Let the fun begin !!! ???

[JAZZCNC]

so my question is as follows,.. am i better off to power the VFD and set the parameters without the spindle wired in or does it matter?

Doesn't matter it won't hurt the VFD if spindle isn't attached. I do this all the time.

Don't sweat over the earth on spindle. Just make sure you take the Shield back to the VFD Earth rather than the Cabinet Earth just to ensure you don't create any earth loops. Put an Earth wire from the machine frame to the cabinet Star Earth and you won't have any trouble.

Regards the Water Pump you can have the VFD switch it On/off using the Relay. If the Pump is 24v and doesn't draw to much current(<100ma) then you even use 24V on the VFD so it will power pump. This is how I wire.!

You'll need to set mach spindle output for M3 to which ever relay output you use.