[Turbo442]

Have a few questions tonight regarding a NM-145 BLDC motor problem I am having. This setup has been running for about a year without any issues. I realize that Novakon recommends upgrading to a 3phase motor setup with VFD. Here are my questions.

1. When the BLDC controller / motor fails, are there any common symptoms? In my case I had been running the mill for about 4 hours. Everything was working fine. I powered it up about 2 weeks later and my spindle would no longer power on. Let me correct that statement. I issued a m3 s3000 and it spooled up briefly and then stopped after about 1 second. It never reached full RPM. No smoke, no burned smell. The x y and z axis still jog. No estop issues. The fuse is good. The spindle is just un-responsive.

2. Looking at the BOB, the 'spindle enable' light is not on. I thought this led needs to be lit, or does that only occur when the spindle is moving?

3. Probably one of the bigger signs of trouble is the power led on the BLDC controller was flickering and now is very dim. I believe in the past it was brightly lit. The led next to the capacitors is still brightly lit. Looking at the photo below, The power led on the BLDC daughter board looks brightly lit. Not long after this photo was taken the light began to flicker. Now it is very dim. The problem was occuring even while this led was brightly lit.

4. Is there any documentation out there for the BOB I have if I decided to go the VFD route?

5. And finally, for those that have done the 3 phase VFD upgrade, whats your opinion on motors with the NM145? 4 pole 1720 or 2 pole 3440? I spend 99% of my time machining aluminum. I tend to use smaller EM's and higher RPM for a lot of my stuff.

Thanks,
Matt

[Novakon]

The best option is to look into the spindle motor upgrade kit offer by Shadow Spawn.

The link is as follows: Shadow Spawn

This kit has been installed by many NM-145 owners and works very well. The power and speed of the kit motor is top notch.

Regards,
Novakon Team

[Turbo442]

I walked by the mill today and hit the power switch. Both lights on the Bldc controller came on bright. I tried the spindle and it worked. I wonder if the PC power supply might be causing issues intermittently.

[protrackcorp]

One of the things you can easily do is hit the reset button on the bob (the little small red detent button) . I find that this will solve small software issues when running my NM145. Also I found that making sure I had the latest service pack from Microsoft for windows helped in a big way. Even though I still might have random software issues freezing the machine, once I reset it will run all day. And rarely I have to restart Mach3.

[neilw20]

Sounds like the black relay on the BLDC board.

If ESTOP is used to stop the machine, then there is a high surge in the relay, upon releasing ESTOP, as the capacitors charge without current limit resistor.
The white resistor near the relay, I am guessing limits the charge current through the contacts normally but using ESTOP bypasses this mechanism, once machine is on.
The reason I am guessing, is I have experienced this on similar BLDC boards, but have not actually touched this model.

Bottom line... ESTOP is for emergencies, and using it for other than that often kills the relays, in time.
This, I suspect, is why it started working again. The contact has recovered, sufficiently for it to function.

If you continue to use it, without using the ESTOP, it will likely work well for a while.