Root 3 CNC - Spindle Ground

Not sure why, but Chinese spindle manufacturer's seem to not be interested in connecting tool ground wires:



I am accepting this deficiency for now, and will revisit the problem at a future date.  The top of the spindle will need to be removed, and tapped for a ground screw.  A grounding wire will then need to be added from the aviation plug to the grounding screw.

Root 3 CNC - Control Cable Strain Relief

In order to provide strain relief for the control cable, as well as stability for the water lines, a custom component was designed to mount to the top of the spindle.  The component is made from three 3D-Printed parts (files on Thingiverse):  a mounting ring, a tower, and the cable mounting block.



In order to provide a bit of extra strength, the tower has two bores which will accept 50mm M3 screws.  These were glued in to keep them from bouncing around during milling:





M3 screws connect the tower to the mounting ring:



M3 screws connect the mounting block to the tower:





The mounting block has two horizontal bores that will hold tie-zips.  After full assembly:

Control III Disinfectant Dilution

This concentrate is some nasty stuff.  Please read and understand the dangers of handling this liquid and take precautions as needed.  The specifications can be found here and FAQs can be found here.  That being said, if diluted properly, this is a strong disinfectant and can be used when other easier solutions are not available.



The diluted solution works through prolonged contact - basically spray it on and let it sit for 10 minutes, or soak something in a bucket.  Note that once you mix a batch, it is only good for 2 weeks before it needs to be disposed.  A 32 oz (946mL) bottle such as below is a good option.



Two snippets of the label directions are below: 

 


Depending on what you are doing, make a dilution that is up to 1 oz (29.5735mL) per 1 gallon (128oz) of water.

If you are measuring in metric, a little math is needed to get the proper amount for a 32 oz spray bottle:
= mL per ounce * ounces per container / mL per gallon
= 29.5735 * 946 / 3785.41
when you do the math without rounding, you get
= 7.39338 mL per 32 ounce spray bottle

Since I'm not operating in a hospital, I generally round down and use 3.5mL to 7mL per 32oz spray bottle, measured in a graduated cylinder...

Root 3 CNC - Preparing the Control Cable

The following cable is being used for the control cable:

Control cable Lapp ÖLFLEX 190 CY 4G1.5 16/4C (4x1.5/16 AWG) - 601604CY

In order to ready the wire for use, both ends must be prepared.  To prepare the GX16 end, the outer jacket and braid were removed:

then the conductors were soldered (dont forget to slide on heat shrink tubing before soldering):

A test fit shows that the connector fits well:

To complete the other end, first the outer jacket was removed, and the braid unwound.  A few bundles of braid were weaved together to form a wire:

If you have big hands, these tools are fantastic for getting into tight places like the braid disassembly:

4 Pc Stainless Steel Picks Probes Wax & Clay Sculpting Tools

A segment of the 16awg ground wire was soldered onto the braid:

and then covered in heat shrink tubing:

Finally the braid cable was marked with white electrical tape, and the end covered in heat shrink tubing:

The completed cable:

Root 3 CNC - Programming the HY02D211B VFD

Before connecting the spindle, the VFD has an initialization process to configure the device's firmware.  This apparently varies greatly per VFD, and in all instances seems to be documented poorly, so do your research and hope for the best.

The VFD/spindle bundle I purchased was from Amazon.  It contained a 110V VFD which upconverts to run a spindle at 220V (at least, I'm fairly sure thats what I bought).  The specific VFD model can be seen below (HY02D211B):

There was a video posted to Amazon which documented the settings required for this VFD as well as the process for programming:

• PD013 = 8 (factory reset)
• PD005 = 400 (max operating frequency)
• PD004 = 400 (base operating frequency)
• PD002 = 1 (set potentiometer control)
• PD070 = 1 (set analog input)
• PD072 = 400 (set high analog frequency)

This alternate video also describes the programming process well, but for a different model VFD (so the parameters do not match exactly).

In order to program the device, you must first connect the VFD to power without wiring the spindle (not sure the spindle not being there really matters, but I tried to follow the video steps).  This presented the first hurdle, as a complete wiring diagram was not included in the manual.  A little online research and a lucky guess provided the solution.  First remove the wiring access panels on the VFD:

Then run a 12/3 wire (in this case, 12/3 SJOOW) and connect as follows:

• Black (HOT) to R
• Neutral to T
• Ground to Ground

After reassembly and powering on the device, the programming can be completed using the following steps:

• PRGM (to start the programming sequence)

Then for each parameter, perform these steps:

• Up/Down arrows to select PD00x parameter
• SET
• Up/Down arrows to select value, SHIFT can be used to move the cursor
• SET (to accept the value)

Finally, to complete the programming, press:

• STOP (big red button to complete the programming sequence)

After completing this process, the next step is wiring the spindle to the VFD, to be covered in a future post...

Root 3 CNC - Running power for the VFD

In order to run the VFD/Spindle on a second circuit, another power cable and cutoff switch was purchased.  This is basically the same process used when running the power for the Arduino/RAMPS/motors, only with larger gauge wires.

The components used were:

• 12/3 SJOOW cable from Home Depot
• 12/3 extension cable from Amazon (this is a 20A cable incorrectly labelled as 15A)
• Powertec 71007 Paddle Switch from Amazon
• 1 gang weatherproof box from Amazon

First the wires were pulled into the box, and ring terminals soldered onto the ground wires:

The ground wires were connected to the box:

Hot and neutral wires were run to the switch screw terminals, and covered with electrical tape:

The screws that come with the Powertec cover are not compatible with US boxes.  They were discarded and replaced with standard outlet cover screws:

Finally the cover was installed and mounted to the CNC cart:

Root 3 CNC - Control Cable Purchase

After quite a bit of research, the following cable was purchased from Automation24:



It is a 16awg 4 conductor (3 power + ground) shielded cable in a flexible jacket.  The cable is ridiculously expensive, but when dealing with 220V/20A the piece of mind was worth the expense for me.  Cable details are below in the snapshots...