Hi all!

I'm quite new to all this so I'm sorry if my question is really obvious...

I have a small lathe similar to an Emco compact 5 and I'm using a compact 5 auto toolchanger to be driven from the A axis.
My problem is that my A axis in mach3 turn is playing up. At first i was using X-Z and Y just to test the movement of the toolchanger, which was fine.
I have now come to set up my axis properly using A as a rotary axis and my motors don't like it at all. I get a high screeching noise from any motor i use from the A axis.
I have tried changing the port and pin settings, but it seems to be a problem with the actual A axis in mach3 itself? Maybe i have to change some settings somewhere?

I have modified the emco toolchanger by mounting a stepper motor and slotted disk with opto sensor for tool location feedback.

If anyone has any ideas where i might be going wrong i would really appreciate the help.
I will try and add some pics soon, as my lathe is nearly finished and lookin good 

Thanks,

Adam

You need to go to motor tuning and probably adjust the speed and acceleration for that motor. It is right under ports and pins in the config menu. Start by slowing everything down and then work your speed back up a bit at a time until the motor stalls again. Then back it off a bit so that you have the best speed without fear of stalling and losing step.

If you are using it as a rotational axis you need to set your steps per unit for that axis. A unit on a rotational axis is one degree so if you have a direct coupled stepper with a 10 microstepping drive that would be 2,000/360 = 4.55555555555 steps per unit.
Hood