kafie1980
Tuesday 15 October 2019
1.5kW CNC Generic Air-cooled Spindle Power Curve profile for HSMAdvisor
On my CNC 3020 router which I put together as a bag of random bits bought off AliExpress, I had decided to go with a Generic 1.5kW Air-cooled cnc spindle. I had contacted the manufacturer for the torque-power curve chart related to the spindle but I received no plausible response. Even the spindle specifications mentioned on most AliExpress and Ebay listings seemed to be a bit vague and over estimated. Some listings for 1.5kW spindles had torque-power curve profiles copied from 2.2kW spindle listings. So, basically there was always some uncertainty in the information.
Several people have been using such spindles on their routers with great success after tweaking the parameters based on practical experience and best guesses, but I wanted something that was mathematically sensible. After putting several hours building the machine, the last time I wanted was something catastrophic happening. So I decided to do my research first before diving in to the deep end with no previous CNC experience.
I was playing with a demo version of the HSMAdvisor to determine some usable feeds and speeds for cutting T6061 aluminium and there were several machine profiles available for download from the cloud. One specific profile related to Generic Chinese CNC spindles is also provided but the profile seems too generic as below:
The above machine profile in HSMAdvisor seems to have been created in HSMAdvisor using the Power Curve Wizard and is a bit far from theoretical expectations of such high rpm spindles.
In an effort to create a real life usable machine profile, I started researching into the torque power curves for similar 1.5kW cnc spindles and it seemed most European manufactures were fairly transparent with regards to the specifications and torque power curves of the spindles they were selling.
Below is one such example of a 1.5kW spindle motor from a German manufacturer with similar power, rpm ranges and over all design:
I also found a power curve for another 1.1kW spindle motor from another German manufacturer as below:
Next, I wanted to calculate the best match torque-power curve for my generic Chinese CNC spindle using the specifications from information I gathered from various European manufacturers. To do this I had to understand the science behind torque & power curves and their relationship to motor specifications.
The German manufacturer that I borrowed the previous power curve charts also provided FAQ's related to the science behind how the power and torque of a motor are related to RPM etc as follows:
Now, I had enough information and proceeded to Excel to do my calculations:
Now, I was ready to create a best fit profile for my generic cnc spindle in HSMAdvisor:
At first, the resulting graph did not look very clean or refined as there curves appeared irregular, but then there must be something not perfect with the way graphs are plotted in HSMAdvisor.
I also reduced my Max Feed as my router cannot exceed 800mm/min before stalling while traversing an axis (something I realized via the Motor tuning wizard in Mach3).Stepper motors have their own torque curves which clearly indicate alot of torque in the low rpm ranges and I do not expect to chew through metal on a small router as a industrial grade cnc milling machine.
With the power curve setup in HSMAdvisor, I proceeded to calculate feeds and speeds for milling and drilling Al T6061 and machineable wax. The result was amazing, I made my first test parts on a tiny 3020 router with a 1.5kW spindle without any hiccups- no motor stalls, no broken milling bits, no jams.
Friday 8 February 2019
DRO Mix n Match for SX2P mill
The magnetic reader heads had information for the various coloured wires as follows:
I then bought a pair of no weld DB9 connectors to wire the magnetic read heads with the DRO display unit.
The wiring sequence I used is: Yellow=A= Pin 6, Brown=B= Pin 8, Grey=Z= Pin 9, Red=5VDC= Pin 7 and White=0V= Pin 2.
Tuesday 2 August 2016
Sourcing bits and pieces for my CNC router build
Saturday 30 July 2016
My journey in desiging a Laser cut Electronics enclosure
I was at a stage where all the required electronics components I required were in my possession and I decided to take on a new adventure of designing a laser cut acrylic enclosure.
I am quite comfortable using FreeCAD for my 3d printing design work but the software lacked the ability to make tabbed boxes. I did find a few options via FreeCAD and Inkscape but it was going to be very very hectic making things work especially with all the different formats such as .SVG, DXF, etc.
I stumbled across a website called www.makercase.com . It has a nice and simple online interface where you can with a few basic inputs quickly design a tabbed box and export an .SVG file with the design. If you want a quick tutorial on MakerCase.com you should have a quick look at this youtube tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptcxaANWrRM
Below is a snap shop of the MakerCase.com website:
Tuesday 12 July 2016
Electronic Supply Source Rewiew
Monday 13 June 2016
Hobby stores are starting to emerge in Malaysia
I was casually browsing the internet looking for some diy material to build a cnc enclosure for a cnc machine that I have left half baked on the back burner and stumbled upon an interesting post on Lowyat.net posted on 1st June 2016:
https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/3963660/all
I have no affiliation with the person but it seems he has setup a new online shop by the name www.Hobby-Hardware.com
They even have a store registered at Lelong.my if you feel safer.
You can refer to the information in the lowyat link posted above for some prices he has to offer for a quick comparison.
I am more excited about the fact that they are offering a reasonable price for aluminium extruded profiles, linear hardened shafts etc, and even various 3d printing consumables such as filaments, nozzles e.t.c on their website.
They offer cutting extrusions at custom length and also shipping within Malaysia and COD at specific locations in Klang Valley.
I assume that finally people are starting to realize that there is a small hobbyist group in Malaysia that is interested in building their own 3d printers and cnc machines.
Hopefully in the near future we will have more of such shops where hobbyists can source their project raw materials.
I hope this info will be beneficial to someone who is looking for raw material to build or maintain their own custom 3d printers or cnc machines.