Re: bridgeport IO, spindle enable pin

[Jon Elson <elson-at-pico-systems.com>]

Damon Gentile wrote:

> Folks, 
> I'm trying not to ask anything too silly about EMC but I've hit a 
>bit of a wall. 
> Started with the BDI version of MINI.INI, added a second  LPT port
>and switched the INI task over to bridgeportIO. 
>
> Coolant, brake, estop are all fine on the new LPT port. Spindle control
>is a little flakey. In manual mode, I can select the "spindle" button 
>and toggle the forward/rev bits through the GUI.  I see the brake bit
>toggle about a second before the spindle forward (or rev) toggles,
>however the "spindle on" bit doesn't budge.
>  
>
Your settings for the bit indexes look OK to me.  But if these are set 
wrong, then they
won't connect to any output bit on the parallel port.  There can also be 
a conflict
between these bits and other bits.  Make sure no other aux output under 
the comment
; digital output bits is set to the same index number.  If one of the 
other bits is set
to the same index, it could be overwriting the bit you want before it 
has a chance
to make it to the port.  Anyway, I don't see the problem from the .ini 
file snippet you
sent.  One other thing, there are delays between brake and motor 
functions.  The
standard is set like this:

; wait times in seconds for spindle brake, release
SPINDLE_OFF_WAIT          =     1.0
SPINDLE_ON_WAIT           =     1.5

Also, the task controller needs to match up with the I/O task, what do 
you have specified
in the TASK = line?

> In auto mode, if I run a program calling M3 M4 M5, I see it release the
>brake at M3 and engage it after M5.  No activity on the spindle fwd/rev/
>spindle on pins. The increase/decrease arrows are not grayed out, and 
>clicking these does move the spindle increase (or decrease) bit for the 
>duration of the click. 
>
You can't give an M03 or M04 without setting the spindle speed (even if 
the speed
control is not hooked up).  Try an M03 S1000

>
> I can only control the spindle forward / spindle reverse bits in
>manual mode. M3 & M4 commands only release the brake, M5 sets the brake. 
>The GUI will typically display "spindle increase" as the text in the
>button.
>
> Only difference I see in the INI is that the spindle on bit is listed
>as
>an analog bit (what the heck is an analog bit!). 
>  
>
It takes more than one bit to signal an analog value, and it does say 
"bits".   :)>
What it really means is to put a spindle speed analog voltage on the 
axis # 3 DAC,
if you had a 3-axis servo setup using analog channels 0-2, with an 
unused channel
#3.  This could only work with the Servo-to-Go card or my PPMC (if I can 
figure
out how).

>  What I'm hoping for today is to have a pin toggle when the spindle is
>on/off. Two others for fwd and rev, and I can map out relays to turn on
>and off the mill in the proper rotation.   No fancy speed control here!
>  
>
Well, it works on my systems, but they are a somewhat different 
configuration.

Jon