PRS Alpha Spindle not responding to RPM requests
I'm writing this post not asking for answers but to show what I did to solve the issue.
I'm still on the original SB software I received with the machine: 3.6.38. It was working perfectly and I don't want to rock the boat. My computer started acting up a few weeks ago and the last time I started the computer, it took a lot of fiddling to get it to run. I've left it running since.
Time for a new computer. I ordered a cheapo replacement from eBay. A custom configured Windows 7 64 bit Dell model with an SSD drive for a whopping $150 delivered. Nice computer, about half the physical size of my previous computer. I loaded the 3.6.38 software and everything looked good.
I had zero issues with the USB interfaces, including the spindle. The problem I found was that I couldn't control the spindle RPM. It read 466 on the RPM window and when I tried to change it, the 466 kept returning. The VFD showed 14,000 which was the last RPM I had used to run a job.
I tried all sorts of things to get past this problem and today, after giving up on the internet, I asked Shopbot support (on a Saturday) what's up. Ben gave me the final answer.
I didn't know that clicking on the RPM in the RPM window would bring up a previously unseen text edit window for the spindle controller. Ben gave me that hint and also sent me a link to a video that covers pretty much everything one would want to know about spindle problems:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lVJ...1iBJNVfWK/view
I got about 3 minutes into the video and saw my issue. I have a V1000 VFD controller and that one wasn't selected in the RPM window. I changed that to the V1000, also changed the Htz scale from 100 to 60 and all is well again.
Now I have my newish computer configured properly and the Shopbot is responding as expected. Hopefully, I'll have another seven years of trouble free operation.
Thanks Ben!
