I live in the UK and have just purchased a Shapeoko 5.1 pro with an 80mm VFD spindle. The supplied power cable for the router doesn’t work in the UK. The VFD comes with a IEC connection, that bit is fine. The typical power leads ‘kettle leads’ in the UK are 13amp IEC to UK connection BUT with a 1.0mm squared core gauge. I’ve seen that a 1.5mm core is recommended. (The 1.0mm core leads although have 13amp fuses are rated for 10amp appliances). My question is, will a 13amp fused lead with a 1.0mm core be sufficient to run the spindle? I don’t know what else to do?
Someone may have an answer here but I highly suggest getting this specific advice from support support@carbide3d.com
Also, welcome to the community. Lots of help to be had here on most anything, in this case however I am just sharing how I would get support with this specific issue.
Where are you seeing the recommendation for a 1.5mm core?
As noted at:
The machine itself draws about 2-3 amps at most, so you can plug it into a standard outlet.
I am actually using my SO5 Pro using a cord which I salvaged from a defunct water kettle since it is a suitably short length (though annoyingly white) since it is my understanding that the differentiation between C13 and C15 is that the latter are rated for high temperature and have a notch to admit them on the matching connector, but the electrical ratings are the same (at least in the U.S., only familiar w/ places which have 110V, but usually 'cause of the amperage and so forth considerations, that’s more of a safety concern, the U.S. having electrified when copper was less expensive).
Thanks for the response, yeh the actual machine itself and the water cooler will be fine with a standard kettle lead. My concern is for the 80mm VFD spindle only as chat gpd stated a 1.5mm core thickness is recommended from people on a forum ‘somewhere’. Most UK IEC power cables are rated 10a and the spindle can occasionally reach near 13a? So it was recommended 1.5mm core as it’s rated upto 15amps?
When you ask ChatGPT these things, you can (and should) generally always ask for a source. Especially if it’s going to drive you to look for a very specific/uncommon thing. You might well be wasting your time.
Disclaimer, I’m not an electrician but looking at it from a basic principles perspective, the 80mm VFD is rated for 2.2 kW and almost never uses that full power. Rarely even half of that. 2.2 kW = 10A on a 220V circuit. If something were to go catastrophically wrong and more current is requested, the VFD unit has a fuse, and you said the cable has a fuse. So I don’t really see the issue.
In addition to Winston’s point, in the UK the grid runs closer to 230-240v, so technically, the max draw is going to be closer to 9.2 amps. I have a 10a fuse fitted and I don’t think I’ve tripped it in my time.
I don’t expect you to ever come to full power draw of 10 amps. Under normal use, the VFD draw is very low, IIR around 3amps.