[Ron Thompson]

No 90 degree, but 180 degree is possible with a belt drive.

[sgenevay]

that would be really helpful to put the Y-axis stepper away (cause this is the only one having a way to use this solution) but will i loose some accuracy while milling aluminium cause of "mini" belt flexibility ?
of something like this then: https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/XL-2-...08.4.16.oP5cga
Or would a gear system be more accurate ?

[Ron Thompson]

Commercial machines that cut steel use timing belt drives.

[kduval]

I just purchased a 6040 charmhigh machine with the 1.5kw water cooled spindle and vfd. The machine seems alright, but the documentation is little to non existent. I have managed to get everything working with the exception of controlling the spindle through mach3. Does anyone have some insight on properly controlling the VFD that comes in their black control box through mach3?

[tigerfan413]

We just got a 6040 machine, but unlike many of the other machines I see pictures of, mine does not say 6040 CNC on the controller box, it says SXCNC instead. Maybe its the same, maybe its different.

That being said, we cannot get the spindle to move in the X,Y, or Z planes using Mach3. I can control the spindle speed using the knob on the controller box, but that is it. We are using an old Dell Inspiron Laptop that is plugged in at all times. Could this be the problem, or is there another one all together? We have a cord labelled "A" that does not appear to have a place to plug into on the table or motors itself either. If anyone can help me out with this I would greatly appreciate it, as I am so eager to get this machine running. It is our first venture into the CNC milling world (as I'm sure you can tell by my troubles with the most basic of tasks).
Thanks in advance.

[ronthomp]

tigerfan413, did you plug the motor cables into the back of the control box? There are plugs labeled X, Y, Z, and A.

[tigerfan413]

Yes! However, A does not seem to have a place to plug into on the cnc itself. maybe im just an idiot and missing it. We bought this second hand and got no instructions or directions. Paid only $700US for it, so it was steal and we jumped in with two feet, so excuse my ignorance and lack of knowledge on it at all.

[john-100]

pictures of your machine and the control box showing the controls , rear connectors and the boards used in side will help

they mix and match the boards use depending on the spindle motor and stepper motors fitted to the machine

on a 3 axis machine they just install 3 stepper motor drivers

the breakout board used on a 3 axis control box can be the connectors missing for the 4th axis !
the connector for the home & limit switches may also be missing when the original cnc router does not have the switches installed


John

[tigerfan413]

pictures of your machine and the control box showing the controls , rear connectors and the boards used in side will help

they mix and match the boards use depending on the spindle motor and stepper motors fitted to the machine

on a 3 axis machine they just install 3 stepper motor drivers

the breakout board used on a 3 axis control box can be the connectors missing for the 4th axis !
the connector for the home & limit switches may also be missing when the original cnc router does not have the switches installed


John

Here is the controller.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[HiString]

Identical to the unit we purchased a couple of months ago.

Cable "A" is for a 4th axis, usually a rotating unit that mounts to the T-slots on the bed.

Did you happen to notice the note on the back of your controller regarding laptops?

[tigerfan413]

No, I hadn't noticed it, but I also had never disconnected and inspected the controller until tonight. So thanks for that. We have another desktop at our disposal, we just liked the portability and had hoped it would work! Ill get the software over onto the desktop and we will see if that makes it run! I sure hope so.

[john-100]

be very careful and ensure you connect the spindle motor to the VFD drive output !

the VFD output should of been connected to a touch proof socket and not the same 4 pin plug they have used for the four axis outputs
( on the UK version I would not like to have 240V on exposed pins !! never mind the it being possible to connect a stepper motor to the VFD )

even if you could get the control to work with a laptop ,
the power saving features on laptops will cause timing errors with mach 3's pulse timing

John

PS

example of 5 pin plug & socket
Attachment 362120

[Adverse Effects]

even if you could get the control to work with a laptop ,
the power saving features on laptops will cause timing errors with mach 3's pulse timing

John

that is easy to to fix by going in and turning off power saveing and editing the power profiles of the USB / LPT port to not go to sleep and in to low power mode

but i still wouldnt use a laptop on a CNC

[A_Camera]

even if you could get the control to work with a laptop ,
the power saving features on laptops will cause timing errors with mach 3's pulse timing

The problem is not power saving, that can be disabled if needed, and in fact, it exists also in desktops. The problem is that most, if not all, laptops use 3.3V logic and those Chinese boxes require 5V logic. Anyway, with a simple UC100 you can convert any laptop with USB to be a compatible PC for CNC control.

I just noticed another thing which may cause problems. Those drivers look like if the PP port pins are directly connected to the opto couplers, without any buffers in between the PP port pins and the opto. That's is really poor engineering and crappy design. Also the LEDs seems to be connected directly... so those drivers seems to be real bad and should be replaced.

[A_Camera]

but i still wouldnt use a laptop on a CNC

Why not? I and many others use laptops without problems. What I would not do is using the parallel port, regardless if it is a laptop or a desktop. A dedicated motion controller is the way to go, Ethernet is best but even USB is better than PP.

[Adverse Effects]

I just noticed another thing which may cause problems. Those drivers look like if the PP port pins are directly connected to the opto couplers, without any buffers in between the PP port pins and the opto. That's is really poor engineering and crappy design. Also the LEDs seems to be connected directly... so those drivers seems to be real bad and should be replaced.

LOL its a $900 CNC made in the cheapest way possible with the lowest grade components and cabling and your astonished that the engineering and design of the boards are crap???????????

[falacncrouter]

The common size mini cnc router in China is 600mm*900mm size, not 600mm*400mm

[Adverse Effects]

The common size mini cnc router in China is 600mm*900mm size, not 600mm*400mm

no body here asked anything close to a question that would get that reply so why did you post here??

trying to get your post count up so you can post spam??

[macinblack]

I ask the same, buy a full 6040 or a 6040 frame and buy all electronics like gecko 540 and better motors in other place?

[tgdavies]

I bought a G540 and an ethernet smooth stepper, and haven't regretted it -- but you do need to be comfortable wiring up mains powered equipment.
I didn't bother replacing the stepper motors -- what's the reason for doing that?