Thanks Hood, I will see what type I need.

tmsmith

TMSMITH, Have you tried contacting Peter? He is the one making the board. Something doesn't seems right about your setup. Do you have the direction relays hooked to the digispeed or to the breakout board? Does the speed control part work ok?  Lets give it one more shot,I hate it when a plan does not come together correctly. I will DL the manual and give it a look. Do you have the pinout exactly as it is in the book? Please post your pin assignments for the DIGSPD in mach(output motor setup,  pins and ports). I have a similar setup with the Lenze530 on a slantbed lathe out in the shop.

(;-) TP

Hi Vmax.
Yes I have talked to Peter who in fact sent me  a replacement DigispeedXL board.
He asked for photo's of the setup prior to sending the new board so he had not spotted anything obvious.
I was also getting info from Graham Waterworth who runs a similar setup.
Myself, I have very little experience so can easily be wrong/make mistakes.

The direction relay is part of the XL board and is used to switch a larger power relay which is mounted separately.
The speed control appears to work OK using the 'S' gcode.
I am using the pinout as it is in the user guide except I am using port 1 instead of 2(not fitted)

Motor outputs     ticked step pin 1  dir pin 17 both active low

Input signals        index ticked  port1  pin 15  active low

Output Signals     enable1 ticked   port1  pin 14 active low
Output#1            enabled port 1 pin 16   active low

Spindle tab         Disable spindle relays is unticked
Clockwise(M3)    set Output#1
CCW (M4)         set output#1
Motor Control    Ticked, Use spindle motor output
                       PWM control ticked
I have read these settings from my records but I will confirm them tomorrow when I can get out to the shop, since I have played around with the setup to see if I could find the fault.

Thanks for your interest vmax

tmsmith

I don't see how you could have direction control if both M3/M4 are going to the same pin.   I need to look at the manual. Your setup should not energize the relay in CW, but needs to energize the relay for CCW.

(;-) TP

I thought that as well but I had a quick sqint at the manual and I think the output is just to enable the board. It is using a Dir pin (17) to change the direction, just like the axis uses a Dir pin.
Hood

One odd looking setting is the output signal 'Enable1 which enables pin14 active low. Strange because pin 14 does *not*  appear to be used further down through the system.
Pin 1 is wired up, and I am guessing it gets its signal from one of the config settings in Mach3. The 'Motor output' spindle enable step pin 1 must be most likely.


tmsmith

Now I see,As I read the Manual, M3M4 is just used to enable the unit. But if that is so what is the OTHER enable signal doing? UNless it is the other end of the enable circuit?

The direction is controlled by the DIR pin.

Do all of the LEDs work correctly? If so Maybe a problem with your FLIP/FLOP relay(CW,CCW)

Does it run in the same direction each time you run it?  CW always? CCW always? or does it change sometimes(sticky relay)?

Let me see if I have the problem correctly. When you Command a M3/M4 the spindle starts up. THe S command will change the speed. M5 will stop the Spindle. But using M3-4 does not change the direction?

Is that correct?

(;-) TP

Vmax549,
Starting with your last point, yes you have the problem correctly.
The spindle always runs in the same direction, which is CW so I can use the mill.
The dir LED on the DS board does not change when M3/M4 is altered.
Going further back in the system pin17 of the computer parallel port does not change either so the DS board is doing what it is asked to do.

So the problem appears to be in the Mach3 config, or is a fault in the actual computer.
What would help would be some way of testing pin17 outside of Mach3.
This would eliminate Mach3 (or condem the config).

tmsmith

Just ignore, was talking bull so have edited it, Alu fumes must be going to my head today.
Hood

Hi, Tmsmith

Change the state for Pin 17 to "X or Check" first, Apply Gnd. or +5 volts to pin 17 to see if it functions.

Thanks, Chip