Has anyone else run a JTech laser alongside the Carbide 65mm spindle? I’ve been using a JTech laser on my S3XXL for over a year without any issues. Recently, I upgraded to Carbide3D’s 65mm spindle, but after installation, I ran into an unexpected problem: the spindle won’t spin higher than 12,000 RPM. Any input above that causes it to behave erratically—for example, at 13,000 RPM input, it drops to 7,000 RPM, and at 15,000 RPM input, it stops completely while the VFD starts clicking.
I reached out to Carbide3D support, and they suggested that my JTech laser setup might be interfering with the PWM signal, even though the laser and spindle have never been on simultaneously. They first recommended disconnecting the laser module and re-running the machine setup, but the issue persisted. Their current assessment is that the laser module may have damaged the PWM circuit on the board, as both the spindle and laser PWM signals are routed to the same terminal.
To troubleshoot further, they’ve suggested replacing the motion control board. If that resolves the issue, great—if not, they’re willing to refund the board purchase, which seems like a reasonable approach. I also checked with JTech, and while they haven’t encountered this issue before, they acknowledge that the C3D board is outside their scope of testing.
My laser continues to function normally even after installing the spindle, which suggests the PWM signal is still outputting correctly. I’m wondering if anyone else using a similar setup has encountered this. Did you need to install a switch to toggle between the PWM inputs for the JTech controller and the spindle? Do you manually disconnect the laser module when switching between CNC and laser operations? Any insight would be appreciated!
As a heads up, I dont have any experience with a laser setup on my 3XL but I do have a C3D 65mm spindle. It took me 3 tries to get one that worked correctly. The first one turned backwards. The 2nd one did not spin. The 3rd one worked, and still does, like a charm. I bought it right after they came out with the kit so I figured it was just growing pains with a new product. They had zero issue taking care of it though.
There are many people on this forum that use JTech lasers, and I’ve never heard of a JTech damaging a Shapeoko control board. This is a red-herring, in my humble opinion. The control board still drives your laser correctly. And when you re-ran the machine setup, you overrode and reset any macros you might have stored from Lightburn (which I assume you use to drive your laser).
Did your spindle ever work correctly when you installed it? Or did it do that goofy speed thing right out of the box? If it was cuckoo right out of the box, I think your spindle is the culprit here, not the control board.
I followed the instructions to a tee. I think I have a bad VFD. Just sucks that I know have to wait to swap this part out before we actually troubleshoot the VFD. Im going to be two weeks behind at this rate