Temperamental spindle

[routercnc]

I also agree that if it is a new vfd then the settings WILL be the problem.

Sorry Clive I've confused you. I meant he may need to buy a new VFD. As I understand it this is the original one the Dean installed.

[mark84]

Hi gentlemen,
thanks for all the posts.
Apologies for me taking my time, I've used the router a few times since last post, and all seemed well, until today- when it's back with a vengeance.
It took four attempts but the spindle came to life, however it stopped- without cause after 2 mins.

Once again I'm having to wait- I believe this may be a clue to the issue- the fact I have to wait several hours until the spindle will run again. This is the original VFD, installed by dean. routerCNC, in regards to your question about the behaviour of the spindle when FOR and DCM were connected, technically it didn't power the spindle up- however, I would say it was successful as it made a 'click' - something the VFD has always done- Dean told me this was something in the VFD to do with acceleration, and from day 1 it's always been a little coy at starting up at very slow (sub 6krpm) or very fast (over 20k) speeds, usually taking a few attempts, though it's never been a big deal. I assume short circuiting it in that way makes it power up to full speed, at which point it does what it would have always done, and clicks(think this click would be a MCB?) and prevents the spindle from running.
This isn't what is happening at the moment- I hit the spindle button on mach3 and it's totally unresponsive, the VFD sits there happily blinking away, no MCB noise, no power to the spindle.
I know it's a bit confusing, hope I've at least done an ok job of explaining it :(

[mark84]

The vfd settings:
Pd5-400
Pd4-400
Pd3-200.01
Pd6-002.50
Pd7-0.50
Pd8-220
Pd9-015.0
Pd11-01.20
Pd14-0.3
Pd15-1.0
Pd72-400
Pd143-05.0
Pd142-5.0
Pd144-3000

Thanks so much :)

[Clive S]

The vfd settings:
Pd5-400
Pd4-400
Pd3-200.01
Pd6-002.50
Pd7-0.50
Pd8-220
Pd9-015.0
Pd11-01.20
Pd14-0.3
Pd15-1.0
Pd72-400
Pd143-05.0
Pd142-5.0
Pd144-3000

Thanks so much :)

Pd 143 should be set to 2 its hard to believe it ever started with this set to 5
Pd 3 set to 400
Pd 11 I would set to 55 so that the lowest spindle speed would be about 3300
Pd 14 set to 2
Pd 15 set to 2
Pd 7 set to 1.5
Pd 142 set to 7 (if 2.2kw)

Try these and report back

[mark84]

Thank you, Clive. It'll be a few days, but I'll keep you informed.

[mark84]

I've used the router for an hour with no issue, thank you very much for all the replies, especially you, Clive. I'm not quite sure what happened but I'm (fairly!) confident in saying I'm back in business :D couldn't have done it without this forum!

[Clive S]

I've used the router for an hour with no issue, thank you very much for all the replies, especially you, Clive. I'm not quite sure what happened but I'm (fairly!) confident in saying I'm back in business :D couldn't have done it without this forum!

Mark Just for the sake of clarity and for others can you say what was the problem if you know.

Glad you got it going.

[mark84]

Sorry Clive I've confused you. I meant he may need to buy a new VFD. As I understand it this is the original one the Dean installed.

I was curious, is it possible to set the spindle speed on the vfd, and start it up, at least if I could do that I could do some milling without fear of another broken end mill!?
The router has never had heavy usage, I can't reliably say total hours used, but it's likely a typical week it's in use an hour, over the past 3(??) Years.

[mark84]

Hi,
Sorry for my wall of text, I misunderstood the original instructions about joining For and Dcm, I didn't think you meant with mach 3 connected.
I can confirm that connecting these two and starting the toolpath does bring the spindle to life, disconnecting the two while the spindle is running stops it, and simply pressing the spindle off via mach3 slows it(but doesn't stop it fully) to about 70rpm.

[mark84]

Hi,
Sorry for my wall of text, I misunderstood the original instructions about joining For and Dcm, I didn't think you meant with mach 3 connected.
I can confirm that connecting these two and starting the toolpath does bring the spindle to life, disconnecting the two while the spindle is running stops it, and simply pressing the spindle off via mach3 slows it(but doesn't stop it fully) to about 70rpm.

I know this is a very big bump, but I've just put it to the back of my mind for the best part of 3 years (where does the time go!)
So I'm still to this day happily using the router(an hour or so a month) with FOR and DCM connected. Everything works fine *touch routed wood *, so I never altered the vfd settings, and just stuck with the change to the wiring.. but can I ask if this solution has any downsides?! Should have probably asked this in 2017.