Glad you got it sorted.

Now I've seen the photo, it reminded me of the Matchmaker setup -
Head by mc, on Flickr

similar stuff, thanks.

the weak point is the connection between nut and quill, i can see a small amount of flex there when the quill is locked and i turn the screw pulley by hand.

Started fitting switches tonight, picture below.

On the left we have
top = ++Limit for standard mill setup
middle = ++Limit for engraving setup
bottom = -- Limit

On the right is the homing switch for both setups.

The bracketry gets in the way of the fancy recesses for access to the tramming nuts but you can still get a spanner on them easily.

Finally managed 3-axis motion

Picture of my final switch setup below, allows for my additional engraving spindle mounted on the big spindle - dual top limits and extended homing trigger.

A short video of simple code with two manual tool changes, Z parks at the top and the Y axis is shifted out of the way, whether this will work or no i don't know yet.

https://youtu.be/mJUxtS997MQ

Scary stuff - she has cut her first steel

Spent the morning putting stuff back - trammed the head, fitted the vise and trammed that in, fitted a floating Z touch-plate and modified the touch-off macro so it did what i wanted.

Threw a small lump of 20mm scrap in, a duff 1/2" four-flute cutter and programmed a facing cut in Aspire of 0.5mm, seemed way slower than i would have moved if doing it manually - may not be a bad thing;) It gave me a speed of 140mm/min at 650rpm

Picture below - looks worse than it is, pretty good finish as it goes considering the state of the tool etc. and dry cutting plus unknown grade of steel.

Will try some drilling next.

Nice, managed to spot-drill four points and the follow up with a 6mm drill thru (19mm)

Nice and smooth, no sign of anything odd happening

OK so we have issues to fix...

I am getting plenty of ePid faults - in the encoder plugin window I see red flashing 255 and encoder counts on all axes - I am really hoping this is caused by my idea of using screened printer cable (DB25) for the connections - its screened but NOT twisted pair and also there is a rats-nest of wiring on the bench now all 3 axes are bodged in.

So, what cable is recommended for the servo drive to CSMIO connections? Something like this....
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BELDEN-9507-CABLE-9507-7PAIR-PER-M-/181883214948?hash=item2a59159c64:g:SRMAAOxyXzxTIj8s

I tried messing with the tool length table but having it fault-out when probing is not safe so i gave up, could get my head round it anyway yet

I think its time to start looking at control cabinets.

I used CY cable to connect my drives to the Kanalog as that's what I had lying around, and have never had any issues, although the cable distance is only about 12-18".

CAT6e network patch cable, would give you shielded and twisted pairs cheaply, although it would be on the smaller side for wiring up, but as long as you're careful to make sure the wiring is well secured i.e. not relying on the terminals to hold it in place/support the weight, you shouldn't get any problems.

Yeah, i did look at cat6 but really prefer stranded core not solid due to the risk of breakage. The stuff in the like is much cheaper elsewhere so i'll probably get some of that.

I'm just hoping that this is the issue, the encoder displays flash red either 255 or 179 i think it was - a list of these errors would be real handy, tried contacting CS-Labs but i think they are on summer shut-down.

I have read that it really is supposed to be twisted-pair for encoders so hopefully changing it to this will fix the issues.

Cat patch cable is stranded wire. Patch cable is meant for making up the leads from sockets to computers, so is stranded for reliability and flexibility. Non-patch cable is usually solid core.

I think personally, I'd get everything installed and wired cleanly in a cabinet. Ideally twisted pairs are better, but standard cable should work just fine. The new encoder I just got for my lathe spindle came with standard un-shielded multicore cable, and it works just fine despite running over the spindle motor and past the VFD. I even tested it before fitting by running the spindle up to speed with the wiring in place, and it never gained any spurious encoder counts.

Ah, yes i was thinking of cat network cable - not meant for moving, forgot about patch cable

I'll probably still get some better cable and solder the plugs up, it'll be better in the long run i think.

The MPG has plain cable too, shielded but not twisted, probably about 8' long if stretched out.

I'm sure the error numbers mean something - very annoying when they keep it secret.