So I just received a 1.5KW Air Cooled spindle from ebay and on examination noticed it only has 3 pins on the connector that connects it to the inverter. This doesn’t seem normal. Is it safe if I just run a separate earthing cable or use the metal braided shielding of the 3-core cable it came with as an earth cable that can be attached to the spindle casing?
What do?
@B_NEGATIVE I know you have one of these, does yours have 3 or 4 pins? Also if you could post your inverter settings I would appreciate it, the manual I got is is written in ChEnglish…
The shielding from your braided cable needs to be in contact with the clamp on the plug end and attached to the earth point on the VFD.
The Inverter with flash ‘400’ over and over ,this is the Hz that the inverter will run at,dont go below 100ish Hz as it runs out of torque and gets VERY hot.
RPM can worked out by dividing the Hz by 0.0166666666667 or X Hz by 60.
If you took the time to remove the plug then replace it as its not really up to snuff,it carbonizes easily. Also worth doing is knocking up a cable support so the mechanical stress of the gantry moving around isnt focused on the plug.
I run it purely manual so any other settings I have will be stock
If you look at the picture with the top part of the spindle removed, the metal casing of the plug is not connected to anything inside the spindle. Should I electrically connect the metal casing of the spindle to the plug clamp and therefore the braiding and earth? I noticed in one of your videos you have an earth wire running down to the spindle clamp which I already have on my machine to electrically connect all the metal parts of the Shapeoko to earth so I guess this will earth the spindle by default!
I earthed everything pretty much,all the metal components are electrically connected to each other to a single point then a single wire run to an earth pin of a 3 pin plug (UK here). The spindle mount is in that loop too,added after several drops on contact with the stock.
I will take mine apart and have a look,im leery about adding earthing inside the spindle as ground loops will become a concern but without it the shielded cable isnt worth much…and that cable is the source of many woes.
Personally,I think just getting the PCB off the structure is the best way all round of dealing with the electrical weirdness all together. I will be doing a CAM box build very soon I think.
@B_NEGATIVE what have your experiences been with the 1.5kW spindle? I have one on order from UgraCNC for my forthcoming XL, but am concerned about its weight. Any issues? I’ve considered going with the 800w spindle instead.
I have had great success with it,its quiet (ish) and cuts really well,it will put you close to max gantry weight tho.
The main concern is the mount,I shimmed mine out but you can get chinese 65mm mounts easily enough.
The springs barely hold it up but mine are not the newer springs that you get now.
The only problems I have had are the earthing problems/signal noise issues (fixed with cap that is now on the new boards) and the X axis mount having too large a hole for the top set of V wheels causing it to drag (mail sent to Carbide3d,awaiting reply). The spindle hasnt caused me any issues,it doesnt bog and is more than capable of plunge cutting a 3mm 2 flute thru 5mm T6 and thru the waste board without a hitch…(dont ask…)
I think they add a bit to cut quality too Mark,the mass of the spindle makes deflection less likely/obvious.
Stick out is still stick out - where most of deflection occurs, spindle or not - but you’re right that increased mass and a real quality collet contribute… and reduce runout.
Spindles are hugely quieter… until you start using the power to hog… such a racket!
Machining magic seems to happen when spindles hit 400W, 800W (~1HP), and then on up. Things one can’t do before become trivial.
My 2 HP AC drive / VFD (Allen Bradley Powerflex 523) should arrive today and I will be running 220 for it. My gut says go big or go home, unless physically the Shapeoko can’t handle it. I’ll be doing a custom mount regardless, probably 3D printed until I can mill my own.
Got everything set up and nothing went bang which is always a good thing. When I try and run the spindle though I get the error message: “OC - o” which according to the manual is “stop state overcurrency” and according to the manual is caused by “component fail, interference”. Anyone know how to fix this?
Did you have the Hz set above 100 before starting? Check Pn02
EDIT:
Yeah, I have 7 different v/hz patterns, but I haven’t been able to find
what each does specifically. I can’t get the motor to run past 11hz and
changing the v/hz doesn’t seem to change much. Do I need to worry about
carrier frequency? There is a setting for “carrier mode” it was set to 2
phase pwm, I changed it to 3 phase pwm and it seemed to run better, but
still tripped and was drawing over 7A.
EDIT: used v/hz setting 7, and raised max frequency to 400hz, Got it to
run but trips due to too fast acceleration, even though it’s only
drawing 2.5A and I’m slowly raising the speed. The motor does draw about
6.5A untill it reaches 1000RPMs then it starts to drop. Trips at 30hz.
EDIT 2: OK got it working… the drive has a Mid Level Frequency
setting and it kept tripping at 30Hz, well that’s where the setting was
at, but it kept telling me OVERCURRENT IDIOT! So that’s why I was so
confused… Running great!
My operators manual looks exactly the same as the one you have posted apart from I have different defaults. I have all settings default and the numbr flashing on the panel when I try to turn the spindle on is 400.
Wiring diagram but ignoring earth pin, I have separate earth using cables braided shielding connected to the spindle casing and the case of the metal plug that connects to the spindle.
My 2 HP AC drive / VFD (Allen Bradley Powerflex 523) should arrive today and I will be running 220 for it. My gut says go big or go home, unless physically the Shapeoko can’t handle it. I’ll be doing a custom mount regardless, probably 3D printed until I can mill my own.
I can’t imagine a good, safe mounting done with a 3D printer using ABS or PLA. Certainly it will work for prototyping and testing but in production I would have serious concerns. There are some plastics that could probably do the job but a 3D printer that could do it would have to be found.
The SO3 was designed for a certain range of mass, torque and vibration from the spindle. @edwardrford or @WillAdams may be the only people who can properly answer the question.
The 220VAC is not really an issue. Most large machine spindles are 220VAC. A powerful spindle is a spindle that can do amazing things. It’s just a wiring issue.
@B_NEGATIVE I tried running the vfd witht he spindle disconnected and I still get the error “OC -o”. I measured the resistance across the pins of the spindle and they are about 4ohms ish… is this normal?
