Hi Tony, if I may ask... from who in China did you buy ? I saw some 2.2kW watercooled units like this for US$ 236.84 each...Transport to South Africa US$ 98.95. www dot aliexpress dot com.
Funny thing is that you can bring 10 spindles in and the price stay US 98.95.

Thinking of getting some locals together and share the US$ 98.95 between us, then it will be really cheap for a spindle like this.

FYI: I bought a water cooled spindle and VFD (2.2KW) from smpart on ebay, it was a lot more expensive (200usd more) then the Huanyang type of VFD's but since I did hear so much problems with the VFD's of Huanyang I though let's try something else. The order was made last week (mid Jan). So far I have had good aftersales from the sales person using skype and the manual of the VFD is in full english and well documented.

I will only beable to see it in March when I go back to holland to pick it up, for sure I will keep you updated on this and let you know how did go.

Kobus Pm sent.

Cheers
Tony.

The Huangyang is economical. For the price I only expect it to do one thing, Drive the spindle...
I control it using the keypads... Never even bother to control it under EMC2 or from the PC, & it does what I need, i.e. drive the spindle at speed from 1000~24,000 rpm.... AND when you install the VFD by the PC (which I will some day...), you can just reach out your fingers to control the VFD...
I seriously question the need to control the spindle from the PC... IMHO, this encourage human error...
Seriously, when does anyone turn the spindle counter-clockwise for their CNC router work???

Ken, I agree that counter-clockwise seems a bit far-fetched.

However, having speed control from EMC2 is nice. For example, the ramped warm-up of the spindle is a small G-Code fragment I keep handing around.

And after doing the trial and error to find the right combination of spindle speed and feed for a particular job or material, it's nice to be able to just keep it in the cutting file and not have to worry about human error setting the wrong speed on the control panel.

The lathe turning guys absolutely need auto speed control on their main spindle motor (the one that turns the workpiece); When cutting from a big diameter to a small diameter (eg. facing an end of a shaft), the speed must increase. I mention this because the metal cutting forums are the places to go for discussions on CNC'ed VFD control.

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the comments, and it looks like we may have good news on the VFD, Spindle, Mach3, Aspire control integration. With the help of a couple of very knowledgable guys from one of the other forums we probably all frequent at some stage.
We will be able to confirm for sure this coming Sunday when we get back in amongst it and make a few configuration changes. So Im very :D Will keep you all posted and Im sure we will post screen dumps of settings for all to see as it will be good info for others using this or similar combination.

Cheers
Tony.

Good news and good luck for the weekend.

The more working solutions that are documented on the forum the better.

Regards
Ross

Stack lights now fitted to the control boxes :D

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...k/IMG_1623.jpg

Recieved another parcel in the mail today, looks like Drives Warehouse upgraded the shipping free of charge!! got to be happy with that :)

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...k/IMG_1625.jpg

Cheers
Tony.

Ok - I see these stack lights all the time. Do Explain how they hook up. Is it just 3 different lights that have seperate leads? Or is it some kind of progressive light? What will you be using it for?

Mike,
I had 3 lights on the front of the control cabinet for the following (all wired thru the contactor aux contact)
- power to cabinet (blinks when machine is actually cutting)
- spindle on
- dust collection on

Mike, I’d say :
Orange = no bear !....hazardous
Green = finish pizza !.... go ahead
Red = Wife around, must stop playing & look busy :D

Hi Mike,

You can really set them up for whatever you want. ie to indicate a Stop, Pause, Resume, Power on, spindle running, coolant running, really whatever!!

I do like Roberts suggestions though :D

Cheers
Tony.

Hi All,

Some more goodies arrived in the post today, no excuses now :D

Full sets of E20 collets have arrived for the larger spindle as well as a selection of end mills and ball nose end mills.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...k/IMG_1627.jpg

These are the larger end mills and ball nose end mills

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...k/IMG_1629.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...k/IMG_1630.jpg

We are still working away trying to get full integration with Mach3, Vfd, Spindle and Aspire. I hope we get it soon !!:rolleyes:

Cheers
Tony.

Cheers
Tony.

Are those carbide?

Wow, you guys are SERIOUS...wish I had that many cutters....or are you planning to run them into the clamps...:D

Yes they are Carbide Ken :)

Kobus,

Fairly cheap purchase on E-bay, same place Ross (surfcnc) bought his. I'm so over purchasing the expensive ones until I really get to know how to drive this big blue MM properly!! ;)

Cheers
Tony.

I bought a 3mm ballnose....SOLID CARBITE...when I started doing 3D carving. Still using the same one. I also found the cheap cutters working better for me. Here in South Africa we have a brand called PRO-Tech...cheap yellow cuters. I get more miles from them than the 2 fluted end-mills I bought at a price from the machine shop.

I use cheap carbide tip straight flute router bits (about US5 a piece) & I can even get them sharpen for about US1.5 a pop reguardless of size.... since they are straight flute, they tend to be easier to regrind.
Same goes for the bull nose bits...
There are diamond tipped bits which cost over US150 a crack, was told it can stay sharp till enernity... but with the same money, I can have more then 2 dozens cheap (but sharp) bits standby....

...sharp for eternity, until it breaks!
I like cheap and in quantity. :)

Nice assortment there Tony! You guys are well setup with all the right tools. Let's see some chips!

Nice Job guys!

Must of missed the post on where to get low cost cutters on EBay. Do you have a link?

Hi Guys,

ebay link is http://stores.ebay.com.au/carbidechiu?_rdc=1

Once I get some cutting done I will let you know how they go. They certainly look and feel the part :D

Cheers
Tony.

I also like the cheap cutters

USB Adapters - Cross post from Surfcnc
 

Hi all

I spent the day in Tony's shed with Tony and Paul looking at the USB adapters with respect to their electronics installations.
The RS485 to USB adapter is required for both the MattZee pluggin or in the boys case the full blown Modbus installation they are using with their Hitachi VFD's.
To summarise this post refers to both the Huanyang and Hitachi VFD's commonly used on this forum

Very enlightening but the results did not come particularly easily.
This adapter - worked faultlessly. http://www.commfront.com/USB-Serial-Adapters-Converters/Isolated-USB-RS232-RS485-RS422-Converter.htm

Attachment 11125

This adapter - Skippy's on Test from the seller gave good initial results but failed on further testing.
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView...5&form=KEYWORD
Attachment 11126

The Jaycar adapter and the Commfront adapter both share the same chip and driver.
The variation in performance is therefore not centered around these components rather other areas of difference between the two devices.
The Commfront device seems to offer additional features including opto-isolation, static protection and in built 120 ohm terminating resistors.

On installation the jaycar adapter ran well allowing adjusting of the spindle speed within any speed range but strangely bluescreened after feeholding and resuming.
This was repeatedly verified on a Win XP install despite changing com address and driver versions.

To verify the adapter was at fault we then went the extra mile and swapped out the contoller PC for a fresh machine.
We then repeated the bluescreening behavior after seting up Mach and configuring the Modbus settings.
On this new PC controller machine we were able to regain stable operation with the commfront USB adapter.
Note : I have independantly verified the stable operation of the Commfront adapter under Win7.

For a while there, especially as the adapters shared chips and drivers, we though we had a good adapter on our hands.
My specially powerful button pushing and breaking things talents proved otherwise !!.

Learnt plenty including a bit about Modbus, what does work and what doesn't and most importantly Skippy and Tony now have a real clear direction forward to the super system Skippy is dreaming of.
The clouds are clearing boys and between all our grear we got this one nailed.
PS Skippy is now the designated Mechmate Forum Modbus and Brains expert :):D

Regards
Ross

Hi Guys,

Well it's that time when Double Vision is now going to be single vision, as our MM's are ready to part !!
Sad actually, but it will be good to get the space back in my garage. :) Next Saturday we will be moving Paul's (Skippy's) MM to it's new home. We took some time today to strap up the gantry in preparation.
Should also receive our convertors and surfacing bits nearer the end of this week so with the convertors in place and working we will have achieved what we wanted to with our MM build.

Then it will be onto the dust foot, dust extraction and our 4th Axis :D which I am really looking forward to getting running.

Pics from today.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...1-30174922.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...1-30184811.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...1-30184831.jpg

I will post some pics next week of MM on the move!!

Cheers
Tony.

Good Billboard on the move...:D. Well done.

Top picture with straps....careful and don't spill that beverage! LOL
Happy trails Mr. MM.

This has been a great build to follow.
And thanks for all the tips.
Red