Vfd/spindle speed help.

[mactec54]

Thanks mactec, yep I had thought maybe I had done something wrong before but yes now 114 was able to be changed. The vfd readout for rpm seems to match the tacho so do you think I still need to alter P212?

I will try it at as you suggest anyway to see what happens and give it some runtime on the bench. I had run it before for 20 min at about half speed and there was no heat issue but will test again.

EDIT - with p212=6000 vfd says 4800 but tacho says 7150 and P212=24000 is way off as well. So at the moment 14000 seems to be pretty close.

EDIT No.2 Bench run test
10 min @ 20k warm but not hot
10 min @24k warm but not hot
10 min @13k warm but not hot.
I think the temps are safe, under load I would assume it will most likely run a little hotter, but for an air cooled spindle it seems ok temp wise.
Guess it should be ok to go and mount it up.

Yes that is a strange one with P212 but the HY VFD was a crazy setting as well at 3000= 24,000 , so yours is 14,000 and you may be able to adjust the 14,000 to get a perfect match like 14,010 14,020 Etc if it makes know difference then stay at the 14,000, put that down to a software problem

Sounds like Temperature is good

One thing I'm not sure I asked is to check the Ground /Earth connection between Pin 4 in the spindle connector and the Spindle Body

[BLarks]

Yes that is a strange one with P212 but the HY VFD was a crazy setting as well at 3000= 24,000 , so yours is 14,000 and you may be able to adjust the 14,000 to get a perfect match like 14,010 14,020 Etc if it makes know difference then stay at the 14,000, put that down to a software problem

Sounds like Temperature is good

One thing I'm not sure I asked is to check the Ground /Earth connection between Pin 4 in the spindle connector and the Spindle Body

The tacho seems to be about 50 to a max of 100 rpm out compared to the vfd, but to be honest its an $30aud ebay tacho so I don't know how accurate it is, the vfd may be right or the tacho may be right. I don't think 50 or so rpm isn't going to make much difference, well I hope not anyway. Hoping to test today on some wood.

I did check the earth on the spindle, I had seen this while researching wiring up the vfd, looking at the pin schematic of the spindle I had to laugh because pin 4 was earth but... wait a minute theres not even a wire on the internal pin LOL! So I had to wire it up to the body and learnt how to check for continuity with that new skill checked wiring after cable was soldered and all was good. Should be able to get it running today and will report back.

I am now curious as to whether or not I should get it wired to the gecko 540 or leave it as is, any recommendations on that, is it worth it or not?

[mactec54]

The tacho seems to be about 50 to a max of 100 rpm out compared to the vfd, but to be honest its an $30aud ebay tacho so I don't know how accurate it is, the vfd may be right or the tacho may be right. I don't think 50 or so rpm isn't going to make much difference, well I hope not anyway. Hoping to test today on some wood.

I did check the earth on the spindle, I had seen this while researching wiring up the vfd, looking at the pin schematic of the spindle I had to laugh because pin 4 was earth but... wait a minute theres not even a wire on the internal pin LOL! So I had to wire it up to the body and learnt how to check for continuity with that new skill checked wiring after cable was soldered and all was good. Should be able to get it running today and will report back.

I am now curious as to whether or not I should get it wired to the gecko 540 or leave it as is, any recommendations on that, is it worth it or not?

Yes you can connect it to the 540 but get everything up and running before you go that route

[BLarks]

Yes you can connect it to the 540 but get everything up and running before you go that route

For sure, I am not even sure I will really need it. But will see. Thanks mactec and ericks for helping out.

[BLarks]

Ok so was able to cut some test pockets today in both aluminium and wood, spindle performed great. The main thing was I wanted it to perform well in the alloy test and it did. Only doing small cuts due to cutter size but at 13krpm and .2mm DOC finished turned out just fine. Spindle barely got warm and didn't even notice the alloy was there so overall success and happy with results but may have been a long and arduous exercise without the help received here thanks again guys! I'm still undecided about whether or not I'll wire it through the gecko, at the moment its working as I need it to and couldn't be bothered with changing anything.

[mactec54]

Ok so was able to cut some test pockets today in both aluminium and wood, spindle performed great. The main thing was I wanted it to perform well in the alloy test and it did. Only doing small cuts due to cutter size but at 13krpm and .2mm DOC finished turned out just fine. Spindle barely got warm and didn't even notice the alloy was there so overall success and happy with results but may have been a long and arduous exercise without the help received here thanks again guys! I'm still undecided about whether or not I'll wire it through the gecko, at the moment its working as I need it to and couldn't be bothered with changing anything.

Good to here, if you can use or read the amps do some test cuts and see where the limit is before a stall which you don't want to have happen, you will find how big a cut you can do I'm sure you will be able to cut more than .2 depending on cutter size and how sharp the cutter is, a good cutter to test with is 6mm or 1/4" 3 flute carbide designed for aluminum

[BLarks]

Good to here, if you can use or read the amps do some test cuts and see where the limit is before a stall which you don't want to have happen, you will find how big a cut you can do I'm sure you will be able to cut more than .2 depending on cutter size and how sharp the cutter is, a good cutter to test with is 6mm or 1/4" 3 flute carbide designed for aluminum

It was not even hitting 1 amp with those cuts. I don't have any cutters bigger than 3mm as I've never needed them, now that I have an er11 collet set I will think about bigger cutters. I am happy with the low noise compared to the kress spindle so I am seriously considering another setup for my 2nd machine.

[mactec54]

It was not even hitting 1 amp with those cuts. I don't have any cutters bigger than 3mm as I've never needed them, now that I have an er11 collet set I will think about bigger cutters. I am happy with the low noise compared to the kress spindle so I am seriously considering another setup for my 2nd machine.

You could double that at that speed and it would not be a problem, we must remember the capacity of the spindle you are using, so 4mm and 5mm cutters would work well 6mm max for aluminum

[BLarks]

You could double that at that speed and it would not be a problem, we must remember the capacity of the spindle you are using, so 4mm and 5mm cutters would work well 6mm max for aluminum

I'm looking at some 4mm and 6mm cutters, reason I haven't got any bigger as I wasn't making anything that required bigger, but there has been times where I wish I did for certain situations such as material removal on large areas, 3mm cutters take sooo long if your facing a big piece.

[BLarks]

You could double that at that speed and it would not be a problem, we must remember the capacity of the spindle you are using, so 4mm and 5mm cutters would work well 6mm max for aluminum

What sort of feed rate, spindle speed and depth of cut would you recommend with those cutters mactec?

[mactec54]

What sort of feed rate, spindle speed and depth of cut would you recommend with those cutters mactec?

It really depends a lot on how rigid your machine is how much you have out of the collet also will affect the cutting speeds and feeds

You best bet is to get a free trial of this software G-Wizard https://www.cnccookbook.com/ start off with conservative speeds and feeds and increase them until you hear the spindle motor start to be loaded, you only have a small motor so have to be careful with loading it to much you don't want it to be in a loaded condition so if it slows down when you do a cut you are being to aggressive, everyone's machine is different you have to find the limits of your machine mostly will be in your case the spindle

[BLarks]

It really depends a lot on how rigid your machine is how much you have out of the collet also will affect the cutting speeds and feeds

You best bet is to get a free trial of this software G-Wizard https://www.cnccookbook.com/ start off with conservative speeds and feeds and increase them until you hear the spindle motor start to be loaded, you only have a small motor so have to be careful with loading it to much you don't want it to be in a loaded condition so if it slows down when you do a cut you are being to aggressive, everyone's machine is different you have to find the limits of your machine mostly will be in your case the spindle

Thanks mactec, I already have g wizard but it's expired so was hoping for ball park figures but not to worry I will figure something out. I went through a bit of trial and error with 2 and 3 mm cutters so I guess will do the same with the 4 and 6 mm ones I ordered. I certainly don't plan on hogging large amounts of alloy as I don't really need to.

[fishingvoid]

ive got the same vdf cant suss out how to change parameters and which ones