Carbide Motion not triggering the VFD at start

CNC Brands Carbide3d
1

I installed the 65mm water cooled spindle a month or so ago and reconfigured the VFD for the auto start option. Everything was fine and a I used it for a couple of weeks on various projects.

I had the machine off and unplugged for a couple of weeks due to issues from hurricane Helene. Yesterday I powered back up and noticed tried the quick actions for spindle
Warmup but it would not turn on. I tried a simple test cut on air and the same thing. I eventually switched to manual, cycled through some speeds switched back to auto and things worked as usual.

Same experience today.

I usually turn the VFD on before turning on the CNC and initializing.

Is there anything I should do differently after a prolonged outage?

2

Did you program the VFD for automatically going into a run state?
If not you need to hit run to put it in a run state. I have a suspicion this is your problem.

If you want it to do have it go into a run state automatically, here’s a video for you.

https://support.pwncnc.com/kb/article/19-carbide3d-controllers/

3

Yes, I followed that proceedure before firing the VFD up the first time and it worked great.

Even now once I have switched to manual control and run the spindle for a bit and then switch back to auto everything works great.

It’s the first usage after re-initializing the machine that misbehaves. It’s not a huge deal, just more of an annoyance.

I don’t know if it is a failure of the C3D board or Carbide Motion to put out the right signal or the VFD not recognizing it for some reason.

I will ask in the C3D forum if anyone else has experienced this.

4

Hi,
Wow, thats a new one on me.
I don’t see how having to initialize it twice would make a difference over doing it once.

5

Is there a diagnostic mode I can put it in to try and determine if it is an issue from the C3D side of things?

It’s not so much initializing twice that resolves the problem. It is flipping to manual and spinning up and then flipping back to auto.

When it isn’t working the RPM on the VFD stays at 0 or maybe bounces up to a small number. I guess I can switch that display to show voltage.

6

Unfortunately, there is not. If you have a V5, can you remove the switch and connect the two leads on the switch to make it automatic all the time, but that should be a test. It also could be a loose lead on the switch. This again, this is still behavior I haven’t heard of before.

7

Meaning Shapeoko 5?
I do not, I have the Pro.

I just did some messing with it and it looks like the display is showing 5 +/- v all the time even with the CNC turned off which surprised me. Maybe I am misinterpreting the value.

I will mess around with it later. This time I did the manual spin up and then tried from Carbide Motion and I got nothing so it may be more perplexing than I had hoped.

I will keep trying to find a pattern.

8

No I meant the V5.

If its reading 5v “all the time”, hmm thats weird. If it was whenever you commanded over like 800 rpm’s it went to 5v, I know what that is… its bit runner, but I don’t know if that issue applies to the SO 5/5 pro. I thought itd only apply to machines where we plugged into the bit runner port.

Which light(s) are illuminated?

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9

Thanks. I will check this out later this evening.
I will also go through the auto run document and revalidate than have the settings correct.

I have the Pro, not the 5 Pro.
I did have a BitRunner and disabled that when getting the VFD set up initially.
It worked fine until I had it off and unplugged for a couple of weeks.

Is there a preference to turn the VFD on before the CNC or after?

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10

Doesn’t matter which order you turn the Machine/VFD on at.

11

I think I finally found the issue.
The connection from the VFD to the control board was a little loose. All my other theories were red herrings.

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