So after looking around quite a bit at Shapeoko and X-Carve etc for my first CNC. I've decided that it's a better financial option to build my own CNC. I plan to use it for wood and some aluminum. I'm pretty mechanically inclined but not so much electronics. I think I've decided to go with the CNC4Newbies frame which is a 3'x3' cutting area and screw driven. It looks pretty stout. I've also been looking at a 110v 2.2kw water cooled spindle with VFD on Amazon. Huangyang or something like that. Now I just need electronics. Initially I considered building my own controller, but that would take me forever to figure out. I'd like a more plug 'n play type of setup. So I started looking at the OB Black Box. I'd prefer to be able to run Mach4 but I feel that GRBL will at least get my foot into the CNC world. But my concern is the power limitations. It being a 24volt system and all. I was going to use the high torque Nema 23s from OB. So I'd be trying to run 4 steppers, VFD, water cooler, etc. Even the info for the stepper motors recommends 24-48v so being on the low end of the spectrum isn't exactly ideal in my mind. But I'm a total newb to this so I would really appreciate some advice. Even if you know of another (not too pricey) controller instead of the black box I'd love to hear it. Thanks for the help!
You can remove VFD and water cooler from your power requirements. The BB is only going to power the onboard drivers. It will send low voltage signals to everything else you have. I have high torque steppers on my machine and had to dial my rapid speeds back when going from 48v to the BB 24V, but I'm still at 6000mm/min. You'll never cut that fast.
So basically it's only going to send command signals to the VFD and water cooler, not actually power them? I just want to make sure I understand that correctly. What are rapid speeds?
Correct. Doesnt a 110v VFD use AC? So using a blackbox wouldnt be any different. Even us that use a hand held router have two power sources. Some of us even use the black box to send a signal to a relay that will turn our router on and off. VFD is basically the same. OpenBuilds BlackBox 4X Documentation For simplicity sake, rapid = how fast you can go while not cutting. Like if you were jogging the machine around.
****, it even states it right at the top of that page lol. I thought I saw that page from another users post but I guess not. Thanks for the help!
