Bridgeport EzPath Lathe,Acorn Board & Handwheels

[centroid467]

Happy to help! Post pictures of the machine when you have it all running!

[FC84]

I am having trouble getting the ROD 426 spindle encoder to work with the acorn6 encoder input and I think it may be related to the current draw which can be up to 120 mA. Is there a way to use an external 5v power supply rather than the acorn6 5v supply? For the gecko drives, I was successful using 470 ohm resistors as discussed in this thread:

https://www.cnczone.com/forums/gecko-dr ... upply.html

[centroid467]

The simplest way that does not involve cutting up existing cables is to make a short patch cable that breaks out the +5V line. Make sure the power supplies share a common negative.

This ought to work

[FC84]

I decided to test with one of the lathe handwheel encoders first (ROD 426.0000-600). I connected the x axis encoder to a 5V power supply and common negative as recommended. Only A/A- and B/B- were used by the old ezpath controller, so I as those were the only wires I could match to a schematic I connected those and configured the encoder port for x axis MPG input. I don't get an error, but I don't get any servo motion either. Is there anything built in to CNC12 to help troubleshoot?

Will the acorn6 work with Only A/A- and B/B-, or do I need Z/Z-? I checked with a multimeter and the A/B voltages bounce between 0.2V and 3.3V as I turn the handwheel so it seems like it is outputting reasonable signals.

[tblough]

Index pulse is not used by handwheels.

[FC84]

Thanks, so if z/z- is not required and I checked the hi/low signal voltages, is there anything else you'd recommend for troubleshooting?