Hello, My 2.2KW spindle won’t turn off. It’s connected to a Huanyang VFD. Here’s the background story. I ran a short pocket tool path to resurface my spoilboard. I was running my bit at 120 IPM/15000 RPM. It was running fine for about a minute. Suddenly I heard the spindle increase rpm from 15000 to 24000 rpm (max rpm). However, the program ran fine and I let it finish the job. After the job finished, the spindle return to Zero, but the spindle didn’t spool down and stop. Instead it kept running at 24000 rpm. The only way to stop it was to turn off power to my VFD. I’ve tried the following: I made a simple profile tool path for a small square. I zeroed my spindle a conservative place on my spoil board (SB) and set Z0 about 20 cm above SB. I just wanted to run a simple tool path in the air to see if the spindle would reset itself, ie turn off after the program ended. I turned on power to VFD and spindle started spinning at 24000 rpm. When I loaded the code and pressed OK to start the program, the spindle went straight into my SB before I could stop it. I checked my toolpath in Vcarve. There was no reason for the spindle diving into my SB. It was set to cut at 1 mm depth. I reset everything and zeroed the Spindle at the same location. I turned on VFD and spindle ran at max speed again. On the VFD I pressed the red “STOP” button. Spindled spooled down and stopped. I ran the program again. Spindle didn’t spool but remained at 0 rpm but the tool path ran as designed. When I was initially running the tool path for resurfacing my SB, there were sparks going from the metal coil in my dust collection hose to the metal clamp on my dust shoe. I have no idea if this could initiate the jump in RPM from 15000 to 24000, or if this is just an ignorant speculation on my part. Just thought I’d throw that info in there as well. Please see attached pictures. I’ve tried my best to include all necessary info. I hope someone has some bright ideas. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks I’m advance…
Double check VFD parameters, sounds like it forgot its previous config / had not been completely set up yet
Thanks. I can try to have a look. It has been set up completely. I have used it with this configuration for a year, and haven’t changed anything.
That random speed-up along with the other change in behaviours, was what made me suspicious - as if it lost its config. As mentioned, just check first - if all the parameters are still the same, you can begin to look elsewhere, but from the symptoms, that's the first thing to check
Yeah, that sounds like a reasonable idea. I’ve never heard of VFD forgetting settings. I didn’t know that was possible. I will try to check. Only problem is that I don’t remember the settings and if I wrote them down, I have forgotten where. I will try to recreate it. Thanks again….
Well It could have picked up some damage - some of the chinese VFDs barely last a year But first, stop overthinking it - until proven that that is even what happened... Go check Maybe it didn't even loose any config... Its just a first guess.
I didn’t know the Huanyang was so inconsistent in quality. If you have any suggestions for a reliable replacement, I’d love to hear about it. Always good to not overthink. Obviously I have no idea if your suspicion is correct, but SOMETHING happened, as the spindle is not supposed to spool up when I power on the VFD. I think I’ve found some setting to check against mine. I’ll have a quick look - without overthinking it.
New development. I just started the VFD so I could check the settings. When I started it the spindle didn’t spool up. For a moment I thought it had magically reset itself. I turned on the OB BB and immediately the spindle spooled up to 24000 rpm. I ran the same simple tool path, but the spindle didn’t shut down this time either. After the end of the program, I tried to shut down the spindle manually via the Interface CNC Touch. That didn’t work. It didn’t respond. I turned off the power to the BB (VFD still powered on) and the spindle spooled down to a steady 2700 rpm and remained at that rpm until I turned off the power for the VFD. As far as I can tell that means that the issue is with the BB or Interface, as the spindle does not spool up on a autonomous command from the VFD, but only spools up on command from BB.
Sorry. Work got in the way. I’ve checked the voltage with a multimeter as per the description in the link. It shows a constant 23.36 volt. It’s doesn’t matter what M3 Sxxx I send or how much I turn the 0-10 volt dial. The spindle spins at a constant 24000 rpm. I have also double checked all wiring and I have gone through all the settings in the VFD as per the video linked on the BB page. I think the BB is faulty as everything has been running normally. Then when running a random program, as I’ve always done, the spindle suddenly goes from 15000 rpm to 24000 rpm in the middle of the program. I don’t see how that is possible with a normal functioning BB and VFD.
Yeah. That’s what I figured. Now I just need to figure out if I want to buy a new BB. Anyway, thank you very much for the always helpful suggestions and quick replies. It really is much appreciated…
Whichever controller you end up with, do try to locate the source of damage. In all the years I think of maybe two that got damaged that way - so something odd is going on. If the source isn't found and addressed, a replacement can suffer the same fate. BlackBox is protected against backfeeding and short circuits, so whatever caused it it might have been mains level (could be dangerous) I'd start checking for mains to DC GND shorts / leakage
Thank you. Sounds like a good idea. Is this testing something an electricity novice like me can do, or should I ask my electrician? I’ve had a look online, but unsure if I’m reading it right. Do you have a link to a walk through of how to test for mains to DC GND shorts/leakage?
If in doubt, consult an electrician. You can check for mains earth to DC ground with a multimeter but ONLY do so with every mains connection UNPLUGGED. Alex.
The electrician will own an expensive piece of kit called an Insulation tester. He can use that to test each of the spindle's three phase inputs to each other and to the spindle body to check for insulation breakdown (overheating causes insulation damage) and also double check the VFD itself (they do sometimes go bad, pennies gets pinched to bring them to market at that price - compare to Hitachi and Danfoss for example) Make sure its a guy who does real electrical work (not just swopping wall sockets for cosmetic reasons as a day job) familiar with motors/VFDs
