A bit confused about the blackbox relay. The instructions state to use the jumper to disable the relay if you are using a 0-10v spindle signal..? Or possibly it doesnt say that.. Its not 100% clear. I want to turn on a shop vac of about 800w, and i was thinking to stick another 240v contactor in my control box, and use the blackbox relay to trigger it.. Is that doable? Even if im using a spindle and the 0-10v output..? Also, im not yet clear how i tell the relay to turn on.. I understand its a grbl command, but how do i ensure this command is sent on each spindle/job start? Is it a feature of " control"software? (Apologies if its a silly question, ive not yet begun to look at the software side of things, and i know literally nothing yet on that side.. In theory im planning to use fusion360 /control..)
No, its a function of your CAM, to add commands to the headers/footers of your gcode. Usually in its settings, sometimes in the toolpath (enable or disable coolant options) or by editing the Post Processor. What CAM do you use? Use the Coolant output (in place of IoT relay you can use a 24v coil contactor): docs:blackbox:connect-coolant [OpenBuilds Documentation] M8 = vac on M9 = vac off In most configs yes. With proper VFD parameters and the popular VFDs at least. For more esoteric VFDs you may need to use the Spindle Enable jumper and relay to control the VFD too (rare though)
Thanks for the nice informative reply Cam-wise, im leaning towards fusion.. Its "free", seems powerful, and i already use autodesk software for a living.. Having said that, it might change. apart from a few youtube videos i still know nothing about Cam software or process, thats somewhere on a (very long) to-do list
Fusion has a learning curve to it, but good choice. Remember to use our Post processor: docs:software:fusion360 [OpenBuilds Documentation] And make sure you have a working Homing setup, Fusion and our Post uses G53 safe-moves (G53 = machine coordinates = set by homing) in between the G54-59.1 moves. For things like start and end of job. You need homing in place to prevent crashes when it references machine coordinates. In Fusion M8/M9 is turned on/off from the Toolpath options under: See Post #15 in fusion 360 x and y starting 5 mils off
Ok, thanks for the pointers, doesnt seem so hard.. However perhaps a simpler option might be to use the relay output on the vfd to do the same thing, when spindle comes on so does the relay. Not sure if either method is "better"
