New here, new to CNC. I just picked up a new to me 3 XXL and, because it’s the kind of thing I do, I’m already looking at upgrades. lol. FWIW, I’m not planning on doing it tomorrow, it rather will be learning how to operate the machine effectively, and will be a slow process. Also will be moving from the linear rail zplus to an hdz.
All that said, I have a Teco FM50 VFD that I had used to run a 3hp, 3ph motor on 220 single phase on my table saw until I swapped it out for a single phase motor. And I was curious if that one was going to have what is needed from a wiring and control perspective to run a spindle for this machine?
These are the basics:
FM50 Features
115V, 50/60Hz, 1-Phase from 1/4 - 1HP
230V, 50/60Hz, 1-Phase from 1/4 - 3HP
230V, 50/60Hz, 3-Phase from 1/2 - 3HP
460V, 50/60Hz, 3-Phase from 1 - 3HP
Low Cost
Space Saving Design
NEMA 4X Option for Harsh Environments
UL, cUL, and CE Approved
And attached is the wiring diagram that gives some individual of speed control, direction, etc.
Depends on how you want to control it. If you want to just use the knob and start/stop buttons on the VFD for control then yes you can use it. If you want the ability to have the spindle automatically start/stop and adjust speed then you would need to add additional electronics to get it working. Looking through the manual it seems that the VFD is expecting a 0-10V signal when SW1=1 and F_11=1 where your Shapeoko will send a 0-5V signal. Some VFD’s allow the user to adjust the expected range but this one does not look to have that ability. You would also need to add additional electronics to trigger the FWD pin when MVI is above a certain voltage threshold.
Make sure you are using a spindle that has a maximum frequency of less than or equal to 200Hz as that is the max frequency of this VFD. Most of the cheap Chinese spindles that are used on a Shapeoko or similar router are 400Hz.
I would like to control start, stop, and RPM from the controller, so I end up using this one, I’ll need to look into adjusting for that voltage. Is the voltage thing as simple as a boost converter inline? Or do I run the risk of like lowered resolution? I suppose I could drop a microcontroller inline and map one v to another.
As for the frequency…I am struggling to remember how that comes into play with the motors. presumably that’s the PWM frequency? Would I be sacrificing…I dunno…like low RPM torque if I were limited to a 200hz motor compared to 400?
I’m pretty sure I bought this VFD in like 2011, so its getting up there in age. Wouldn’t be unreasonable to replace, just figured it might be worth considering. Thanks, though, you have definitely given me some of the basics to look at!
It is as simple as two NPN transistors and three resistors. You could probably grab the +10V from the VFD but your manual does not state how much current can be drawn. I would reach out to the manufacturers to verify. The circuit below should pull about 20mA max from the power source and would boost the 5V PWM signal to 10V.
You would sacrifice the top RPM of your spindle and thus the max torque your spindle could provide. Say you were to use a 24k RPM 400Hz spindle, you would only be able to run it at 12k RPM which has reduced torque compared to running at 24k RPM. You would be better off running a 12K 200Hz spindle if you want to use this VFD.
Oh, sure, that makes sense. Now, I realize that this isn’t electronics support, but since I have them on hand, if I’m starting with a 10v source and a 5v PWM signal anyway, is there any reason I couldn’t use an optocoupler to emulate the PWM signal on the higher voltage side? Probably only asking theoretically, because I don’t think I will try to use this VFD. I don’t want to limit my options as to spindle availability just to save a few bucks. What usually happens when i do that is I end up having to spend twice as much later. lol
Can you expand on this? What is the issue? I ordered a 5 Pro on Black Friday and intend to use the PWM signal. I have not heard anything about problems with it.
The SO5’s PWM signal from the spindle port does not work nice with VFD’s without additional signal conditioning. You can still get an unaltered PWM signal from the MOSI port on the board.
