Sorry if I lost track, but now that you have it running ok in manual control mode, did you change the P00.01 setting back so that the VFD picks up the external PWM signal instead of relying on the VFD user dial?
Yes I changed it back. P07.08 too…
also, would tapping the grounding to the spindle’s aluminum casing work?
Do you have GRBL’s $30 parameter set to 24000 ? (or whatever the max rated RPM of your spindle is?)
When you said:
Did you actually measure the voltage on the PWM signal after sending e.g. M3S12000 ? you should read 2.5V between GND and PWM then.
If so, and if it still does not spin, I think your best bet is that you and @snaterst compare your wiring and all your P settings on the VFD, to track down where the configuration issue is.
For grounding the spindle body, some people do it by removing the back of the spindle and screwing it somewhere on the aluminium body there, and apparently these guys tapped the body on the outside:
maybe search the internet for ways people have done it for your specific spindle model ? If you are going to drill & tap the casing, obviously make sure you do it shallow enough that you don’t go all the way through…I don’t know how thick this casing is.
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Agree with @Julien - and make sure that you measure the voltage on the terminals on the VFD when you send the command in the console. Once you have confirmed that you have a PWM signal going from your CM board (as Julien mention you should measure 2.5V on the terminals with M3S12000 [if your $30 and $31 is 24000 and 0 respectively]).
If that doesn`t help then I would suggest that you go to P00.13 and set this value to 10. That will reset the settings on the VFD. Once you have done this you can change this back to 0. Then enter the settings I listed above and give it another shot.
I`ll head down to my workshop later today and double check wiring/settings on the VFD.
Thanks
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Hi @Julien Thank you for the great instructions you laid down here! It really helped me to get up and running .
So i have the Huyang 2.2Kw water cooled spindle the one thing i haven’t set it the 400hz and you recommend doing that? Also if i use vectric aspire and/or carbide create will the Gcode set the spindle speed automatically during a job?
Apologies in advance for the super noob questions!
Hi @jedi,
What VFD do you have ? You mentioned the Huanyang spindle, but the VFD is not necessarily the same brand and it’s important to know the model to provide accurate answers as to which parameter to adjust.
If you have a Huanyang VFD, I made a list of all the parameters I used in this thread
You will see that in my case I did set things to 400Hz where applicable (e.g. PD072), which specific parameter are your referring to ?
Double-check whether your spindle is actually a 400Hz model, it should be etched on the body or written in the description where you bought it. It is very probably the case.
About your last question: whatever CAD tool you are using, they all generate the “M3” commands that will automatically set the spindle speed during the job, nothing special to do.
The only (optional) modification I did in the G-code generation process was adding a small delay after the M3 commands, such that the spindle has time to accelerate to the selected RPM before moving to cut anything. I did that by adding the “G4 P5.0” line below in Vectric’s post processor file:
+---------------------------------------------------
+ Commands output at the start of the file
+---------------------------------------------------
begin HEADER
"G17"
"G21"
"G90"
"G0[ZH]"
"M0"
"G0[XH][YH][S]M3"
"G4 P5.0"Thank you so much @Julien the only thing i had wrong after going over your settings was that it was spinning in the wrong direction. Swapped the U and W terminals and worked then.
Now it seems i have the wrong collet for 1/4 shank. it came with 2 and neither clamps .25" shanks. any suggestions on that front?
You can order full sets of ER20 collets of various inner diameter for cheap, but it may take a while to arrive 
Didn’t your spindle come with more ER20 collets than those two? I’m afraid you need one of the right size, there is no workaround…
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Ok I’ve read just about all of the posts here from @Julien and @Luke and all the others. I was able to get everything set up and running using the settings found in this post but I have some issues with speeds…maybe. So at no point do my speeds on the screen match the speed I ask it to go. And I read some place that adjusting $31 from 0 up some degree could bring things closer to matching. Well that didn’t work for me. Below is a sampling of what is going on. Anyone have a suggestion on what is going on or what I need to change?
$31=0
M3 S6000 = 7685
M3 S18000 = 2234
$31=1720
M3 S6000 = 6046 on screen
M3 S18000 = 21726
$31=9000
M3 S6000 = 432
M3 S18000 = 18026
Thanks!
Mike
***Edit: I have a Huanyang VFD model HY02D223B
If you can give me a few more speeds at $31=0 I could calculate it easier. Say at 12k & 20k RPM
Did a couple of simultaneous equations and it looks like $31=2514 but I need more to hone in on it
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Thanks! So at 12k it is showing 15091 and 20k it’s showing 24768
Confirm the $31 for those tests?
Can you run a few speeds with $31=2514
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Run 2 test to hone it on it. Use speeds of 10K and 20K for each test
1: $30=30182; $31=0
2: $30=30182; $31=2514
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1: $30=30182; $31=0
10k showed 10051
20k showed 19728
2: $30=30182; $31=2514
10k showed 8294
20k showed 18835
Option one seems like its right on the money…why? And will having my max speed at 30182 and not 24000 cause any problems?
Try these which may be closer; not sure why it’s happening - this is a pure math fix LOL
$31=374
$30=29207
I’ve not simultaneous equations in 15 years LOL; it shows
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I thought a bit what might be wrong and I’d recheck the multiple VFD parameters for Frequency (400hz) and also the Minimum & maximum RPM for your spindle. Something out of whack there could be doing this
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So with your last numbers I got 10166 at 10k and 20361 at 20k. And I will definitly check over everything…tomorrow. Thanks you so much for the help, I’ll let you know if anything is off and what happens after I change things, if I change anything, in the morning.
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@mrnevitt, looks like @wb9tpg sorted it out, but I would be interested to know what your PD072 through PD076, PD070, and PD144 values are on the VFD, to try and make sense of why you have to tune $30 and $31 that way to get correct RPMs.
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So problem solved…for the most part. @Julien here are the values for everything:
PD070 = 1
PD072 = 400
PD073 = 0
PD074 = 0
PD075 = 0
PD076 = 0
PD144 = 3600 (here was the problem. Set to 3600 because I thought that was appropriate for power here in the US…60hz vs 50hz. Another setting I read some place on the forum. I adjusted it back to 3000 per the settings above and ran some more tests).
With PD144 set to 3000 I got:
10K showed 10512
12K showed 12578
20K showed 20640
I’d say that’s pretty darn close.
Thank you both for the help. I thought I was going crazy there for a second, well I could be since I haven’t left the house in a looooonnng time but at least I know it’s not because of my VFD!.
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