Recently received my new 5.0 4x2 Shapeoko and am happy to say the least. I received the spindle and VFD about 5 days later. I’ve added it and wired up according to the instructions. Easily able to move the gantry around with Carbide Motion however the Spindle does not spin up. tried my first test project and the spindle never turned on.
Walked through the wiring all the way back. connected the dongle and re-verified all connections.
VFD is powered on, Red light is on but the screen does not light up. attempted the spindle warm up (6 min) but the spindle never turned on
Disconnected everything again after shutting down. re connected / add new machine to the system. still have the same issue. contacted shapeoko but its the holiday season and other than the auto response no answer.to date. Everything is connected through a power bar to avoid any power issues.
Is the “main” power switch in the on position on the VFD? This same indication was noted in another post with a red button illuminated yet no VFD display illuminated as you have pictured?
thanks for the suggestion, I’ve been under there a few times and yeah I’ve made sure the power button is on but nothing shows up on the screen and the spindle doesn’t turn on. Its quite frustrating as I’m up in Canada so the exchange bites but so did the duty to get it across the border.
hopefully Carbide chimes in soon with other options.
yeah tried that a few times. just had a thought and took another newer computer in case my older one running Win 10 is the issue but nope same problems as before. I cans send the spindle warmup and the count down starts but no spiral movement at all. a little frustrating but hopefully I’ll get a response from Carbide on my emails but nothing yet. it is the weekend though.
Its kind of confusing but there is a power button on the side of the unit where the power cord plugs in addition to the red button on the front. My front red button will illuminate even though the unit is unplugged from the outlet. Maybe check for voltage on the power cable or double check your outlet strip
Allyblak thanks for that. I have tried rewiring the entire system, and what you suggested. when I hit the front red led button it shuts off. I’ve tried it in both the on and off position (in case) but still no joy. I requested a call back and where I’m up north they are a quite a few hours behind so eventually they’ll get back to me (I hope)
Honestly starting to think the VFD is the issue and not the spindle however I’m no expert this is my second cnc system have been running a fox alien for a few years and love what I can do with it just doesn’t have the work surface I wanted not the accuracy of the ball screws. So even with the current exchange rate I jumped in with both feet.
I agree with you, you have validated the VFD is plugged in from a known power source and the main power switch is in the on position. Yet there is no visible LED display illuminated and it should be displaying something?
hey Redlander, I plug the VFD into a power bar (only 2 items on that circuit atm) and turn the mains switch on the button light on the front does not turn on. If I push the button again not plugged into the shapeoko controler no reaction again.
Plugged into the Shapeoko controller and the power pendant off nothing happens ( I think this is correct reaction)
Once I turn the power pendant active the and push on the front facing button it turns on and I can hear the fans turning inside the box and see lights through the fan shrouds. Now the VFD front light button will stay on regardless of me turning the VFD controller mains switch (beside pwr wire) on or off but if I push the VFD front button it will turn off
I think that’s all the combinations I have tried. I sent a video to Oscar at Carbide3d and have communicated with him a few times today just waiting on him to let me know the prognosis. I’ll probably copy paste this exchange so he knows what I’ve done as well.
thanks for the prompt reply. I do believe the small led display should display something but I have no experience with it.
I have the original 65mm VFD ER11. When I turn on the main power switch on the VFD it goes thru its boot up time (few seconds) and then the LCD displays characters and is flashing prior to me connecting it to CM. So I think the LCD display should be illuminating some characters, but your VFD looks different than mine so I suspect the newer ER16 version. I could be wrong?
Redlander thanks for the comment. I got a call from Carbide create and we walked through my issues and they asked me pretty much the same as everyone here I did get the question to open the faceplate and send some pictures. I noticed my version of VFD is different than most of the videos but after sending the pics I did what I normally do when waiting I wiggled the wires and found the main power switch wire had come off. I plugged it in and connected the VFD back into the system. The main screen now lights up and flashes with 00s until I go into motion and run the warm up. there is a bit of a difference between the speeds on the computer and the ones on the VFD controller but it is doing its thing. I’m going to try it out shortly.
@leezarts Just FYI. Have a look at the video on this page… at 6:07 Winston talks to the difference in spindle speed that is displayed vs what is programmed.
I’ll be honest I really was starting to question my decision to buy a larger CNC but now onto cutting. thanks for the responses everyone and the support.
