Booting up the CNC router, and when trying to activate the spindle (using g-code ‘m3 s1000’), (1) the spindle intermittently starts and stops - and I notice a small white spark from within the motor (2) it’s not turning on at all
See this video, where you can hear the motor audio:
(time: 5:30-6:30ish)
PS: First time using OBS to stream live to PeerTube / Makertube.net.
I have attempted: Re-connecting all spindle-related cables, power cycled the router & UGS.
Any ideas / suggestions? Planning to have a workshop tomorrow with some kids, where they will draw/design and we’ll etch it into wood.
I think that is the end of the motor. It has the symptoms of both shorted and disconnected windings. When there are sparks on the brushes, it is often a sign that there are shorted windings and a motor not starting indicates that the brushes are connected to broken windings. Turn the motor a bit further or back and it starts again.
If you don’t want to disappoint the kids you might have to get yourself another router.
A while ago, someone mentioned something to the effect of “Ain’t nothing more useless than a broken CNC router” - and whatever the quote, I’ve been feeling it. Working on getting funding to replace the broken spindle, so I can get the router back into action.
I reached out to the manufacturer (Lunyee - which I would like to call out & appreciate for having excellent and responsive customer service!), and they asked me:
“what power spindle do you want to replace it with? We have 1.5kW and 2.2kW spindles.”
And I noticed that one is air cooled, and the other is water cooled. And the power is different than what I originally got. Can anyone share experiences, and suggestions?
Here are the product links they suggested:
This is the CNC router I have:
LUNYEE 4040 Turbo 3-axis linear guideway with 500W spindle for metal, wood, acrylic milling, Nema 23 motor working area 400 x 400 x 110mm
Water-cooled is quieter, and the fan on an air-cooled spindle can rub things. I had my air-cooled spindle eat through my vacuum tube. Replaced it with water-cooled and am happy I did so.
What’s the water management & complexity side of things? The only water cooling I am familiar with is the chillers on CO2 lasers, and computer video/graphics cards. Hesitant about adding things that could leak or dramatically increase complexity / affect repairability.
Also - with the above spindles, with higher watts. Will that work with my existing power supply / controller?
You don’t need a chiller, just a radiator and pump. I bought a CW-3200 but the radiator eventually leaked, and in the end I replaced it with a radiator meant for a CPU/GPU cooler. @Eclsnowman mounted a radiator and pump on his gantry on his router.
Lasers have a much smaller range of acceptable water temperature. For a spindle, as long as the water isn’t boiling you are probably fine, as far as I know.
Oh, they aren’t offering a matching power supply and controller as well?
Moving from brushed to brushless spindle means moving from DC power supply to a VFD providing variable-frequency three-phase AC. The VFD is supplied by mains power. It requires 3-wire power (plus ground) from the VFD to the spindle.
The two spindles use different collets; the 1.5kW uses ER16 and the 2.2kW uses ER20. Your 500W spindle might use ER11?
