Like I’ve said in another post, I have my own shapeoko 3 XL that I bought in 2019. Using it is pretty much second nature now and I love it.
My machine uses the carbide3D compact router, so there are times if I need to do a certain random thing, I can just turn on the router and jog it around, either in carbide motion or with the tethered controller i bought on Etsy, and make certain kinds of cuts. Very handy to do some things this way.
I’m helping my friend learn his new 5Pro, and I wanted to show him how I surface smaller projects manually by simply jogging the machine around (for smaller pieces this can be much quicker than creating a project in carbide create, creating a toolpath, saving, zeroing the machine, blah blah blah). l
Anyway, I went to do this on his 5Pro and realized his spindle (not router) doesn’t have a manual power on button…or at least not one that I can see. The spindle automatically turns on when we run a project and automatically stops when the project is done, but I want to be able to just turn the spindle on myself. There must be a way to do this?
In one of my other posts, I was talking about a problem I was having and I came across this video during troubleshooting:
In that video he types in a command that starts the spindle. It’s a hassle but I figured I’d try that method and even though the spindle started, i tried to jog it with the tethered controller and it stopped after a few seconds. So i don’t think that will work.
So, can I start and stop the spindle myself? Or will this thing only run when running a project file?
To recap my original post, which you must not have read, I know to use the MDI area to make the spindle run. The problem with that (aside from being a hassle) is that it seemed to stop after a few seconds.
And the reason I would want to move the machine manually with the spindle running is because (again, you must not have ready the original post) it’s just faster to do a quick basic surfacing of a smaller piece of material by manually jogging the surfacing bit (in “fast” mode in carbide motion) over the material, as opposed to creating a file, creating a surfacing toolpath, zeroing out the machine, and then running the surfacing toolpath.
Also in the past I’ve had instances where I wanted to do something like make a simple line or a groove on an existing piece of material and drawing up a graphic and creating a toolpath was just a waste of time. so being able to manually jog the machine with the router running was really helpful.
I don’t believe Carbide Motion with the spindle is designed to allow for a ‘manual run/jog’ operation. The only reason it works with the compact router is due to the manual on/off of the router. You would need to move to a different G-code sender to facilitate an operational manual mode on the SPRO5. But that may present issues as well due to the limits of the controllers firmware.
You may have to make a breakout box that has an “Automatic / Manual” toggle switch, then a “Spindle On / Off” switch and speed control pot. Not difficult in theory, but you have to make sure that you either pull power from the VFD or CM board, or ensure that the external power supply for it is grounded to the VFD and CM board so you don’t damage anything.
