HURCO KMB-1 Control Update

NT4Boy wrote:

By experimentation, the Y and X offsets can be entered pressing tool touch off with the wrong axis selected. On a 3 axis mill, as far as I can tell numbers in these columns are ignored.

They are not ignored, but if you have X and/or Y offsets applied when you touch-off then the tool offset anf G54 offsets will cancel out. 

XY offsets are not often used on a mill, but some machines have one head and a number of tools that pop down from it, and XY offsets are useful there to account for the different positions of the tool axes. 

I suggest making sure that all the offsets are zero in the tool-table editor. 

If you do find that you have accidentally put an offset in the wrong axis, then you can MDI  linuxcnc.org/docs/devel/html/gcode/g-code.html#gcode:g10-l1
Where "n" is the current tool number. 

Thanks Andy,
Since writing that I did manage to inadvertently introduce an axis offset via the tool table, so have become super cautious.

For too many months I tried in vain to fix the venerable vfd that was the original fitment in the machine and have at last inserted a Yaskawa unit . Tiny thing compared to the old one! But does actually run the motor at the speed commanded without drama and also reverses without needing to stop the spindle. Have also got the Linuxcnc spindle at speed bit to work from the encoder signal.
I think I've been round in circles on the synchronised motion implementation say for tapping.
I believe now that when pncconf writes the hal for a spindle with an encoder, then no additional entries are required to enable synchronised motion. The configuration output has spindle position, speed as well as index enabled pins, and I think that is all that is needed.
The wiki help, to me, implies some specific pin names are required, but after trying to get the suggested ones to work I find that in fact the default ones provided by pncconf work, or at least seem to.. At least I can get a sample G-code file with G33.1 to complete a cycle. Yet to cut metal with it, but nearly there.
I am also confused by the Spindle at speed notion. I can understand that it would be better if the spindle was running before the tool hits the workpiece, and notionally a good idea, but when the spindle reverses in the middle of a tapping cycle, I am guessing that the motion will continue to move as the tool delcels and accels, rather than wait to get up to speed? Must do, but was curious as to what happens under the hood so to speak.
Thanks

Spindle-at-speed only pauses motion for the first feed move after a spindle command (as far as I recall) It definitely doesn;t interfere with rigid taping, for that would be a silly thing.

I was thinking to my self much the same as I wrote, but I'd reached the point of losing the plot and grateful for the reassurance.
Thanks

At last the Spindle is back under control, the new VFD works well, and the rigid tapping cycle executes, so therefore spindle orientation must work....
M19 R120 Q5 simply times out.
Linuxcnc ORIENT Man  explains I need to setup the orientation pins etc.
loadrt orient names=orient
loadrt pid names=orient-pid
net orient-angle spindle.N.orient-angle orient.angle
net orient-mode spindle.N.orient-mode orient.mode
net orient-enable spindle.N.orient orient.enable orient-pid.enable
net spindle-in-pos orient.is-oriented spindle.N.is-oriented
net spindle-pos encoder.position orient.position orient-pid.feedback
net orient-command orient.command orient-pid.command

all good, except for the enigmatic statement at the start:-
"On spindle.N.orient disconnect the spindle control and connect to the orient-pid loop:"

This I cannot quite get into my hal without error. 

Current error is:-
./Hurco_7i92.hal:347: Pin 'encoder.position' does not exist

Also having failed to get spindle.0.orient to connect, I have reverted to the original enable connection.

I'd appreciate some guidance please.
Thanks