OK, Im kind of new to cnc, I have been messing around for a while with
it but am just getting into building machines. I have a bidirectional
board from cnc4pc and some us digital encoders and can't figure out
how to make them work with the mach3 controller, Are there any good
web sites or info someone can point me to. i hook them up to the ports
and try configuering them but i get no response on mach3. Do I need to enabel them somehow?

Thanks

Matt Holtzclaw

Mach3 doesnt take the input from the encoders, it is the job of your servo drive to handle the encoder feedback. If this is not what you are meaning please try and explain a bit clearer, especially let us know what drives and motors you have.
Hood

Thanks Hood,

I would just like to get encoder info to use as DRO, I am mainly just wanting to get some positioning info. I am using steppers so I know I can't have true closed loop.

Thanks,

Matt

In that case yes,  I was 99.99% sure this could be done but to be 100% I have just done it and it works perfectly. You will need to use the computers ground and best to use its 5V for powering your encoder(or your breakouts ground and 5v if its optoisolated) then just hook up A+ to one Input pin and B+ to another and set them up in the encoder/mpg page of Ports and Pins.

Hood