I discovered a few new things....
it doesnt matter what the motor outputs are set to... I can set all axis motor step/dir pins to 0 and it still works fine.
Also I had a problem with some gcode...
I designed it in solidworks & solidcam which is set to MM, so is mach3.
Mach3 made a circle cut like 10x bigger in diameter than its supposed to be.
But on my design PC (I use one for design and another for the CNC), mach3 did not make the circle huge.
its this line thats being misinterpreted: G2 X74.3 Y34.353 I-26.675 J9.747
So I reinstalled Mach3 on the cnc pc and it showed the gcode properly... no big circle.
but then I copied in the XML file that came with the BOB card... theres the big circle again.
Soooo... its gotta be something with the XML file / settings.
I attached both xml files and the gcode... I had to rename all files to TXT, this site wont let me attach an XML or TAP extension name.
The 'Bad' file displays that gcode line above as a giant circle but its supposed to be 50.8mm in dia with a 6mm endmill.
Any ideas?
also... what does "closed loop spindle control" do in the spindle control tab?