I have used Mach 3 with a Xylotex 4 axis board for about 8 years on a JGRO machine. I am now building a new machine and am trying to set it up to use M-codes to turn on/off the router. I have Port 1 - Pin 1 set for spindle control in both CW and CCW directions. When I hit the spindle button on the diag. screen output 1 goes high and blinks. Pin 1 on my ribbon cable goes to 4.88v. When I turn off the spindle it drops to 0v. This is all good.

So now I have 2 questions.

Hardware first: I made up a simple 5v relay using a NPN transitor circuit to turn on the spindle. But when pin 1 is connected to it and is turned on, the voltage is only .78v. So what hardware does everyone else use to turn on your spindles? I understand that there are breakout boards, but I have only 1 printer output from the PC, and therefore only one cable to attach to one board. The boards I have seen only have an 26 pin input and screw jack outputs, so how would I connect the Xylotex and a breakout board if that is what I need to do??

Software second:

I can turn on and off the spindle no problem, but only one time without having to do an E-stop. Without the E-stop, I cannot turn the spindle back on. Is this normal? Should I not be able to turn the spindle on/off as I like??

Thanks
Ray