VMC related HAL questions.

sspeed33317 wrote:

Also if i remember correctly the way they did it was power up the spindle 25 rpm, then let it coast , drop the pin and then the stop signal.

That makes it easier, as then you can have the pin disabled by motion.spindle-is-on.

M3
G4 P2
M5
M65 P0 (drop the pin)

sspeed33317 wrote:

Ha.. then there is the two speed gearbox i have to figure out

Not too much of a problem for spindle orientation.

Is there any switch which indicates the selected gear? That can make things easier. Though it is possible to detect the gear by the ratio of motor frequency to spindle speed.

sspeed33317 wrote:

Yes there is a proximity switch for high/low , the gearbox is shifted by a air solenoid and actuator

That's easy then.

www.linuxcnc.org/docs/html/man/man9/gearchange.9.html

sspeed33317 wrote:

I think it is Awetmore

You can be there in a week or so.

sspeed33317 wrote:

II dont know if I am going to be able to use the existing servos.
I have some AMC amplifiers and was having trouble with the initial tuning.
I was thinking about getting TECO amps and motors.

AMC amps work. A hardware change is not likely to be the answer.

Tuning is a science, but it feels like an art because you are working with so many unknowns. For example you probably have no idea what the second moment of your ballscrew is.
So, you need to play around with the numbers for long enough to get a "feel" (and I hate using that word for something which is actually 100% deterministic) for your machine.

Do you know if you have a velocity-mode or torque-mode system? As a general rule if the encoders go to the drives then you are velocity mode, if the encoders go to LinuxCNC only then you are torque-mode.
If the drivers are set for velocity mode and they can't see the encoders then I don't know what happens, but it would be difficult.