Spindle Start Command Requires Dual Entry

[nickkinsman]

Hello;

I have an odd problem with my setup and I wanted to see if the problem might be in the BOB or speed control.

First of all I want to mention that I am continually impressed with the excellent design and setup, especially the good labelling and on-board diagnostic of the PMDX products.  I was having trouble with a servo and I was easily able to check the pulse train was making it through the board just by looking at the 'step' LED.

I have Mach3 to an Smoothstepper ESS, with PMDX 126 RevA board, 107 spindle control using with a 0-10V VFD, 108 for additional inputs, and PMDX 171 for spindle speed feedback.  I have gotten pretty much all of it working with very little problems.  My question is around the spindle start command;

I have to issue the start command twice for the spindle to startup.  A  normal S1000 M3 command shows the delay LED on Mach kicking in, but the spindle does not start up.  only when I issue a command like this does it startup:

M3
S1000 M3

It does the same thing in MDI or even on the program run page, I have to click the 'spindle' button, then type in the speed and hit enter before it will start (even if the speed is already set in the DRO).
This doesn't seem likely to be a hardware problem but thought I would check.  What seems odd is Mach appears to be putting out the start command, as the LED's start flashing indicating the delay is taking effect.

Thanks
Nick

[Bob at PMDX]

Run this test:
- Enter the speed and M3 commands via MDI as you were doing (i.e. "S1000 M3")
- Look at the LED on the PMDX-126 for pin 16 (this is on connector J6, near the transformer)

Do you see the LED on or flashing/blinking?  It may be on but dim, depending on your maximum spindle speed (the speed used for this test should be at least 1/2 of full speed).  If the "Pin 16" LED is off, then enter another "M3" command.  Does the "Pin 16" LED turn on?

If the "Pin 16" LED does not turn on with the first command, but *does* turn on with the second, something is not working right in either Mach3 of the SmoothStepper.  Try setting the spindle "spin up" delay to zero and see if that works (in the Config, Ports & Pins, Spindle Setup tab).

If the ""Pin 16" LED does turn on with the first command, yet your spindle is still not turning, reply here and I'll give you some other things to test.

Have you read our app note about using the SmoothStepper with the PMDX-126 and PMDX-107?  See AN002 here:

http://www.pmdx.com/AppNotes

There are newer versions of the SmoothStepper plug-in since that app note was written.  But it will give you some settings to check that were not obvious to me when I first tried this board combination.

Bob

[nickkinsman]

Thanks for the response.  I will be back at the machine in a week or so and will give it a try and get back to you.  I will especially check the LED to verify it is putting out the signal when first requested.

I have seen and I used the application note to configure Mach3 and the SS.  Once I get the spindle turning it works fine, able to change speeds by S command and everything.  I will recheck that I have it all correct. I have occasionally seen Mach change the PWM randomly when config dialog is opened.  I will try removing the delays too.  My initial suspicion it might be a problem with Mach - I am not sure of the Mach3 version, I bought this project to finish up already loaded. I will see if I need to update.  Maybe a latent bug.

Thanks
Nick

[nickkinsman]

Update and issue closed:  turns out I had a slightly old version of Mach3 on the machine.  I downloaded and updated Mach3 to the newest version and the issue is no longer around.  Must have been a bug in the Mach3 spindle control. 

Thanks
Nick