I just received my KX3 and I have some problems trying to run the Mach3 software.
1. The mill will not work at all if I chose the Mach3Mill profile, but it works when I open the SIEG KX3 3500 US or the SIEG KX3 US profiles. Is this normal?

2. Isn't there an easy way to make the machine work in inches? I read another post and tried the motor tuning and that got it close, but other problems arose - when I went through the calibration process of telling it to move .1 inch, it moved .039", so I told it and it did the calculations. Then, when I jog it to move .1", it moves .1003". Then I tell it to move several more .1" and they come up .2003, .3003, .4003, etc. This is after zeroing it several times over and over. Odd, the Y and Z axis both move .0003 too. So it's not reassuring at all. I have the box checked in the GENERAL LOGIC SETTINGS screen that says "G20,G21 Control - lock DRO's to setup units" and the box on the SETTINGS screen set to INCHES. I've toggled and tried everything I can think of.

By the way I'm brand new to CNC and this is my first post, so any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

The Mach3Mill profile is a general profile that is not configured for anything. To use it you have to come up with all the lpins and ports and configurte it yourself. Mach is adaptable to many machine congfigurations and this is one fromn the Mach developers.

The Seig KX3 profiles were developed by folks involved with Seig and are appropriate for the machine. How old is the machine as it may have a 5000 RPM spindle and there are some new profiles with the change to the spindle settings.

The machine as shipped is pretty much in Metric mode. I am used to working in English and I created an English Profile that the machine uses that I have access to. I found it easier to configure that way and that is how I run it. There are 2 sets of settings that changed. First - I changed a setting called Native Units to select the Inches box. Then I changed each of the axis (1 at a time and save after each change) and you will have to look in the other thread where I did this. I created several profiles - KX3 500 Inch, KX35000 Metric (pretty much the original config)

I also changed a couple keyboard keys as it was more natural for me to think in terms of the table motion for the arrow keys rather than in terms of cutter motion. I also wrote on the machine the axis name and + & - to show the motion directions. But now my <Up Arrow> moves teh table towards the column and th<Down Arrow> moves away from the column. I did similar with the <left Arrow> and <Right

Where are you located? might be someone in the area who could give you a boost up the learning curve.Arrow>

kf2qd,

Thank you for the reply and all the comments.

You cleared up the profile issue, that makes sense.
 
I tried the motor tuning and got it down real close, but ended up setting the native units to mm and it started working in inches when I put the "settings units" to inches. Now I tell it to go 1" and the DRO and table go 1". I'm like you, I prefer inches, because I don't have to one more calculation in the process.

My machine was received 12-24-10 so unless they stock tons of them I guess it's pretty new. The spindle does top out at 5K, so there must be other software. My instruction manual is difficult for a beginner like me, because it shows things I don't have,, and doesn't show things I do have. Right now I am trying to figure out how to understand and set all the different offsets and coordinates because messing around with them I got the dreaded A.B. Normal box flashing and the message shows "Axis are not Refed to normal condition..."  So I'm off to the search topics here to see if I can get that figured out. Thanks again for your help,

Don

I'm working on a spindle problem with my brand new KX3 from LittleMachineShop.  I loaded Mach3 with the included flash drive with no problem, but after familiarizing myself with the controls and jogging the table to check the limit switches I discovered that I cannot get the spindle to turn on with either the jog control, the MDI, or any Wizard I try.  Ports and pins for the spindle are:

     Enable     Step     Dir     Dir Lo     Step Lo     Step Pin     Dir Pin
        chk         14       16       chk         chk             1              1

Mach3 says all is normal and it appears it's trying to send a signal as evidenced by an LED on the breakout board.  The 20A spindle fuse is good.  Can someone with a working spindle give me their motor tune steps and velocity?  I need to start somewhere and knowing these parameters are good would eliminate Mach3 and put the problem on either the breakout board or the motor controller.

Thanks,

plungerhead

plungerhead -

my machine is setup -
Spindle Axis - Enabled - Green Check, Step Pin# - 14, Dir Pin# -16, Dir LowActive - Red X, Step Low Active - Green Check, Step Port - 1, Dir Port - 1

Under the Spindle Setup tab -
Under Motor control there is a check in the Use Spindle Motor Output  and Step/Dir Motor, PWM Base Freq is 5 and minimum PWM is 0.
Under General Parameters all are 1.

Under Motor Tuning, Spindle Settings - Steps Per = 1175, Velocity = 875.4, Accel = 212.76, Setp Pulse = 6, Dir Pulse = 0
I played with the Steps Per setting until I got max RPM when 5000 was Selected. I just assume that it is close to 5000.

Just a follow up note:  I found a bad solder joint on the AP-2 speed controller.  Both leads of the component marked JDS 16.000 (timing crystal?) were loose on the PCB so I touched them up with my 25W soldering pencil and some 60/40 rosin core solder.  The spindle came to life and I have not had any problems since.

plungerhead