VCP Lathe Collet open close

[lavrgs]

I need some clarification on the term “test”, is it different than adding to an IF THEN statement?

[lavrgs]

Success!
Thanks Marc!

[cncsnw]

Good to see you got it worked out.

As you might expect, "test" is a highly technical software term, meaning "find out if it is true or false". In other words, put it somewhere between "IF" and "THEN".

[lavrgs]

One more thing... I would have expected that if I added M11 to the GCODE - after the spindle stops, my collet should open. Is the reason that the program is still running ?
Collet opens/closes with MDI M10 M11 and all the other places changed via PLC

[cncsnw]

Are you programming the spindle to stop, before you program the M11?

Or are you programming the M11 with the spindle still running; letting the program cycle run to its end (either with no spindle stop, or with a spindle stop as one of the last things it does); then hoping that the collet will open after the program ends and the spindle stops?

It appears that your PLC program will respond to an M11 request only if the spindle is stopped; and also that your PLC program will cancel any pending M11 request when the program cycle ends.

So you need to stop the spindle (e.g. with M5), then use M11 to open the collet. You might want to put a delay in there to give the spindle time to come to a stop, since you apparently do not have a "spindle zero speed" signal.