Some assistance in setting up an estop switch and router relay for an Xylotex 3 axis drive would be appreciated. The control for the spindle will not require anymore than turning on and off with G code and. I have a functioning switch for the estop which is just like the Mach3 manual shows and works off of pin 10. I have had no success in getting a relay for a router to work using pin 1. I want to coordinate the estop and router so that the axis motors and router stop when the estop switch is activated. Also some help setting up Mach3 would be appreciated. I tried to set the software up according to the Mach3 manual but am at the point of trial and error.

Setting up the output to run the router is no problem

You need to do the following steps:
1 set the Pin for the output and we are going to use Output #1 Look at the pic below
2 Set the output that is going to run the "spindle" Look at the pic below

To test this do to the diagnostics page an see if you can see the LED change when you press the Spindle on button.

The input is done the same way, just set the port number to one and the pin number to 10 and if you have the input hooked up it should work


Hope this is a help
Brian

Your response was very helpful and worked. Thanks. What I notice is when Windows boots up the spindle is on by default. This is a very big saftey issue. Is there anyway to control the spindle before and after Mach3 is run?

You need to get a break out board   This will stop the pins from flashing the output on startup. This is done by the chargepump... it is a 12Khz signal that is used to tell if the control is in a good state. http://cnc4pc.com/Safety_Charge_Pump.htm This should fix the problem

Brain I know this is rather old, but have a question about mist relay. Using the above  for spindle relay would I just make the M7 and M8 use output#2 as in what you show for Relay control of spindle,,,ie Number 1
The problem I seem to be having is what pin to hook my SS Relays to on the Xylotex 3 axis board to make it all work.

thanks for any help
Jim
Abbotsford, BC

If anyone uses a Xylotex board and has the two relays working for spindle and mist, might you give me a hint as to which pins you hooked to on the Xylotex board? I still can't seem to get either relays to work with software. I know they are wired correct since if I give either a 5 volt DC they turn on. Just can't seem to get my brain around which pin ,,port and connector I should be using.

thanks
Jim
Abbotsford, BC

I had a look at there page and I can't see that there is a relay on there board... could you post what one you have and if you could the pin out for it ?

thanks
Brian

Hi Brain, sorry if I was not clear, the two SS relays are not on the xylotex board, they only have a few pins to aid in hooking extras up. An expample is if you look at their board there is a breakout for say P10.

So I am unclear if I change the mist as you show above  to port 1 pin 10, will this supply the 5 volts the P10 on the xylotex board. I have tried this and there is something I am missing since it does not.

I have figured out most things with mach 3 by playing enough, maybe not always the right way but learning. This just seems to be something I can not quite get my head around.

thanks
jim

Hello Jim,
In the pic Pd0 - PD7 should work as an output So as you can see if you hook to Pd0 you need to set the pin number to "2"

That is about the best I could find in the docs

Thanks
Brain

Ok, thanks for your time Brain. I guess I am so confused about it that I can't even explain it right. My x, y , z and a axis work fine. Just that my spindle and mist relays will not turn on with commands from mach 3
Thanks again
Jim