So I just purchased a watercooled spindle just the 65mm diameter 1.5KW, hoping this will fit with Makita shim on the shapeoko nicely. Mainly want more variation in RPM in the low end and being able to cut later into the evening without making too much of a racket.
My question is about the cabling from VFD to spindle. I know it has to be 3 Core+Earth with shielding.
I have searched around for specific “VFD” cable internationally and only seem to be able to find 100 foot rolls easily which is a bit too long.
I can find some cable locally listed as VSD cable. I know there is a difference between VSD and VFD inverters mainly being VFD is AC and VSD being either AC/DC, I thought the main difference is one varies voltage and the other changes the frequency to change spindle/motor speeds.
My question : Is VSD cable appropriate if it is of a decent grade? and is this just a nomenclature thing of my country (New Zealand)
Product listed as:
TRI CABLE FLEX 1.5MM 3C+E VSD 0.6/1KV 110DEG TINNED BLACK
I found another one listed as 4 core screened which I think is a slightly higher grade again. Wasn’t gonna run the VFD cable in the drag chain anyway so hopefully that will help negate interference with distance and shielding… Was going to do a secondary set of services anchored to a bungee (water tubes, VFD cable and dust extraction)
You just need a four conductor cable. Anything 16ga or greater (bigger) will be absolutely fine. A four-wire hunk of extension cord would work just fine. Not sure if you’ve got the equiv of a home depot or lowes down in NZ, but you should be able to get something off the reel at a hardware store. Worst case you can just use a pair of lamp cords (2+2) and tape them together
I thought the EMI produced by the VFD cable due to the frequencies was very disruptive to the stepper motors and mainboard.
The gauge should be right as 1.5mm is slightly larger diameter than 15ga wire.
Spindle is still about 2 weeks away in freight so still got a bit of time to source something locally, waiting on a few replies to email sent out to suppliers.
How much of a concern EMI is to and from a VFD is a really big question. Keep everything well grounded, throw a ferrite ring on the VFD output and see if you’ve got problems. If you do, you could isolate the Spindle supply wires with some shielding sleeve like http://a.co/4tI0S1a and/or keep the wires out of your raceway.
I’ve got a 1.5kW spindle on the way as well. When it gets here I’m going to do a write up similar to Luke’s on setting it up, so I’ll test interference at that point too.
Sounds good I will keep and eye out for your work. I was looking into some metal braided sleeving as an idea too . Will see how things goes. If I am getting EMI from the VFD what symptoms would I see? (missing steps, controller disconnects etc?)
Most folks see controller disconnects or resets. One of the tricky things about EMI is that unless you’ve got a scope hooked up at the time of disconnect or reset to see the spike, it’s very hard to confirm. Most folks have a problem and when they isolate the cables or fix their grounds, the problem goes away so it’s put down to EMI.
Follow up here: I just got my spindle and despite having a four-pin connector, when opened, one pin is not connected to ANYTHING. Three conductors should be fine, Dan.
Yeah that’s correct on some spindle models the final pin is to be attached to the spindle chassie acting as earth, some are connected inside from some pictures I have seen. The other three consist of the 3 phase wires.
I got an email from my spindle supplier with a wiring diagram and video guide. I will have a look through and put that up here when I get home.
I went and replaced one of the m3 screws holding the four pins on the spindle with a longer one and a locking nut with star washer.
Soldered a small piece of wire on the fourth pin inside with an eyelet on the other end and attached that to the m3 bolt.
I’m a big believer in using a shielded cable (properly of course) but I guess plenty have done without so…
Here is some of the information in my email, this is for a Huanyang original inverter:
If you don’t know how to make the proper electrical connections, the following will help you:
Connect “R” and “T” (at the inverter) to the single phase power supply. You could also connect “R” and “S” or “S” and “T”. Both ways are ok.
If you use it with three phase input, then connect the three phase power supply to “R, S T”, and then connect the "U, V, W " to the motor 1, 2, 3(U to 1, V to 2, W to 3). Number 4 is for earth. You can either connect earth or not. Usually, we don’t connect earth
If you use this VFD for this spindle motor 0-400HZ , Please set the parameters of the VFD as our following suggestion step by step, and don’t change the sequence:
Step 1: Set PD005 =400
Step 2: Set PD004 =400
Step 3: Set PD003 =400
Step 4: Set PD072 =400
PD144=3000
As the orginal factory value setting is for a normal 50HZ motor, so please change the the above parameters according to your motor. If there have any other questions please feel free to contact with us.
And the inverter need connect with the motor directly, cannot connect breaker or switch between the inverter and motor.
So the VFD has to go to a 220v 15amp circuit correct? This requires a special plug akin to a dryer? Please excuse my ignorance. I am frequently in over my head.
I didn’t need to as my wall outlets are rated for up to a constant 2.5kw draw. The vfd I am using is 1.5kw so no problems there. At 220v I would have thought you should be able to power standard devices up to 2.5kw. I only need special power connections for excess of that.
Good to know. I have an electrician coming anyway because I need more than just the one outlet in my garage I just moved into so I will be sure to get that done right
In the USA it’s unusual to have one of these in a useful place in your house (unless your previous owner was pretty cool…) Most houses have exactly two, one for an oven and often they’ll put one in for a dryer. I would suggest that if you’re having one put in, you go with a 40-50A “dryer” 220V socket, and a 220V-20/25A next to it. You can then use the high current one later for a decent welder if you choose to do so, and the majority of the cost is in the labor of getting the thing put in, not the materials (mostly- copper is getting expensive…). A 20A circuit isn’t enough to support a (good) welder. But the dyer plug is really inconvenient for anything -but- a welder. Can’t have too much power in a garage…
I wholly agree!!! I put in 7 double gang (4 outlets each), plus two switched single gangs (4 more outlets total), on 4 20Amp circuits for a total of 30 places to plug stuff in!!! Also agree, copper is not cheap, even the 20 amp 12 gauge single strand I ran was a big part of the cost. Lucky for me I’m just electrically smart enough to cut power to the house before I work, so the “labor” costs was just my time and energy,…no death involved . Haven’t run any 220V yet as I haven’t had a need, although I am just hitting the limit with a 2hp dust collector at 17Amps and thought I was going to have to go 220V to get anything that big.
If you don’t mind the “industrial” look then surface mounted wiring in steel conduit is really easy to run and gives you some options if you ever decide to expand beyond what you “thought” you might need. I did my own and it wasn’t really hard at all, the scariest part for me was going into the breaker box (which is probably the easiest part, but most dangerous). If you wire from the furthest outlet from the box there’s nothing connected to cause any injury until you finish out at the box. I have no clue what an electrician would have cost me, but I know it would have been a lot more than what I paid for materials.
Wow, really good info. The best part is the breaker box is on the same wall in the garage that I want this outlet or outlets to be installed so that shouldn’t be hard at all. The original plan was to have it in steel conduit as well. Welding is in my plans for future upgrades as well so this is perfect.
. Haven’t run any 220V yet as I haven’t had a need, although I am just hitting the limit with a 2hp dust collector at 17Amps and thought I was going to have to go 220V to get anything that big.