Chinese Spindle Experiences

[analogman]

A few questions were asked of me about my Chinese spindle, I purchased from Love happy shopping on ebay. Thought I would start another general thread.

Mine is water cooled, I use coolant suitable for metal and aluminum in the lines. I have a small off board radiator, pump and fans, it runs very cool.

Shipping was via EMS then through Canada Post, trackable. Took about a week from China.

It is VERY quiet compared to a router. I was cutting some MDF at 15000RPM with a 3/16 bit at 0.1 DOC. It was not loud at all, I could talk over it. With a router I would have to wear headgear. With this, I might wear head gear if doing really deep cuts.

The english manual posted on one of the other threads (there are two copies) is more than adequate to set up the VFD.

I am very impressed with this spindle. The total cost of ownership includes:
- pump, radiator and lines
- set of R20 collets
- some cabling
- 220V wiring, plus relay for EPO

Here are my parameters:
NOTE: you must set PD005 max frequency before trying to set PD003 or PD011.

PD001 Source of run commands 0 Use front panel
PD002 Source of freq control 0 Use front panel
PD003 Main Frequency 400Hz
PD004 Base frequency 400Hz Set to freq rating of motor
PD005 Max operating frequency 400Hz
PD006 Intermediate Frequency 3 For a 60Hz line?!?!
PD008 Max Voltage 220V
PD009 Intermediate Voltage 15V
PD010 Min voltage 8V
PD011 Frequency Lower Limit 120Hz
PD013 Reset parameters 0 don’t reset
PD023 Reverse Rotation 0 Do not allow reverse
PD142 Rated Motor Current 7A
PD143 Motor Pole Number 2 Number of poles on the motor
PD144 Motor Revolution 3000 Multiply PD144 (rated motor rev) by PD010 (min voltage) and get the max spindle

[Johan Cnczone]

Hello,
where did you buy the spindle from ? do they have website ?
thank you

[Pplug]

I have a 2.2kw spindle myself and I like it except for the cooling part.
What did you use for the pump and radiator and where did you get them?

[analogman]

Originally Posted by Pplug I have a 2.2kw spindle myself and I like it except for the cooling part. What did you use for the pump and radiator and where did you get them?

I was going to use a little mini pump and radiator for a computer. But I had a Little Giant flood coolant pump sitting in the shop, so I used that (orignally bought it from KBC). I used a new oil cooler for the radiator and a couple of 12V cooling fans. I think the pump is a little overkill. The darn thing is a little convoluted so I am going to rebuild it.

I really wonder, if the system has 2 litres of water, do I even need a radiator.

What do you have for a cooling system? Does it get hot?

[yngndrw]

Originally Posted by Johan Cnczone Hello, where did you buy the spindle from ? do they have website ? thank you

Here's the sellers Ebay store:
http://stores.shop.ebay.com/love-hap...__W0QQ_armrsZ1

I also purchased mine from this seller and they are very polite and always willing to help.

[Greolt]

Originally Posted by analogman I really wonder, if the system has 2 litres of water, do I even need a radiator. What do you have for a cooling system? Does it get hot?

I have a 1.5kw spindle. No radiator. Just a reservoir of approx 10 litres and a small pump.

Can sometimes run ten hour jobs and it never gets above tepid.

I have seen pictures of many weird and wonderful cooling setups. Gantry mounted radiators and pumps and chiller units among them.

Overkill IMHO. If simple works then why complicate it? Just more stuff to go wrong.

Greg

[BobF]

How about posting pictures of cooling systems. This should help everyone.

[Pplug]

I have a large 4X8 foot router with a reservoir with an aquarium pump mounted on the gantry. It works OK and I have run the spindle for 20 hours strait with the water only getting luke warm. I would like to redo the system because it gets clogged with gunk from the reservoir and reduces flow or even stops it completely! Pictures of my setup are in my pictures gallery:

http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/showg...0/ppuser/51195

What kind of threading do the coolant holes have on the spindle?

[Greolt]

There is really not much to see Bob. That is the beauty of simplicity.

Plastic container, I used a square type with a clip on lid.

Submersible pump. Although at present I am using a coolant pump I had spare off a machine. Good quality aquarium pump is my first choice.

Pump is switched via Mach3 with the spindle speed control. SSR.

1/4" plastic tubing run through the cable management system (cable chain).

It is cheap, easily obtainable and replaced in a few minutes if it goes a little stiff with age.

Need to remember that very little flow is actually required. A smarter man than me worked out the following,

"If your water flow fills a beer glass in a whole minute, the water temp will not rise more than 20C [36F] while cooling a 3kW [5HP] spindle that is
only 80% efficient and running under full load."

Mine is 700ml/min. 24 fl/oz.

Greg

[Greolt]

Originally Posted by Pplug I would like to redo the system because it gets clogged with gunk from the reservoir and reduces flow or even stops it completely!

Where does the gunk come from? I never have that problem.

I do not think the larger tube diameter is needed. At low volume flow the restriction has not proved to be a problem. I have 10 metres of 1/4" tubing.

As flow increases the effect of restriction goes up exponentially of course. If you want it to squirt like a fire hose it will have a huge bearing on it.

Greg

[jeffrey001]

Thanks analogman for all the info.

I bought two 2.2Kw water spindle this week and was a little afraid about how to setup the VFD.

I have read this thread as well as the older one and found it very helpful.

Hope you'll keep posting because I will certainly have some questions for you.

I have ask the seller about the 110v unit but he reply that almost every body buy the 220v unit.

[analogman]

Greolt - thanks for that info about the simple cooling system. Mine is being a pain. So I just ripped it all apart, got a 5 gal bucket, put the submersible pump into the bottom and I am off the races! The pump is 300GPH, so I put a bleeder valve on the line right in the bucket. Keeps the pressure down and the pump from working too hard.

I love simplicity.

jeffrey001 - yeah the VFD was a little intimidating at first, but it turned out that google was a great friend. I'd just search for things like "CNC PD003" and up came a few different forums. There are two manuals floating around out there, I have attached a zip version of the better translation.

Also I forgot to post the connectors:

E to ground

R (L) input power to 220V hot
S input power to 220V hot
T (N) input power (for 3 phase) unused
U to motor pin 1
V to motor pin 2
W to motor pin 3
P1 Not used.
P+ Not used.
PR Not used. Braking resistor