The 2.2Kw Chinese Spindles - Info, Setup and Advice + More

[Husky]

Thought it might be an idea to centralise some info on the commonly used 2.2Kw Chinese supplied spindle.

This is what I'm looking at:

• China supplied
• 2.2Kw
• Includes power supply
• Including postage

There are a ton of "different" suppliers on EBay, at this time (01/03/13) they all charge £252 (inc. P&P) for the spindle and power supply.

I'm hoping if people manage to get a cheaper deal they can post up where they got it from and how much for.

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Spindle:

• Current thinking is to buy only one with "German bearings" However every one I could see stated they have these. Has anyone proven a difference with these bearings?

As far as I can see it's just luck with the bearings. The sellers on ali-express will discuss them however, so it's possible to get better ones but you do pay for it. I got my spindle from the eBay seller 'solar.jean', which was the cheapest at the time with best offer saving about £20. Turns out it has 4 bearings (H7005C TN1-2RZ and 7002CTYN) and the two big ones are a matched pair with the V markings on the outer rings, so it looks like I got lucky. Bear in mind however that was a couple of years ago, and someone on the forum got one from the same seller a week after me and received a presumably different model as his didn't have any writing on the side.

This thread has some good internal pics and info
Water cooled Chinese spindle disassembly - CNCzone.com-The Largest Machinist Community on the net!

And this one has cross sections
http://www.mycncuk.com/forums/tool-t...tion-view.html

Quick note:

Its a bit of a crap shoot with the cheapest VFD suppliers. Sometimes you get decent bearings, sometimes less so. Sometimes you only get 2 bearings, sometimes 4 [Jonathan Edit: It's 4 or 3 bearings, never 2]. Main problem is the quality control with the Haunyang VFD. Some last years, others are dead straight out the box or only last a short while. If your unlucky and get a faulty one don't bother trying your luck again by replacing it with another Haunyang, get an Hitachi X200 VFD instead. These are pretty much faultless.

These Chinese spindles might all look the same but there are quality differences so paying more might not be a bad thing. If you want cheap as possible you usually get what you pay for and you'll be taking pot luck. Problem is how to guarantee a decent unit? Well I bought this.

Spindle Motor 3 Phase 2.2KW Water cooled ER20 with Matching VFD

Its tested and comes with decent bearings and 4 of 'em instead of 2 [Jonathan Edit: It's 4 or 3 bearings, never 2]. You also get a UK warranty should anything go wrong! Downside is its about £100 more than the cheapest Chinese one's but it does remove all the question marks.

Also for the spindle end you need some new Male Push-Fit studs as well (M8 x 1mm Fine thread), I *think* I have lots of these, I can send you some with the correct thread type, I may also have enough hose I can send as well :), later I will be going to the workshop I will make a video for you of how its all working...

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Power supply:

• I asked one of the sellers about the pictures showing a lower wattage power supply than required, I was assured the matching supply would arrive with the spindle and the pictures are just recycled from other sales.
• Are different VFD's supplied? If so, which ones are better?

I've got 3 of the generic 2.2kW Chinese VFDs and they all work fine. I know plenty of other people who have used them without problems.

Here's some useful setup information for Haunyang VFD that I've collected and collated whilst on my internet travels.

NOTE: Always check these settings are applicable to your Haunyang VFD as there have been some design variances over the years.

VFD Manual:


General VFD setup:
Here's the correct settings for the Huanyang VFD that always seems to come with these kits.[/FONT]

PD013 - 8 MASTER RESET <<< DO THIS FIRST [Jonathan Edit: I prefer not to input this reset command, as often they've set a lot of the settings for you, so it saves time to leave it and you'll spot any settings that are wrong when you set the rest, so there's no risk]
PD005 - 400
PD004 - 400
PD003 - 400
PD006 - 2.5
PD007 - 1.20
PD008 - 220
PD009 - 15
PD011 - 120 [Jonathan Edit: No, this is a common misconception. This setting is the lower frequency limit, so setting it to 120Hz means you can't run the spindle below 7200rpm, which originated from the air cooled spindles which would burn out below this speed. This is not a problem with water cooling, so you can set it to zero. You wont get much torque below 7200rpm, but down to about 3200rpm is useable for drilling small holes in aluminum if you don't have carbide drills.]
PD014 - 1 [Jonathan Edit: This is time to accelerate to rated speed. It may be better not to set it as low as 1 second (e.g. 2) to reduce the starting current, or if you don't appreciate the lights dimming every time you press run.]
PD015 - 1
PD072 - 400.00
PD143 - 2
PD142 - 7
PD144 - 3000, factory setting is 1440 ->3000 gives correct RPM of 24000 at 400hz

Control Settings:
For spindle Start/Stop using Mach controlled relay connect DCM to FOR with the relay wired between the two. NOTE: Wiring DCM to REV will give reverse spindle rotation.

For variable speed control using a 10k ohm pot connect ACM and 10v to the pot with IV on the Wiper.

PD001 - 0 = Start from VFD Panel(Manual control), 1 = Control from inputs(use if Mach is start/stopping your spindle as explained above)
PD044 - 2
PD045 - 3

Spindle end wiring diagram:
(Pins are numerically marked on the inside of the plug, check by taking the 3 hex bolts out the spindle top cap. Whilst your in there take a ground from pin 4 to one of the 3 bolts inside that holds the bearing cap)


VFD end wiring diagram:
Live = R, Neutral = T, Earth = E.

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Water Pump:

• The pump commonly supplied by the motor sellers to go with the spindle appears to commonly be a 4000l/h, 4m head pump that looks like a converted pond pump. Cost ~£65 (inc. p&p)
• Do we know the actual pumping requirements of the motor?

For example:

Energy absorbed (J/s) = Mass (Kg/s) * specific heat capacity of water * change in temperature (K)

Q = m * c * DeltaT

(assuming the entire power of the motor is converted to heat = 2.2W = 2200J/sec)
(assume the difference in temperature achieved is 15deg Kelvin (or Celsius, doesn't matter)

2200 = Mass(Kg/s) * 4200 * 15

Mass(Kg/s) = 2200 / 63000

Mass(Kg/s) = 0.0349206

(convert to litres per hour. NB: 1litre = 1kg)

l/hour = 0.0349206 * 60 * 60

l/hour = 126

This would be the required flow rate for a temperature difference of 15 degrees from room temp to spindle temp assuming the spindle dumped 2.2Kw of power straight into the water. BUT bear in mind there are some big assumptions throughout this, it's going to be affected by the heat exchange from motor to water, radiator efficiency, pumping pressure requirements, the efficiency of the motor, etc.

If anyone else can add to this, theoretically or with practical observations, we can start to see what pumping requirements the motor actually has. A 4000l/h pond pump equivelant could be massive overkill and instead a computer water cooling pump could be used? Far less power consumption, less space taken up, more reliable for the same money as UK version can be bought.

• What pumps do other people run? What temperatures do you see with these setups?

These spindle are pretty efficient as they're induction motors, so they don't require much water to cool them effectively. The main thing is to get a pump with enough 'head' so that it can lift the water high enough to get up the pipes. A fraction of a litre per minute is probably plenty for most people, especially since the vast majority of things will never draw anywhere near the rated power of the spindle. Your calculation is fine except the assumption of dissipating 2.2kW is not reasonable. The spindle is probably about 95% efficient at full load, so maybe 110W ---> 6.3l/hour for 15° rise. You shouldn't need to spend more than about £20 on a pump, for example:
SUBMERSIBLE WATER PUMP 2200 L/H AQUARIUM FISH TANK POND GARDEN 56W NEW UK AP5100 | eBay

For any newbies like me reading this; dont worry too much about cooling. especially to start with. For example mine can run happily for say an hour without getting even remotely luke warm.. obviously if you plan on getting out of the box and doing some hardcore pocketing in ali then dont take my advice. But for those of you like me who have just built the machine and trying to get it all working. The cooling is just another complication you dont need.

I bought a cheap 12v caravan pump off ebay for £10 brand new. Ive been told not to worry about flow rate just to ensure there is a flow of water. The caravan pump can pump 10ft high in 1/4" hose without breaking a sweat.

Normally the generic pump they send has a 1/2" BSPT thread for the out let with a barb type connection for those 8x5 hose, however you can swap it like mine for one of these:

Male Stud: Male Stud Pneumatic Push-In Fitting For Air Sizes 4, 6, 8, 10, 12mm BPST, Metric
- For 6x4 hose you need to order the 6mm push-in x 1/2" BSPT thread version.

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Radiator:

• Where do people source their radiators from?
• What size / specification?
• Are radiators needed?
• Do people use fans or just use them passively?

I don't have one, just a reasonable size reservoir is enough... so passive cooling.

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Cable:

CY 4-core cable, 0.75mm^2 or greater. Connect earth wire to spindle body and VFD. Also connect shielding just at VFD end.

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Cooling Tubing:

Just need cheap PVC tubing, 8mm if I recall correctly. Plenty of it on eBay.

I can look at mine later and show you with pics, but its usually 8x5mm hoses 5m, however 5m isn't really enough you need at least 10m I would say, also 8x5mm is bigger than you need, the stuff they send is quite stiff so isn't very flexible, I swapped mine for something like 6x4 clear tube (clear so you can see the flow) I think it was.

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Coolant

Any type of tank really with 15ltr or over capacity is fine, but keep it black (non transparent) so no day light can get in, then you use some Deionised Water and Antifreeze to make the coolant:

DEIONISED WATER: Deionised Water 10 LITRE (2x 5L) | (De Mineralised/De Ionised/Not Distilled) L
ANTIFREEZE & COOLANT: BLUE ANTIFREEZE & COOLANT | 10 LITRE | -37 ºC | High Concentrate/Longlife | 10L

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Collets:

Get a set off eBay in china. They're plenty good enough for these spindles as although the runout with these collets is slightly greater then high quality ones, the spindle runout is greater than the difference so it makes virtually no difference. Make sure the spindle you get is ER20, not anything smaller, otherwise you can't use 1/2" cutters which are common for wood router bits.

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Links:

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General Advice:


[Jonathan:
- It's best to use distilled water for the coolant so you don't cover the inside of the spindle in calcium carbonate. Also put something in it to prevent algae growing, like anti-freeze, or just keep it in a dark box.
- Always clean the collet, collet nut, and spindle tapered bore thoroughly before putting the tool in, otherwise pieces of swarf can be squashed between them which will make the runout worse over time.
- If the water cooling gets blocked then compressed air can clear it and you can dissolve the deposits by pumping water with NaHCO3 (bicarbonate of soda) dissolved in it through the spindle.
- Don't bother with the air cooled spindles since they limit you to only using fairly high speeds due to the lack of cooling.]

Hopefully some questions can be answered and maybe shed some light on this voodoo


Husky :)