I see above the recommendation to upgrade to the HDZ if looking to add a water cooled spindle to accommodate for the extra weight but the thread also talks about doing this to the Shapeoko 3. Just curious if extra measures would also be required to add such a spindle to the stock Shapeoko Pro XL/XXL as I’d likely also want to go down this route mainly to reduce the noise factor. If some extra measures would still be needed for the 2.2kw spindles would it also be the same scenario if looking at the 1.5kw spindles and even the 800w (G-Penny) as less kw also means lighter spindle?
I’ll let you browse through the many threads on spindle upgrades, but basically:
- the Z-plus should handle the weight of a 2.2kW spindle, but the HDZ is probably a more consistent choice if you really need to go big and don’t want to put too much strain on the Z-plus leadscrew.
- However, on a Shapeoko3 (non-Pro), a 2.2kW spindle is overkill for 99% of cutting scenarios (I’m guilty of overkill myself), and you will be better off installing a 800W or 1.5kW spindle. And then the weight is much less, and the Z-plus will take it like a champ. I think the same conclusion still applies to the Pro (that 1.5kW is plenty and you will never max out spindle power).
If I owned a Pro and wanted to upgrade now, I would most definitely pick a 1.5kW model.
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We would recommend you use a lighter spindle such as a 65mm 1.5kw spindle on a pro. As the ZPlus (pro Z axis) uses a lead screw I would think whilst it will lift the wright we would expect premature wear on the lead screw or lead nut. The Z plus will put out around 26kg of force, in contrast the HDZ will push out over 70kg at which point the motor skips. For most people 800w-1.5kw would be enough power…
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@Julien @Luke, thanks for your responses. I sent an email into the sales team asking if they had an ETA on the HDZ and/or 80mm mount being available which I understand it’s on the roadmap but no firm ETA at the moment. Ideally I’d be able to order a Shapeoko Pro (XL or XXL) with the upgraded HDZ/80mm mount paying the difference as I wouldn’t need the Z-Plus saving a bit on overall costs. I’d be willing to sit tight and wait a few months to place my order if I knew this would be an option. Alternatively I’ve been considering going down the route of getting a G-Penny 800W spindle as it appears to come with the 1.5kw vfd in the kit while keeping me in the 65mm mount size so would get me going now while providing an upgrade path later to a 1.5kw spindle using the same vfd if I felt more power was needed. Although this costs more and I’d have a 800W spindle and Z-plus to offload afterwards. As for the 1.5kw spindle kits that are water cooled appear to be much more rare compared to air cooled 1.5kw spindles in the 65mm sizes. A classic “Wants vs Needs” dilemma 
EDIT: but now I’m getting off topic… Sorry!!!
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It’s not a dilemna, the Wants will win, guaranteed 
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Has anyone even come close to using more than 500 Watts of output/cutting power on any (even massively upgraded - beyond PROs?) Shapeokos yet? 
I certainly haven’t.
Only upsides of the 2.2kW are the ER20 collet that lets me run 1/2" and 10 / 12mm shank cutters and have silly torque for things like carbide spot drills at low RPM.
I’m just going to post in here in case anyone has questions about my other post.
I’ve been running the machine hard for a good 6
Months now. Everyone else seems to freak out about some of my feed s and speed. But honestly I won’t know why.
@Luke, if I went ahead with this spindle mod with the ZPlus and the leadscrew eventually wore out would you say it’d be fairly trivial to swap out the lead screw assembly for a ball screw assembly. Also if swapping for a ball screw is an easy enough mod would you say at this point the ZPlus frame would be more than enough to support the heavier spindles. I’m assuming I’d be able to find a screw of the same length and the pillow block required to attach to the z-plate and moves up and down would fit in the gap/pocket.
Clearances would not allow it without some pretty significant changes to the design.
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Hey @Amaurymsa,
I used the settings that came from the supplier, which pretty much matched yours.
You should have had to set P07.08=3 at some stage to get the analog input to work, no?
The inconsistent speed is not caused by the incorrect selection of 0-5v or 0-10v not matching the c3d output. Rather, it is caused by the requirement for either a 0-5v or 0-10v analog input. PWM is an approximation of analog implemented with different width pulses (hence the name) to create an average voltage, but it is unsuitable for this type of VFD that basically wants a potentiometer.
Hi @Gerry ,
i did not changed the p07.08
only the one as mentionned above.
pwm command is working well for me
I’ve been thinking about this some more for those that have the Z-Plus (ie. stock Shapeoko Pro to be ordered) and instead of the idea of using springs has anyone explored using 2 gas springs, 1 per side connecting the plate mounted to the linear bearing/gantry and the other to the Z-plate that travels with the router/spindle.
We did actually look into this as an option. The issue is the size of the strut needed (actual length vs travel) means the Z carriage would have to be taller and have less travel. We also looked into constant force springs, but many have life cycles which don’t favour a carriage that moves up and down hundreds or possibly thousands of times in a hour.
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Hi @Amaurymsa!
I now also have the YL620 with 220V input. long story short, I have the same problem. Can’t get the SO3 to start and adjust spindle & rpm.
This last post of yours seems to include A LOT of info to get it running. Many thanks for that! 
But to me it seems something is missing. I read through this whole thread, which contains MANY posts with varying info. This makes it difficult to see all final correct changes (hardware & software) and SO3 and VFD settings.
Could I kindly ask you to include all changes and settings ? I realize it’s quite something to ask, but I’ll try nevertheless…
Many thanks in advance!
I added a YL620 (220V) after @Amaurymsa and did the following things:
- Bough this to convert PWM to the 0-10v Analog signal the VFD requires. This sort of converter is mandatory.
- Followed the suppliers settings. I have a G-Penny 2.2Kw spindle and applied these settings (from said supplier):
- Set P07.08=3 to disable the speed control potentiometer and get it to use the analog input
- In Carbide Motion, I checked the box to say I had external spindle control.
- Issued M3 S12000 and M5 commands in the MDI interface to test things. Note that the SPINDLE ON button in CM might not work since it might not send a big enough S parameter to trigger your spindle.
Let me know if you need more info!
SO3 is community-speak for ShapeOko 3
@Lrz, the parameters i mentionned are used to control by the 0-10V issued by your controller the speed of your spindle. you’ll not be able to choose the speed directly on the VFD but by sending SW commands.
tell me what you’re looking for…