Spindle Hookup Instructions

Doesn’t surprise me. When it comes to connecting vfd’s to the SLB, the details and instructions are sorely lacking. If anybody disagrees with me regarding this statement, I say prove it and post pictures of how you connected your SLB to your VFD. I can do it, but the PMW slider doesn’t change the RPMs. Had to do the same for my 20W laser and use a manual voltage regulator for power. In the end, using the VFD keypad seems to be the best and least complicated solution. I don’t see the benefit of controlling the spindle through the software anyway. It is for this reason (and many others) my next CNC purchase will not be a hobby machine.

@CraigCoulter I can’t “prove it” as I don’t have a VFD and spindle set up. I know that Chris is working on the SLB docs now. Can you please confirm that it is the Spindle/RS485 section of the documentation here

that is lacking? Since these seem quite detailed to my ignorant eyes, you could help by setting out what is lacking.

I think the manual presumes the person is already using one of the options (analog, RS485) so it is also assumed the person already has the knowledge to connect it to the VFD. I have tried multiple configurations with the analog and still cannot get GSender to vary the spindle speed. It’s all on at 24,000 RPM or nothing. I have a Huanyang 2.2KW 110V inverter and an H100. I believe I have made all the appropriate parameter changes in the VFD as required. I even tried jumping the DCM to the FOR and DCM to the ACM. No joy. It would seem wiring the machine for RS485 would be the simplest thing to do but I spent hours trying to get that to work and painstakingly went through adjusting the VFD parameters and ensuring the GSender firmware matched. Again, nothing worked. Connecting RS- to A and RS+ to B is simple enough but which ground do you connect ACM or DCM? And what about the anemic 5 volt? What does that connect to? I ordered a PWM to 0-10V Analog signal converter. Will see if that works. Why did Sienci put a RJ11 jack in for the RS485 vs a standard RJ45? This board is anything but plug and play.

I only have the RS- to A and RS+ to B connected. I don’t have the ground or the 5V connected. I agree the documentation is lacking. There is a reference to a $477 setting that does not exist - this is a typo should be $476.

I think there must be some voodoo involved. Mine magically started working. See my post here: Huanyang v1 VFD via RS485

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If I were to guess, the “voodoo” was simply in turning the controller and the inverter off and back on. I hear a hammer works too :wink: Thanks for sharing.

Turn it off. Go back into the house. Have a beer on it. Sleep on it. Go back to workshop in the morning and BAM, it works. I still cannot figure out the $30 and $31 syntax change.

James.

@jmckeand
I’m sure you have read this extract from (grbl/doc/markdown/settings.md at master · gnea/grbl · GitHub)already but here you go.

$30 - Max spindle speed, RPM

This sets the spindle speed for the maximum 5V PWM pin output. Higher programmed spindle RPMs are accepted by Grbl but the PWM output will not exceed the max 5V. By default, Grbl linearly relates the max-min RPMs to 5V-0.02V PWM pin output in 255 increments. When the PWM pin reads 0V, this indicates spindle disabled. Note that there are additional configuration options are available in config.h to tweak how this operates.

$31 - Min spindle speed, RPM

This sets the spindle speed for the minimum 0.02V PWM pin output (0V is disabled). Lower RPM values are accepted by Grbl but the PWM output will not go below 0.02V, except when RPM is zero. If zero, the spindle is disabled and PWM output is 0V.

$32 - Laser mode, boolean

When enabled, Grbl will move continuously through consecutive G1, G2, or G3 motion commands when programmed with a S spindle speed (laser power). The spindle PWM pin will be updated instantaneously through each motion without stopping. Please read the Grbl laser documentation and your laser device documentation prior to using this mode. Lasers are very dangerous. They can instantly damage your vision permanantly and cause fires. Grbl does not assume any responsibility for any issues the firmware may cause, as defined by its GPL license.

When disabled, Grbl will operate as it always has, stopping motion with every S spindle speed command. This is the default operation of a milling machine to allow a pause to let the spindle change speeds.

So in Feb 2022, Kevin told us these were user configurable values , I have always used
$30 = 100
$31 = 0
to show the amount of power I was applying to the laser , as long as this value agreed with smax in Lightburn , I have never had call to change

In the second part of my post about he VFD via RS485 I found that when I compared the working and non-working settings backups, I found some weirdness.

@jmckeand
Using a Huanyang spindle 400hz @ 60hz , I would expect to see max spindle speed of 24000 rpm.
$ 30 = 24000.000
$ 31 = 1000.000 this suprises me a little. I expected 6000rpm

I have a Blackbox X32 and everything worked fine. I purchased the SLB because I thought it would be easier to implement an A axis (with the Blackbox you have to wire your Y axis using a 12 pin switch). Changing out the connectors is a pain which is why I haven’t flipped right back to the BBX32. Hoping Sienci will realize connecting a VFD and Spindle to the SLB is a gaping hole in their product, but, hey, I bet they are focusing a lot of time on getting their own Spindle working just fine. :wink: I’m going to keep tinkering to eventually get something to work either analog or RS485. I ordered a 5V to 10V up converter that will be here tomorrow. So will give that a try. If I do get something working, I’ll post pictures and parameter settings for the Huanyang 2.2KW. Till then, I’m making do with using the keyboard on the VFD.

The $31 was from the Spark Concepts configuration recommendation for my xPRO v5. I just translated the settings from the config.yaml to the firmware config in gSender for my SLB. Most of my bits want a 18K RPM, so I’ve never gone down to 1K RPM.

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@jmckeand This isn’t a typo, if you’re setting up the VFD as “Spindle 1” then the setting is $477. If you’re setting it up as “Spindle 0” then the setting will be $476 :+1:

@CraigCoulter anything we can do to improve documentation for SLB we’ve been working on. Spindle hookup is a large area that will never be finished because of all the models of VFDs you might be trying to hook up - so it really becomes a question of why all VFD manufacturers have done such a poor job on their end making their devices so hard to program and set up rather than making them more universal. That being said we wrote example instructions for the Huanyang and are also planning to add the H100 since that’s been another common one appearing recently.

Also an RJ11/25 jack was used because that’s what other VFDs use, they don’t tend to use RJ45

I understand you’re frustrated because your setup isn’t working and I’m happy to help but different setups are going to be inherently harder to troubleshoot. If anyone has feedback on improvements, I’ve been on this forum and answering emails every week and implementing things as I see them. Just yesterday I implemented a whole lot more changes to the docs to further improve clarity. If the feedback is just that the docs are bad then that doesn’t really give me anything actionable that I can do to address what’s bad about them

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@chrismakesstuff Thanks. I literally did not see a a $477 - I guess because I didn’t have a Spindle 1 enabled… :man_facepalming:

Stop learning, stop living.
James.

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I appreciate the challenge given the number of different VFDs out there but while there are a lot of brands, they are all fundamentally the same (at least with the three I own). Programming the parameters has not been the issue, it is the wiring because it is not a one-to-one when it comes to terminology. I would settle for a simple analog hookup to my SLB but haven’t been successful no matter what combination I try. I can only get the controller to turn the VFD on at 24,000 RPM or off. The slider does not control the RPMs. I did not have an issue with the Longboard before. Nor the BB X32 when I started using it later. I was using a Delixi 1.5KW inverter back then.

Are there wiring instructions for the Huanyang available? If so, where can I find it? Researching the internet, I’ve seen others simply connecting the GND to ACM (though the Huanyang says it should be the DCM), and PMV to VI and then jump DCM to FOR. This didn’t work for me because I didn’t have any control over the speed. As it relates to the SLB and where it breaks down for me is connecting the DIR and EN wires.

Regarding the RS485, I haven’t seen a VFD that has an actual RJ12, RJ25, or RJ45 terminal connection. Just RS+, RS- wire connections. It seems to me most breakout boards use the RJ45, USB, or a standard serial connector which is why I asked the question. I think I found in the handbook that my VFD requires 10V for the RS485 connection. I just got a PMV 5v to 10v up converter so I’ll give that a try. I assume the GND will connect to either the ACM or DCM.

It seems to me Sienci tried to cram a lot into the SLB (I suppose to futureproof the investment) which I appreciate. Still, it seems like the documentation needs to catch up with the feature capabilities so we can spend more time making and not troubleshooting. I just bought a TLS only to discover it has 4 wires, not three. Now I dread the amount of time this is going to take to get it functional.

It would be cool if Scienci would simply purchase some of the more popular brands of inverters and show via diagrams and pictures how to connect these to the SLB. I think that is all you have to do. It would then cover the terminology gap and we can figure out the rest. If you would cover the shipping, you are welcome to use my H100 since I’m not using it right now. If anyone out there has already set up a Huanyang VFD 2.2KW with their spindle and can control it using the SLB I’d like to know how it is wired. Sharing the parameter programming would be a plus too.

@CraigCoulter I can’t address most of your comments/issues, but since you asked whether there are wiring instructions for the Huanyang, can I assume that these instructions in the SLB manual don’t give you what you need? I know that Chris is working on this manual, so if it is lacking in this area, I’m sure that he would like to know that.

Edit: I had forgotten that I had posted this link in one of your previous posts. My apologies.

@CraigCoulter
Craig, I can’t help you with the H100 inverter other than to point you to VFD Configuration | PrintNC Wiki
and more importantly their Discord (top left of the menu)
once there search for “H100” , there is some information there which you may find useful.

With respect to the TLS , I have a 4 wire Hilitand brand which works fine with the instructions Sienci’s SLb manual. I wired in signal and ground. I did not make use of the overtravel alarm.

@CraigCoulter
Does this https://bulkman3d.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/HY01D523B-VFD-Manual.pdf match your instructions? This is the manual Sienci has based the SLB setup on for Huanyang.

Thanks for sending. It is the same manual I have for my Huanyang VFD. I suppose I’m looking for pictures of the wiring and parameter codes. No one seems to be able to produce these. I’d take analog or RS485. Since I don’t think I’m a dumb guy and have tried almost every conceivable way to connect the SLB to the VFD, I suppose right now I’m a skeptic and assume everyone is using a Makita router or if they have a spindle, using the keyboard manually.

I’ll see if I can seek out any more of the information you mention would be useful to you.

Would you be able to point me to a comparable spot in the BlackBox documentation so I could also have a point of reference for what would be useful for you to get your setup working on the SLB?

You mentioned your version wants 10v. It appears in the SLB docs they warn 10v may be a problem as SLB spindle control voltage is 5v. Hopefully the up converter works for you. Good luck! Fingers crossed.