energising spindle/Abnorma/normal display?

[lazypace100]

I wonder if anyone can help or advise me.

Just bought an X3 Super 3 Syil mill and having spent ages poring over all the litrature available and configuing settings/pins have managed to get the machine where all the axis move on demand but I cannot get the spindle to run in a program. It will however run in manuel mode.

Any ideas on how to go forwards.

Plus, I have a condition where the normal/abnormal button is constanly flashing green/yellow and when I click on it receive the message "one or more spindles enabled/disabled/Axis not referenced to normal condition. ??

Any thoughts there.

Third problem whilst I think of it is that I have to toggle the main on/off switch three or four times to get the 4 red diodes to light up. Have already replaced the main power unit. No difference.

??

Would certainly appreciate some help with the above and look forwards to replies.

Regards, David Lazenby

[kenealym]

Hi David

From your comments about flashing buttons I assume you are using Mach 3 as the controlling software and that you have set up all the pins and ports as per your documentation. If your machine came from UK, www.syil.co.uk has both useful videos and sample profile files to assist with doing all of that.

The messages you have are two separate ones.

Referenced axes:

When you turn on machine the x, y and z axes will not have been "referenced" to their "zero" position. If you move all axes to an approximately mid position then click the "Ref all home" button the machine should move the table and Z axis to the home position and, depending on the settings you have made in the Config/Homing Limits Screen, should set the machine coordinates to 0.0000. (www.syilamerica.com has a useful short video to show how to set up and use the homing limits).

Incidentally if for some reason you don't want to reference - by clicking Operator/Set Nomal Condition you let Mach3 know that whatever current condition the system is in is the "Normal" one and it will only flash at you when something significant in the current setup is changed.

For the spindle:

In the Config menu, select ports and pins, spindle setup and make sure that under Motor Control "use spindle motor output" is checked. Your machine probably requires the "Step/Dir Motor" option. If using "Step/Dir" you don't need to activate the spindle relay options under relay control but you do if you use PWM control.


Having said all that your spindle problem may be more serious. In my part of the world (New Zealand) we now have a number of machines having troubles with spindle control at least some of which may be due to changes made to the machines to make them run on 230v. We are having great difficulty getting understanding or action from the manufacturer.

Symptons are:

Upgraded spindle is not running at 3600rpm - runs at max speed of non-upgraded spindle ie 1800rpm
Speed can be controlled from front panel but not by any Gcode either from Mach3 MDI or in Gcode "program".
M3 M4 M5 commands work only intermittenty and sometimes with the opposite to intended result (eg M3 starts spindle CCW).
There is a lot of beeping and spindle may simply stop when under MDI Gcode control.


Our machine numbers are small but I would be interested to know if you too are experiencing these problems.

On the last issue you mention, the four diodes, I am not sure which ones you are referring to but again sounds like a power issue. In addition to the power supply there may also be an issue with the relay on the main spindle controller board. In a couple of instances here the original one (a 110v unit coupled with a resistor to pretend to be a 230v one) has died and needed to be replaced with a 230v one but before dying has worked intermittently. You may hear a buzzing sound at the back of the machine as the relay tries hard to make a connection when you switch it on and off.

[neilw20]

All of your spindle troubles explained, but not fixed:
Super X3 Spindle Issue

The x and y axis are not referenced at the end of the travel, so if if you move the axis slightly so that the sensor is covered, you can't reference it and you get the abnormal condition.
That said, if you move further till you are on the wrong side of the opto, then the machine will try to reference AWAY from the opto until it crashes and jams (maybe your fingers too). A quick fix for this is to make the interrupting strip very long, so that you must move off the strip to reference it. If you are having intermittent troubles with the opto signals, not working reliably, I had that too. If the port in the PC has too fierce a pullup resistor, and the opto transistor is low on gain, then it might not see the strip sometimes.
I put a PNP buffer transistor on 2 out of 3 of my channels.
Collector to ground, the base to the output from opto and the emitter goes to the LPT port. Different value resistors did not fix this, so don'yt bother trying that. This was only needed after I changed from a HP computer, to some no name brand that had an external LPT card. No trouble before that, at least not with the optos.

[Chrisjh]

I wonder if anyone can help or advise me.

Just bought an X3 Super 3 Syil mill and having spent ages poring over all the litrature available and configuing settings/pins have managed to get the machine where all the axis move on demand but I cannot get the spindle to run in a program. It will however run in manuel mode.

Any ideas on how to go forwards.

Plus, I have a condition where the normal/abnormal button is constanly flashing green/yellow and when I click on it receive the message "one or more spindles enabled/disabled/Axis not referenced to normal condition. ??

Any thoughts there.

Third problem whilst I think of it is that I have to toggle the main on/off switch three or four times to get the 4 red diodes to light up. Have already replaced the main power unit. No difference.

??

Would certainly appreciate some help with the above and look forwards to replies.

Regards, David Lazenby

Hi David,

The spindle problem sounds like the spindle control board to me. I had a similar problem where the spindle would work under manual front panel control but not under Mach3 S Commands. Turned out to be some bloody obscure Opto Isolator ( the white 8 pin one on the spindle control board). I could not identify this chip but could understand its purpose. So I made up a new substitute "daughter board" to replace the failed optocoupler. Details are in another post in this forum entitled "Can anyone identify this chip" or words to that effect.

I would replace the spindle control board to test this theory.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Chrisjh