Spindle Control Problem in Mach3

We're having a problem with our spindle running on the relay, actually, from what's happening it seems like more of a software problem. Whenever we load g code and run it, it comes to the tool change and it stops, waiting for me to press CycleStart again, when i press CycleStart, the program continues to run until it hits the spindle start code, M3, at which point, the spindle starts, but the g code freezes on the M3 code and won't run until i manually turn the spindle off...

Not sure what the issue is, figured someone here might have an idea.

What version of mach3? I seem to recall reading about M3 problems with an older version.

Version R3.042.020

If for some reason the THC logic is turned on in that profile (XML) it would wait for an arc okay signal before releasing movement. It would let you move once you turned the output back off. Quick test is to go into the Ports & Pins and the Input Signals and see what is mapped to the THC ON input signal. That is the ARC OK input. You can fool it by changing the input polarity (Active Low) to have it turned on all the time. If that fixes it then we need to see why THC mode is turned on in that profile (which should be a router profile).

I have always used the external CAM to control tool changes and leave that off in MACH. You can make it do anything you want with the toolchange in g-code.

TOM Caudle
www.CandCNC.com

Alright, I took your suggestion and played around with the THC On input. It was initially disabled so i enabled it and set the polarity to active low. I was still having the same problem as before so i set the polarity so it wasn't active low and now the spindle is running just fine on the relay... When we start up the Mach 3 Loader, we select the "Bladerunner" profile, not the dragon cut or plasma profile, so I'm a bit confused as to why the plasma controls are affecting it.