Thread: Am I on the right track?

The shield should only be connected at one end. As long as one end is earthed all should be OK.

Thank you for your reply Lappa, will do as you suggest! I am also in two minds about using the pond pump supplied with the kit for cooling and wonder if there are better options available? I have seen others using a computer radiator with fans and pump. I’m a little concerned about the use of coolant and compatibility with the plastics/electrical in the pond pump long term??

Those cheap little pond pumps are perfect and more than adequate for the task. I would never use radiators and fans to cool the liquid as you've then introduced a never ending need to clean all the dust from them. Those who have trouble with the internals I would strongly suspect have used water which is the absolutely worst thing possible in these spindles. Coolants are designed to work in all manner of materials with no ill effects for the life of a car, no different to a CNC spindle. Mine has been this way for over 10 years now and the original coolant is as fresh as a daisy, as I make sure it can't get contaminated as per my earlier post.

If you run around 6 litres minimum ( I think I maybe have around 12 in mine? So long I can't remember properly), you could just about run the CNC 24/7 and have no need whatsoever for any sort of external cooling, the natural heat disbursement of the coolant will be more than adequate to keep the spindle from getting more than just a little warm to the touch.

Obviously the harder you run the spindle and the length of running will dictate how much extra coolant you'd want to run to maintain a comfortable heat margin.

Thanks Ian, and after I posted that question I reread your comments on the pond pump. What you say about the radiator makes sense, no matter how much I use my dust extractor I still end up with dust in the shed in some manner. I will stick with the pond pump (it’s the submersible type, which is what I was concerned with being in coolant not the spindle itself) if yours is fine then it’s enough for me. I have 6ltrs of coolant here, I will have a look at containers and see what suits and see if I need more coolant then. I certainly won’t be running it flat out, it’s weekend use only at this stage. Thanks again!!

Behold!

My patented and very profeshunal cooling system!

It's literally just a big tub at the back of the machine with a couple holes drilled for the hoses and pump power, and covered with a towel to block out any light (bad!) and contaminants (very bad!).

I think it's around 8 or so litres by the look, so may have evaporated somewhat, but is still spotlessy clean. I've got around 4000 or so .tap files on the control machine so it's done countless hours of machining over the last 10 years this way.

I see a lot on the CNC forums that people tend to over think many aspects of CNC'ing, I reckon it's an expensive enough hobby without adding unnecessary complications like fans that will clog up almost immediately. This way I really don't care if the tub gets covered in dust, the protective towel keeps the crap out. And if the submersible pump dies, the worst that should happen is a fuse blows.

Awesome Ian, I am at ease!! I have not read much on forums about CNC, I was looking on the weekend for wiring the spindle but worked it out myself and in the process saw a little about radiators, I didn’t do any real reading.
Everything else has been pretty straight forward with the setup, routing cables and coolant lines was a tight fit through the chains but it’s done. The vfd is straight forward too.
After spending my previous live with computers/photoshop and photography I think I should be able to handle fusion ok. If I run into trouble I will shout out for some more help!!
I still have ukuleles to finish and have been tinkering with the CNC in between shellacking! Once the instruments are done, I will dedicate time to this more.
Thanks again!!

Fusions probably one of the more popular general packages, but the best IMHO being Vectric's Vcarve for 2.5D stuff like what you'd be doing (but expensive), or Estlcam which is also well suited as a Vcarve type package and is quite a reasonable price:

Estlcam: 2D / 3D CAM und CNC Steuerung...

$7 10ltr bucket with lid, .50c 5mm to 10mm elbow and a bit of heavy compressor hose I was saving for a rainy day and about 8.5ltrs of coolant and it’s ready to go!
Is there an inlet and outlet on the spindle or does it not matter which way it’s plumed?

Good going!

Usually if it matters the docs will say, but all the ones I own it doesn't seem to matter.

I'm assuming you rewired the plug end of the mains lead to get the cabling through the hole?

Cool thanks! Yes, the pump come as 240v with an American plug end on it, I cut it off and put a proper one on I had in my busy box. Dad was a sparky, and a bit of that has rubbed off on me so I’m all good with wiring too (just in case anyone is concerned)

That's what I thought!

I just thought I'd better ask because if it was at the pump end that would be bad! I've actually seen that a couple times on cnczone!

Oh, that would be bad!! No need to worry, I did it at the plug top! I know that they are sealed in the pump too, but you do have to wonder about how some people are still alive

Cal,

Good to see the pics.
The metal on the workbee is certainly pretty thick. My next one will be a spindle but I've still a couple of months to go before moving (damn covid). Probably get another x-carve as I know the machine and it did all I asked of it.
Much more and I need to go for a semi professional unit, say a half sheet or similar.

I'm still not sold on water over a air cooled unit just yet, still to understand the advantages/disadvantages. I was wondering how the water is cooled and its good to see passive is fine. You could blow air over the bucket with a fan on a hot day to help the cooling, but dust. ..

Keep up the photos, always good to see some good work going on.

Good progress....well done