So it looks like there are a few issues with G95, Threading, Shuttle RU MPG etc and mach3 and DSPMC combo. Andy from Machmotion was kind enough to call me today and explane a few things, I'm just happy I wasn't loosing my mind after hours and hours. He is going to help me next week to work around the problems, can't help me with the LCD Shuttle RU from Russia, they just don't work with the motion control (i have 2 of them)
Ray.

Can you share the issues or what was expained to you in  a precise way?
RICH

He didn't go into too much detail and I was just glad it wasn't me, something like inch/rev DRO slightly off at the beginning of  threading due to the VFD not up to speed before feed starts, if my pitch was .050" the DRO would read .044 for 1.5" then .050" for the last .5" if I had a 2" Z move. The LCD MPG from Andre in Russia will work on Mach3 but not with the motion controller, push buttons work but the handwheel and the outer ring that operates from slow jog up to rapid doesn't work. I have have a few people look at the source code and have been trying many different configurations but no go.
The feed rate up/down problem could be a simple problem that one of you guys help me with, here goes: When start mach3  up the feed rate DRO defaults to 6."/min or in G95 it defaults to .6"/rev ( that's a lot)  then when you start any program with lets say a feed of .015"/rev the DRO shows .015" great, if you increase the feed rate by one increment the feed shows 5.015"/rev the up in 5's for each inc, if you go down it will pass the .015" that you started with and bottom out at .6"/rev but I don't think for one minute that it running at those feeds but very very fast.
Don't think much can be done about changingthe feed rate while in threading, I know tha't a no no, not a big deal for me but I can't put the product out in the field, strange thing is when you increment the feed in threading it doesn't change until the next threading cycle then I get crazy feeds.

Starting feedrate can be called from initialisation string the same way as you have the G95.
Regarding the feed overrides, that doesnt happen t me with the SmoothStepper on the big lathe or the CSMIO on the wee lathe so could well be a DSPMC issue.

FeedOverride working in threading as far as I know is locked out in the parallel port driver but it is not in the SmoothStepper and not sure about the CSMIO. I have M49 at the start of my threading code and M48 at the end, that solves any problems for me with the SmoothStepper.

Ok so one thing I am very interested in, does the pull out at the end of each threading pass have a delay or is it instant with the DSPMC?
Hood

But when I'm running in G95 at .015"/rev why when I increase does it jump in 5"s 5.015. 10.015...
As for the pull out, it sucks, there is a long delay, that's fine if you have an undercut at the end of your thread.
Regarding the feed sync, I guess I could put a G04 for a while before starting the threading cycle but Andy at Machmotion said he has a macro to take care of it so I'll wait until next week. I really wanted my MPG to work, it's a nice looking unit with at least 16 function buttons, I bought it so I wouldn't have to mount push buttons, the buttons do work its just the handwheel.
MPG in velocity mode is just one feed rate, doesn't matter how fast you turn the wheel and it's very eratic, outer wheel is spring loaded so you can turn it about 90 deg, and it should start at a slow feed rate gradually going up to max feed rate as you turn the dial, I get 1.5"/min that's it.

But when I'm running in G95 at .015"/rev why when I increase does it jump in 5"s 5.015. 10.015...

As said above that does not happen with SmoothStepper or CSMIO, if I adjust the feedrate whilst in G95 it increases by the % I increase by. I use a pot on both so I am not using the on screen buttons. Having said that previously on the big lathe with the Smoothstepper I used external buttons which were linked to the screen buttons and again it worked as it should. Only thing I can think of is it has something to do with the DSPMC or a slim chance it may be the standard lathe screenset as I have never used it but I think the latter is highly unlikely.

As for the pull out, it sucks, there is a long delay, that's fine if you have an undercut at the end of your thread.

That is good to know, shame really as Rufi had said Andy said it wasnt a problem. I was hoping he was right but had my doubts as Steve Murphry who did the Galil plugin and now works on Mach4 coding said they had tried with the Galil and could not get a way for it to work correctly when sync'ing the axis to spindle via encoder. They have reverted to the single index pulse method that works well with both parallel port and Smoothstepper. Good news however is Steve will be making sure it will not be an issue in Mach4.
 One interesting thing I found regarding the pullout and CSMIO was that an older version of Mach (022) solved the issue, so something has changed in the way the plugin is communicating with external devices. Bad news was the Spindle Override no longer worked, there may be a link there.

Regarding the feed sync, I guess I could put a G04 for a while before starting the threading cycle but Andy at Machmotion said he has a macro to take care of it so I'll wait until next week.

Never noticed that issue but my acceleration of spindle is fast on both lathes being that they have servo spindles. Have you thought about setting a delay in General Config for Spin Up/Down?

I really wanted my MPG to work, it's a nice looking unit with at least 16 function buttons, I bought it so I wouldn't have to mount push buttons, the buttons do work its just the handwheel.
MPG in velocity mode is just one feed rate, doesn't matter how fast you turn the wheel and it's very eratic, outer wheel is spring loaded so you can turn it about 90 deg, and it should start at a slow feed rate gradually going up to max feed rate as you turn the dial, I get 1.5"/min that's it.

Does the MPG unit work via a plugin? If so I am surprised it doesnt work correctly with the DSMPC if, and I am assuming, it works well with the parallel port. I have never tried that particular pendant but I do know I had no issues using one I made from a PoKeys when using with the SmoothStepper, so that would seem to be a DSPMC specific issue.


Hood