Turret Rotating to fast and missing steps

I'd strongly suggest to setup things up step by step. So in your Boxford.ini I'd comment out all the parallel port pins for now (some don't apply to your system and others will need to be adjusted):

#setp parport.0.pin-01-out-invert 1
#net spindle-pwm => parport.0.pin-01-out

#net astep => parport.0.pin-02-out
#setp parport.0.pin-02-out-reset 1
#net adir => parport.0.pin-03-out

#net zstep => parport.0.pin-04-out
#setp parport.0.pin-04-out-reset 1
#net zdir => parport.0.pin-05-out

#net xstep => parport.0.pin-06-out
#setp parport.0.pin-06-out-reset 1
#net xdir => parport.0.pin-07-out

#net spindle-cw => parport.0.pin-08-out
#net spindle-ccw => parport.0.pin-09-out
#net spindle-on => parport.0.pin-17-out

#net spindle-phase-a <= parport.0.pin-11-in
#net spindle-phase-b <= parport.0.pin-10-in
#net spindle-index <= parport.0.pin-12-in

#net all-home <= parport.0.pin-13-in
#net estop-ext <= parport.0.pin-15-in



Looking at your original hal file it seems that your break out board need a charge pump so you might want to add those to the Boxford.hal and see if you can get that working:

loadrt charge_pump
addf charge-pump base-thread
net estop-out charge-pump.enable iocontrol.0.user-enable-out
net charge-pump <= charge-pump.out

Then before working on the motors you'll need to copy the motor values from the [AXIS_] sections of the original .ini to the [JOINT_] sections of the Boxford.ini file as this was changed in version 2.8.

MAX_VELOCITY = 47.5
MAX_ACCELERATION = 300.0
STEPGEN_MAXACCEL = 375.0
SCALE = 200.0

This maybe a stupid question. But do I have to add or change anything inside the machine. ?
I know you can't see it . I'm just wondering how I get the extra pins.
It runs on old files but I have to turn the spindle on cw the machine then if I need to reverse I have to press ccw would like to change that if I can. So it automatic
Hopefully that makes sense..

Right now you wouldn't have to change any of the hardware as we are just working on getting the machine running as you had it before.

As for the spindle, looking at your old config it looks like you can set the spindle speed using PWM on pin14 of the parallel port if you want to change the spindle direction from LinuxCNC then we would have to have more information on how you drive your spindle. ie are you running it on a VFD? If it's just a matter of the spindle not starting in correct direction and you don't need to reverse the spindle from the software then it's a matter that would have to be solved in the spindle drive or the motor wiring depending on the setup .

OK
I will be away till next weekend. I will test then
will this thread stay open?

Sure, report back when you have time to test things.

Hi allI just set up the computer on the lathe and turned on. I went to stepconfig to config a new file to test axis  for some reason x won't move but z works fine I can here a click inside like it wants to do something any ideas where to look 1st.? Also noticed this in back of machine not sure if this was like it before 2  soldered wires unattached has anyone got schematics or pictures of same machine? And know what the do 

Hi 
manage to sort x axis problem working now..
i tried to open clives boxford file i can get to the main screen but it won't let me start the machine control. button stays greyed out any ideas what to change or info to give you? thanks turners  

Sounds like you haven't got the estop signals right in the hal file. I think the boxford config uses an external estop signal while you might not.

Could you send me a screen shot of what you see on Clives load out just want to make sure I see what you see..
Also what happened to the toolchange setter to set what tool its on in the old version you told it the tool station to start on 

Generally speaking, you need to compare the Boxford.hal and your original .hal file that was used to run the machine before. eg

in Boxford.hal you see line 88:

net estop-ext       <= parport.0.pin-15-in

that tells you that there is an external estop signal configured to come in on pin15 of the parallel port.  Then there is this at the very end of the file (lines 151-153):

net estop-out <= iocontrol.0.user-enable-out
#net estop-ext => iocontrol.0.emc-enable-in   stepgen.2.enable
net estop-ext <= iocontrol.0.emc-enable-in => toolchanger.enable => stepgen.2.enable


In you original Mach3Turn_2022-09-17-2.hal you have only this:
net estop-out <= iocontrol.0.user-enable-out
net estop-out => iocontrol.0.emc-enable-in

So if you still don't have an external estop signal you might want to try to comment out (#) the lines that don't apply to your situation and add the lines that were used in the original config.