Hi To all,
I haven't been active in this forum but have been a lurker for some time! I have been working on updating the electronics on a small CNC lathe a COLNE 5 which is much like the EMCO Compact 5. Anyway The electronics are old and basically uiseless so I have removed them and have installed a new BOB CAMPBELL breakout COMBI board to controll all the old and new bits. The lathe as supplied had a built in digital tach with a 60 slot index disk on the spindle but after all the reading on the forum I figured that a single slot was the way to go so I spent several frustrating days tring out several sensors and a variety of circuits all of which worked after a fashion but none could acheive accurate and reliable speed readings. So when I was finally at the height of my frustration I thought why not just hook up the factory sensor with the 60slot disk and see what happens. VOILA EURECKA!!! Right out of the gate MACH recognized it as 60slots, and a run of the AUTO-CAL provided complete and accurate spindle control !!! BOY DO I FEEL BETTER NOW.
Please bear in mind that I have not actually cut any metal or tried any threading yet but just to have total and complete control of the spindle sure makes me feel much better. After days of playing with the single pulse sensor set-up and trying countless MACH confiurations without success to have it work so easily and perfectly was a great great relief. Now I just need to get another XYLOTEX driver pcb to run the steppers and I will be complete. I have installed new bipolar PACSCI steppers to replace the original unipolar units and tested them with the XYLOTEX driver that runs my router and all works good except or some backlash in the Z axis ballscrew drive!
Anyway to sum up, if you are have problems making it work KEEP AT IT, things usually work out eventually and it sure feels good when they do!
Cheers
Gerald
Guest
