nm-200 spindle questions

[urbanimports02]

hi there, i am new here, and like many looking into my options for a mid sized machine and looking between tormach, novakon nm-200, mikini 1610l, and IH. the tormach and mikini look like great machines, but have just slightly less y travel then i need. the ih is appealing, but for some reason just doesnt strike my fancy. the novakon has great travels, and the package deal is pretty good. my question is what is the spindle drive system like? is it variable and controlable through mach3? if not, what would be involved with upgrading to a vfd setup? or is it a series of belt pulley ratios like an old BP? anyone have pics of the setup? i would like to be turning more like 4000-5000rpm on the top for cutting aluminum with small end mills, thus the appeal to tormach and mikini. any info on the nm-200 is greatly appreciated. thanks
Jesse

Brittsan Racing Developments

[David Da Costa]

Hi Jesse,

I don't have the NM-200, but do have a NM-135 on order and currently have a LMS KX1, but I am pretty sure that the spindle on the NM-200 is variable and controllable through Mach 3 (the KX1 and NM-135 are).

David

[D..]

I have the NM-200. The spindle is belt drive 1 to 1 to the three phase motor. The motor is driven with a variable speed three phase electronic drive powered by single phase 220, controlled directly by Mach 3. When you try to dial up a speed higher than 4000 in Mach 3 it warns you that is too fast for a belt drive.

When I set Mach 3 to 4000 rpm I measure about 3600 with a photo tachometer. There are some pulse width and timing settings in the Mach 3 setup specs to match it to the mill it is used with that affect several things at once, so you don't get exactly what you set it for. If you run the spindle at the fastest speed all the time your belt life will be short. There are other threads in the Forums discussing add on high speed drives. You can change the pully sizes to get a higher rpm at both ends of the variable range but you are pushing the life of the belt.

The travels listed by Novikon for the NM-200 are quite a bit less than the machine really can travel. They are showing the position of the soft stop sensors which can be adjusted anyplace you want them. Those are not hard stops. You can drive all three axis several inches further in each direction before hitting something.