Cnc for pcb and enclosures

[Ice-9]

I'm in the UK but this is the spindle I bought.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262273555055?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649

It has only had about 20hours of use so far so I really can't yet comment on how long it will last.

The electrical connector (aviation socket) on the spindle needs replaced as they ship with a 3 pin connector which just connects the 3 phases of the motor to the VFD and no ground. Most of these Chinese spindles have no ground connection on the spindle so it is advised to swap the connector for a 4 pin connector and add the ground. This info can be found out over at the CNCZone.com forums and is a common subject.

While I have had no issues with the spindle yet, I would maybe prefer to go for the 4 bearing spindle with German bearings rather than as I expect the one I have which is a two bearing version.

I modified the VFD which I have posted info on the mod at cnczone also. I noticed that some VFD's have a pot to manually control the spindle speed, I took a guess that my VFD was just a lower model than the ones with a pot so I took the control panel to bits and sure enough, a space for a pot on the PCB was unpopulated. After tracing testing the pot connections with a DMM it was obvious that the pot was all that was needed to add manual speed control rather than the up/down buttons. (10k pot fitted job done.)

[canman]

Mm, yeah I forgot about the UK thing.  I'll have to keep digging.  I'll also look for the VFD pot mod on CNCZone, I've been perusing those forums quite a bit lately.

[Ice-9]

Mm, yeah I forgot about the UK thing.  I'll have to keep digging.  I'll also look for the VFD pot mod on CNCZone, I've been perusing those forums quite a bit lately.

My user name over at cnczone is Sundayforsammy, I started the thread about the cnc3040 at first asking for info and help on deciding what would be best to get. After getting the machine  and starting the upgrade path I posted all the info in the same thread, this has pictures of how I made the spindle mod and the VFD mod.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/chinese-machines/301854-cnc.html

Info included by some experienced members of the site regarding the Gecko controller and general electronics upgrading as well.