I’m starting to get to the point in my CNC journey where I’m looking to upgrade my capabilities (I have a Shapeoko 4 XL). I’ve been using the 65mm VFD and have generally liked the boost in performance.
As I start to evaluate other machines, I’m evaluating what new purchases I need to make. Possibly OneFinity, possibly SienciLabs…regardless of what future machine I choose, will I be able to use the 65mm Shapeoko VFD with other machines? If not, is this a software limitation, hardware limitation, both?
Many OEM manufacturers of equipment that use VFD controllers “Lock” them down to avoid customers changing parameters of the VFD.
The reason is if you buy an “Unlocked” VFD there are hundreds of settings possible. The problem for an OEM is the variations customers can change things for a machine with a particular purpose.
I have a Jet 1642 Lathe with a Delta VFD. Jet locks these down so if you dont have the password you cannot change the VFD performance parameters. The password for these locked down VFD is now common knowledge on the internet but Jet will not give you the password. So if your OEM VFD goes bad you can replace it with a replacement OEM that is already set up or buy an unlocked one and wade through the vast space of setting up a VFD from scratch. Luckily for me I have a friend that has a script he can run to setup a new specific model VFD to operate my Jet but not everyone has a friend like that. So you had better have the knowledge to set up an unlocked VFD from scratch or you can brick your new VFD.
You should go and download a users manual for a VFD and see the pages and pages of parameters that are available. It will make your head spin and setting up the wrong parameters can damage the VFD or the equpment it is unning. That is why an OEM locks it down.
It just means that you cannot change the internal settings of the VFD. We did A LOT of testing and we’ve got the parameters setup to make it as reliable as possible with a “normal” VFD spindle. Any change to the parameters is likely to make it less reliable and make us less able to offer good support and a good warranty.
There is nothing in the settings that ties the VFD to a Carbide machine.
It’s less about me wanting to monkey with the actual settings (presumably, if I knew how to do that, I wouldn’t be asking here ). It’s really just a matter of understanding compatibility between machines.
Of course, I could also buy a bigger Shapeoko and not worry about it either
). It’s really just a matter of understanding compatibility between machines.