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  #1  
Old Fri 26 December 2008, 13:37
waynec
Just call me: Wayne from White Salmon
 
White Salmon, WA
United States of America
Spindle Warm Up program help

I've been warming up my new spindle manually, watching my watch and changing spindle speed in Mach 3. I'd like to do this by running a program to operate the spindle rpm for a set period of time at say three rpm levels. If I could warm up for 12 minutes, say, with 4 minutes at 6000 rpm, 4 min at 12000 rpm, and finally 4 min at 18000 rpm that would be great.

Any Gcode writers here help me out? I can copy the start up lines from an existing file, get the spindle turned on and set to the first speed. What I don't know how to do is set the timer for each frequency- essentially how to tell it to pause at this setting for X amount of time, then change, then pause for a specific time again.

Maybe I'm overlooking something simple here. But I'm sure others need the same kind of warm up file. Probably even the Porter Cable router would benefit from a warm up cycle.

Anyway. Thanks for the help as always!

Wayne from White Salmon
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  #2  
Old Fri 26 December 2008, 14:19
skypoke
Just call me: Chuck
 
Port Aransas
United States of America
Wayne,

I noticed my VFD can automate this, you might check and see if your model can.

Chuck
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  #3  
Old Fri 26 December 2008, 21:11
javeria
Just call me: Irfan #33
 
Bangalore
India
Wayne, I am assuming you dont need the spindle to warm up for 12 minutes. you already have teh cooling water circulating and for a spindle warming up may be getting the bearing grease to spread inside (i think)

I read on some forum about the delay which is put in the start of every program - which is usually only a few seconds after spindle start.

RGDS
IRfan
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  #4  
Old Fri 26 December 2008, 22:27
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Chuck & Irfan, you are both changing the subject

Wayne's request for G-Code with timers and speeds is a good one - let's stick to that for now. . . .
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  #5  
Old Sat 27 December 2008, 03:36
sailfl
Just call me: Nils #12
 
Winter Park, FL
United States of America
Wayne,

I would think that writing some GCode for warming up the spindles should be fairly simple process. Some one has to generate what you want. A list of speeds and times starting from zero and so on.

It also seems that this is a common need and that some one has not already written some GCode to do this. Have you searched CNCZone?

Make up the list in the mean time and post it.
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  #6  
Old Sat 27 December 2008, 04:41
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
G4 (or G04) = Dwell
P = Period of dwell, when used after G4 (P can have other meanings depening on context)

G4P60 = Dwell for 60 seconds (unless you have changed it to millisecond (Config/Logic, middle column, check box for milliseconds))

"If I could warm up for 12 minutes, say, with 4 minutes at 6000 rpm, 4 min at 12000 rpm, and finally 4 min at 18000 rpm that would be great. "

M3 'start spindle clockwise
S6000 'rotate speed 6000 rpm
G4P240 'dwell 240 seconds
S12000 'etc. . . .
G4P240
S18000
G4P240
M5 'stop spindle

. . . . . I think that would do it . . . unless you have different S commands to set speeds.
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  #7  
Old Sat 27 December 2008, 05:45
sailfl
Just call me: Nils #12
 
Winter Park, FL
United States of America
Okay, Then all you have to do is put it in a macro, give the macro a unique number and use a button on your shuttle to call the macro and you have your warm up routine for your spindle.

You have to put the code in the macro using the VB Script Editor for those that don't know. Also the macro has to be in the macro folder.

Code will look like this.
Code "M3" 'start spindle clockwize
Code "S6000" ' rotate speed 6000 rpm
Code "G4P240" 'dwell 240 seconds
Code etc.

The ' will make what follows it a comment so later you will know what the code does.

At the top of the file you could comment:

' This macro warms up the spindle.

I think that should work. I can't try since I don't have a spindle. But I can turn my router on and off that way.

Last edited by sailfl; Sat 27 December 2008 at 05:59..
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  #8  
Old Sun 28 December 2008, 15:18
waynec
Just call me: Wayne from White Salmon
 
White Salmon, WA
United States of America
Got it- so simple!

Gerald you hit the nail on the head. What I really needed was the GCode that created the pause. I ended up getting nearly identical info from the Mach forum (Thanks Hood). Its a simple file, just as you've detailed. I just created it in Notepad, and saved it with a TAP suffix instead of the TXT suffix that Notepad uses. This lets Mach 3 load it and run it.

But a question about how long I need to warm up. Something in my memory says that it was up to 10 minutes of warm up time to get the spindle to operating temperature. That's why I was shooting for three steps of 4 minutes. Is this overkill? If I could do the job in 5 or 6 minutes that would be great.

So, how much time do I really need to warm up?

BTW, I did a full day of cutting with the spindle. Its far quieter than the Porter Cable router, and has more power. It doesn't seem to bog down at all, but I have to say I still have not cut more than .25" in a single pass yet. The spindle got warm but never hot, and the coolant and radiator showed that they were removing heat adequately. So far so good.

If anyone needs connection info or programming info on this water cooled setup I'll try to put together a mini manual (here if that's OK Gerald)

Thanks guys as always for the support.
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  #9  
Old Sun 28 December 2008, 19:44
javeria
Just call me: Irfan #33
 
Bangalore
India
Wayne, it would be a lot of help if you put together a mini manual, folks from the zone also come along this thread - there is a discussion going on in the zone about these spindles

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...t=68736&page=2

RGDS
Irfan
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  #10  
Old Sun 28 December 2008, 20:22
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
I am comfortable with 5 minutes warmup at 6000rpm and then full load cutting.
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  #11  
Old Sun 28 December 2008, 20:25
javeria
Just call me: Irfan #33
 
Bangalore
India
G' when you say warm up -it is one time in a day right - say if the spindle does not operate for 1 hr - will it need to be warmed up again?

RGDS
Irfan
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  #12  
Old Sun 28 December 2008, 20:35
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
On a warm day in India, you probably don't even need to warm it in the morning. Some people start their workshops at zero temperature in the mornings with ice and snow around - conditions of which I have no experience. My 5 minute warmup is just a daily habit for the operator - I can't expect him to remember to do much more.

If you want to get technical, put a thermometer on the lower bearing housing.
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  #13  
Old Tue 30 December 2008, 07:07
javeria
Just call me: Irfan #33
 
Bangalore
India
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gerald D View Post
If you want to get technical, put a thermometer on the lower bearing housing.
I surely thought you did it that way LOL

RGDS
IRfan
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