Honestly I’m getting to the point where I believe I should have gone with a different machine/mfg. I’m frustrated with the long lags in support, reading the same issues over and over digging through video after video to attempt to put this convoluted machine together.
I’m pretty close to charging it back and shipping it to their front door with a note to assemble it yourself, QC it, make sure it works and THEN ship it back to me with an invoice. This is a bunch of BS.
I bought the freaking VFD Spindle with the Shapeko 5 Pro 4x4. There are ZERO FACTORY INSTRUCTIONS FOR THIS WORTHLESS PILE OF METAL. None. There is NOTHING that shows a new install on a new machine.
The big black controller has an empty spindle socket. The big beige controller has a wire sticking out of it with no where to go.
What connects the black controller box to the white controller box? What is the front cover the instructions say to remove? Which freaking controller? White or black? Where is a wiring diagram which shows EVERY FNG CONNECTION?
Anyone out there with a VFD that can walk me through this?
there should be instructions for the machine itself:
Note that the connectors are keyed so that it should just be a matter of connecting matching pairs of connectors at each given area of the machine which has connectors to be made up — if you have difficulty, let us know at support@carbide3d.com
Since you appear to be with support did you bother to read what I wrote? Wtf am I supposed to do with wire you snapped a pic of. None of this is in either manual you have shoved at me twice.
The “Spindle Adapter Cable” is just that — it plugs into one end of the cable for the VFD (or BitRunner) and allows it to then connect between the Spindle/BitRunner connector on the controller and the Spindle connector on the controller.
Ok now I need to locate this adapter cable. Great. The instructions you sent say to remove the front cover from the controller. Which controller? How? Why? And with what?
The adapter cable should have been included with your machine — if it wasn’t or you lost it, let us know at support and we’ll work out how to handle this.
It should not be necessary to open the enclosures for an SO5 Pro or VFD — if you believe this is necessary, check in at support.
Here’s a screenshot from the PDF you sent. Read it please and tell me what it means to you. The first item a) instructions say… Remove the cover. This is why I’m so confused. Watch a video about it and there is zero instruction on the installation part about any of this. Read the manual and then it tells you to do something that support says isn’t necessary. And hilariously neither the PDF or the vid mentions the connection between the VFD controller and the main black one.
It means that that version of the documentation was done before the Shapeoko 5 Pro was released, and that for the SO5 Pro one is supposed to heed the notes on the controller and in the documentation that it is not necessary to open the controller.
If you have trouble connecting your Spindle/VFD cable/adapter cable to the SO5 Pro controller let us know at support and we will do our best to assist.
Ok Will. Good news and bad news. The good news is you provided the missing link. Once I located that adapter, I was able to initialize the machine through Carbide Motion. I didn’t know that bitsetter had to be enabled during the initial set up and I missed it until the machine zeroed to the back insted of on the bitsetter. So I reset the config on the machine, and tuned it in. Appears everything is good to go now.
Look I’m the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) of Day One Development. We own A1 Residential Builders, Day One Capital, WeAreAppointments, AskAdvisorPro. The amount of infrastructure we’ve put behind this CNC project is insane.
I’ve got a “Build Your Own” style Trim Tool with more than 50 completed designs, modeled, and output to GCode, ready for production. We lined up a rough cut wood supplier directly from the poles. We created tech which interfaces with Motion so that we can push code from a customer’s order straight into motion. A project management system was created to handle communication between production and the clients. Our focus is national. We are going to do things with this machine that extend FAR beyond the normal signs etc that the community typically puts out.
I appreciate both you and support following up on an Easter Sunday. But the one thing I would request you guys take a look at is your new customer processes. You have decent rails laid. You certainly go over and beyond on a holiday weekend. But all of this should NOT be necessary.
If I were your CTO, then my top priority would the immediate review all of installation guides. They all need to be brought up to date. Anything missing? Fill in the blanks. I’m not going to assume anything when I’m in the middle of a new environment. If it’s not there, then it’s missing. And if it’s missing and I can’t find it? Then I hate to see what others are going through.
Now that this thing is ready to go, I’m looking for the file that planes my work surface area. As soon as I run that, I’m headed home and we can pick this up tomorrow with our first sample runs.
Thanks again for your help. Soz you had to deal with my extreme frustration and heat.
Greetings, I am a recent customer as well and I was not happy with some of the build quality namely on the wiring. I had a damaged sensor wire that went to HDF and the one they sent was damaged on the exact same wire color in the exact same location so I had a spare one that I utilized. This should have been caught before it left the door. I had a bad controller box, I got the wrong sweepy for the spindle. Of all this I worked in micro circuits and wiring so I know what I am looking for/at. I am also not a fan of the grounding sire that connects to the right Y cover, that should have been shrink wrapped to keep it from fraying out. There was so enough quality control missing here that I feel the need to express it. The user guide can be redone, I should have gotten one for the spindle which also I did not receive a collet for it so I am just using it as a big draw machine for now.
However, I want to say the machine is very well built and the customer support has been fantastic. The person who helped me yesterday was very helpful and we got the ball rolling.
Problems I noticed:
Wiring kinked and frayed at some points
Controller box was not working
user guides lacking
Spindle parts missing
User guide for normal operation and setup of the spindle its self missing or lacking
Motor name plate on the HDF was rubbed out (Like it was a used part)
paint not 100% completed next to the Y rail (This might seem tiny and over-look-able but with other issues this just stacks up)
Gantry led light not sticking, (I had to get more double sided sick tape to fix this)
Those were just some of the issues. Interesting enough this is still a well built machine as you also mentioned as well. I also am happy with the customer support.
The missing Collette → check the styro that the spindle was packed in. There are two holes about 1/2 dia. They are white, easy to miss. There are two in there. I was missing the larger of the 2 and found it.
10/4 on the rest of it. Same deal with my led strip on the gantry, frayed ground, no manual with the vfd and the one they distribute by their own admission isnt relative to the SP5. The connection between the VFD and the controller? Dare you to find that anywhere online.
That being said… once all the connections were made, zero issues (that i didnt cause lol). The machine is zerod on the bitsetter. Testing some of our gcode in the morning.
ROFLMAO! Are you serious? Laguna actually comes and sets their machines up! OMG seriously. Did you NOT pay attention to the thread? You’ve set up a VFD Spindle with their instructions?! On a 4x4 SP5?! Yeah I’ll call BS. Try again big shooter.
I can’t say I had any issues with mine. Shapeoko 5 Pro 4x4 with machine installed in March 2023, VFD spindle added March 2024. When I went to plug the Spindle control cable into the controller I noticed it wouldn’t plug-in to the connector labeled Spindle and then remembered seeing an adapter cable when the machine was first built. Had to pull out the box of spares that came with the machine originally.
Only issue I have with it was the cable lengths aren’t long enough for the 4x4 machine to really put the VFD enable button in a convenient place. The VFD is currently mounted on the back wall of my garage above the Shapeoko Pro 5 so I can get to the VFD Spindle enable/disable button. I have some parts on order to relocate the button next to my E-Stop button and then the VFD will mount underneath the machine with the controller.
Then again, after building (6) 3D printers from parts from 2016 till now, putting the Shapeoko Pro 5 together was just heavier. And it probably doesn’t hurt that I am an Industrial Controls engineer, so VFDs are nothing new.
