle speed equals 0'. Now, i detect that the speed is lowet than what we asked and i throw (raise) an Emergency stop. The main difficulty was to detect starting phase (real speed is lower than asked) from vfd stopping phase


3) On another forum, i was told that the offline mode was not working. Even in offline mode, the spindle start to turn...Now, if you start the spindle in offline mode, the driver simulate a running spindle. But if you swith to offline mode while working, it does nothing....maybe i whould stop the spindle?



A direct link to the new version
http://royaumedeole.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/vfdPlugin1.5.zip

Seems to be working! You are awesome!!!

Great!

happy to see that is working as it should!

Thank you for your feedback, specially those dealing with problems. It helps me making the plugin better.

Well, there might be other bugs, and , when you are able to reproduce them, do not hesitate to contact me

I definetely will. My machine is still a couple weeks away from making chips, but when it does I'll report back either way. Thanks again so much for taking the time to develop this. If you are ever in Edmonton, Canada the beers will be on me

@Mikemaat,

pretty sure you have notice my english is not perfect...well i'm the worst english in the world...i'm a french guy ;-)
But, be sure that if i came to Edmonton, will contact you with great pleasure!


Concerning the plugin, i found some bugs this afternoon.

when was increasing speed and spindle was not running, an Estop was triggered (due to the vfd stop mecanism)

I have fixed it in this new version, with another fix concerning offline mode


http://royaumedeole.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/vfdPlugin1.5.1.zip

I dont know if this has anything to do with the plugin, but maybe you can help anyway. I was finally able to get the motor wired up and tested. Without the motor connector attached, the vfd functions as expected and spindle rpms follow that of mach, and both the vfd screen and mach screen rpm's are in sync. Same as before, works fine. However, when I plug the motor in and perform the test, the motor spins up as expected, but while the rpms in mach are climbing, mach freezes up and the rpm dro reads "65535" (I set the spindle to 2000 rpm). The spindle spins up like it should, and the vfd reports 2000 rpm, but mach freezes up and becomes unresponsive and reports that incorrect rpm. Again,
Without the motor plugged in, it responds correctly. Does this sound like noise from the spindle is freezing mach? Should I install ferrite cores on the twisted pair line I have leading from the vfd to the USB/rs232 adapter? Or elsewhere? Any ideas/tips?