The only thing I could find relating to that was some people experience poor threading accuracy when using light duty machines with a 1ppr into mach3. How the kflop system interpolates 2ppr and its performance is a guess for me. I suspect a larger machine like Dave's would have no problem since there be enough inertia and torque to maintain a more constant spindle speed, but you are running an 8" mini lathe kind of thing, right? Then again, it's just a guess how the kflop system would handle more pulses. I was looking for a block diagram of the control loop, which I did not find.SteveHGraham wrote:Thanks for all that effort. I already knew I needed something beyond a simple disk with one sensor, which is what other people manage to use with Mach3.
What I wanted to know was this: is there any reason to prefer a rotary encoder, with dozens of slots or whatever, to a simple disk with one slot and two sensors at 90 degrees to each other?
A real rotary encoder should be able to provide much better resolution, but is better resolution good for anything?
If Mach3 is controlling spindle speed based off feedback from kflop (i.e., kflop interpolates nppr to 1ppr and sends that to Mach3, and Mach3 figures out the speed is too slow and sends commands to increase spindle speed back to kflop), then I suspect more pulses is not going to matter. However, if kflop gets speed direction from Mach3 and the kflop controller handles the loop and speed adjustments, then a higher count encoder may actually help you enjoy success. I'm kinda curious how it is set up.
BTW, I'd run the encoder with a belt if you go there.