John,

On my VFD the panel buttons are locked when remote operation is selected. I remember that in order to switch between remote and panel operation, I have to reprogram. I would expect the OEM to have done this on your lathe for accidental startup. I think you will need to study the manual to allow panel operation. It is not too difficult to check if the knobs on your machine are working. Typically, there is a connector where low voltage signals (I believe mine are 32VDC) are present for this purpose. You may be able to trace the cabling from the knob to the terminal on the VFD. Polarity wise there are multiple possibilities, but you should see hi voltage (~32VDC) to low?voltage toggle (or vice versa) on the terminal as the machine knob is turned on/off.