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Thread: Spindle turning off during cut

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Location
    Glendale, WI
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    107

    Default Spindle turning off during cut

    Hi everyone,

    Today, as I was cutting acrylic for the first time, the spindle started acting up.

    First, after I pushed spacebar to temporarily stop the job and then resumed the job, the spindle did not turn back on and broke the tip off my 30 degree engraving bit. I was having some issues with the acrylic melting/gumming up, which is why I stopped. But it wasn't anything major.

    Then, for the next job, I ran a simple .05" pocket with a 1/4 O flute to mark my pilot hole locations. When the job started the spindle wouldn't turn on. I stopped the job before the bit plunged, repeated and got the same results many times. The sbp file definitely has the C6 command where it should be. And then for comparison, I switched to a different file and the spindle started.

    I redid and resaved my toolpaths, and the next time the pilot hole toolpath worked fine. Then I ran the job toolpath, and I first noticed that every so often the machine would seem to stutter while cutting. And then the machine simply stopped moving, and then the spindle turned off. It was hard to get out of the SB3 software too, as the software believed it was still cutting and pressing the spacebar did nothing.

    I continued restarting the jobs where I left off, and it continued to work for a while, then full stop again.

    Finally I switched to wood. Running a pocket in plywood, all was well until I noticed a few stutters again, and then this time the spindle shut off but the XY movement continued until I did an emergency stop. Fortunately my bit didn't break.

    Also worth noting...if I manually enter the C6 command, the spindle starts up for literally a second and then stops. I also tried pulling up the keyboard and pressing 1 to start the spindle. That worked at first. Then it wouldn't. After a full reboot (which I've done many times today), it worked for 15 minutes and then the spindle shut off. The housing was a little warm, but certainly nothing was hot. The fan works.

    Ahhhh!!!

    I am running a 48x96 PRS Standard with the HSD 2.2 spindle.

    Any ideas what is going on? Shopbot is closed today due to snowmaggedon in Durham.

    Thanks!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    iBILD Solutions - Southern NJ
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    7,986

    Default

    You may have overheated the spindle & it shut down to protect itself.

    When the control box is on, and the key (if equipped) is in the on position, does the spindle fan run? Does the cooling fan stop or run when the condition happens?

    If the cooling fan isn't running, I'd put my money on a bad 24v power supply.

    -B
    High Definition 3D Laser Scanning Services - Advanced ShopBot CNC Training and Consultation - Vectric Custom Video Training IBILD.com

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Location
    Glendale, WI
    Posts
    107

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Brady Watson View Post
    You may have overheated the spindle & it shut down to protect itself.

    When the control box is on, and the key (if equipped) is in the on position, does the spindle fan run? Does the cooling fan stop or run when the condition happens?

    If the cooling fan isn't running, I'd put my money on a bad 24v power supply.

    -B
    Best I can tell the fan runs continuously. When I first ran the spindle today, I wasn’t using the dust collector because I wanted to see how the acrylic would cut. It did create a decent amount of acrylic dust, and I wonder if it got sucked into the spindle?

    But why would the xyz action stop too (every time except for the last time)?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Location
    Glendale, WI
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    Default

    And it’s incredibly dry. Static electrical interference? The acrylic dust cling to the machine like crazy. How should my machine be grounded?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 1999
    Location
    Rock Hill SC
    Posts
    500

    Default

    Also I have found that shutting the Shopbot program down and re-starting can fix a lot of problems like this. For some reason my machine does not like the C5 spindle warmup program and will, at time, do strange little things like this.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
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    iBILD Solutions - Southern NJ
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by bking1836 View Post
    And it’s incredibly dry. Static electrical interference? The acrylic dust cling to the machine like crazy. How should my machine be grounded?
    Good point. It is possible that static is triggering output 1.

    Make sure you are properly grounded. Do a search on here for static and grounding. It's been answered a gajillion times over the years...Bare copper wire inside/through the dust hose. Yes, INSIDE it...

    -B
    High Definition 3D Laser Scanning Services - Advanced ShopBot CNC Training and Consultation - Vectric Custom Video Training IBILD.com

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Location
    Glendale, WI
    Posts
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Brady Watson View Post
    Good point. It is possible that static is triggering output 1.

    Make sure you are properly grounded. Do a search on here for static and grounding. It's been answered a gajillion times over the years...Bare copper wire inside/through the dust hose. Yes, INSIDE it...

    -B
    Thanks Brady. I wonder why the shopbot assembly manual doesn’t include machine grounding, or maybe I missed something.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    iBILD Solutions - Southern NJ
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    7,986

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    ...and rob you of your "CNC career come up 'ins" ??!!

    What fun would that be?

    FYI - those 24v power supplies for the fans notoriously go bad. I've replaced a lot of them over the years. (on the road) - Keep an eye on it, check voltage, re-seat the connections going into it for the fan - and keep an eye/ear out for that fan quitting in the middle of the job. The fans also don't last forever...

    -B
    High Definition 3D Laser Scanning Services - Advanced ShopBot CNC Training and Consultation - Vectric Custom Video Training IBILD.com

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Location
    Glendale, WI
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    Default

    Quick update. Worked with the always excellent folks at shopbot tech support and ran a series of experiments. The issue is almost certainly static from the dust collection system. Now I need to do the bare copper wire grounding solution.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Location
    Glendale, WI
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    Default

    Another update. I ran bare copper wire inside the flex hose, out the top of the flex hose and wrapped it around the metal brackets that attach the ductwork to the ceiling. My jobs still stutter and then eventually come to a full stop.

    Qo592qxzQyKyJ2Lfg4VH3A.jpg
    IMG_2747.jpg

    I know very little about electricity. Is it a problem that I wrapped the copper wire around the hose clamp at the dust shoe? If I leave it dangling in the hose, it will end up making its way into the cutter at some point. Does the copper wire have to travel all the way to the dust collector? BTW, there's already a ground wire running from the motor to the metal grates that surround the cyclone's filter.

    If I've properly grounded the dust collector, now what?

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