[wholesaleneon]

I just bought one of these 6040 routers from Ebay. 800w water cooled spindle.
4 Axis CNC Router ENGRAVER Engraving Machine Carving 6040 Four Crafts Great | eBay
It has, of course, no documentation. The driver board is a JP-3163B. with a separate 4th axis driver.
I would like to connect the "Nowforever" VFD to the 0-10V output on the board to gain speed control in the G-code. I can't seem to find out how to activate it in Mach3. I don't know how to tell what pin it is.
I have found a pinout drawing, but it seems to be for an earlier version of the board, as the pins and jumpers aren't exactly the same. In any case, the pin is marked 0-10v, but no designation for the parallel port pin.
Any help would be appreciated.
BTW, after swapping to shielded cables, the machine seems stable. Before, it was losing steps when the VFD was on.

where did you get the cables from?

[Ron Thompson]

Ebay, auction #321695048482.

[Sinnsvak]

I know why its important to use shielded cable to from the VFD to spindle, because they produce pretty significant noise. I have experienced that first hand. But my stepper kit from cncrouterparts came with unshielded cables to the steppers, and that have not been an issue for me.

Can the steppers really be a noise problem?

[Adverse Effects]

no but the cables to them act like Antenna and collect noise and feed it to the controller

[Sinnsvak]

Ah, thanks, that makes sence!

Edit* I claimed the CNCRouterparts.com stepper cables were not shielded, and I were wrong. I just checked, and they do indeed have a thin aluminium foil wrapped around the wires.

[Fred27]

Very useful info on this thread, guys. Thanks. I just got myself a second hand 6040Z-S65J which seems to work OK during initial jogging around using the blue box. A G540 is ready to go in when I get a chance though.

I managed to find some reasonable shielded stepper cable, but does anyone know of a source of shielded VFD cable in the UK (to suit a 800W spindle)? All I've found so far is 30m reels for £200+.

[aarggh]

Ebay, auction #321695048482.

I'd possibly be concerned at the thickness of the wire strands in that cable. Ideally that thick you'd need to have as large a radius for bends as possible to avoid breaks. Normally the cable used for these machines is quite fine multi-strands, but a lot of them for the current capacity.

cheers, Ian

[aarggh]

I know why its important to use shielded cable to from the VFD to spindle, because they produce pretty significant noise. I have experienced that first hand. But my stepper kit from cncrouterparts came with unshielded cables to the steppers, and that have not been an issue for me.

Can the steppers really be a noise problem?

It's more commonly an issue with the cheap Chinese drivers, not so much other known good ones. Mainly due to routinely bad design, and inferior circuit layout and components.

cheers, Ian

[sn0wchyld]

ok if that is the case here is what i had to do to my 6040
1:- replace controller with G-540
2:- replace all stepper cables with grounded shielded cables
3:- replace the VFD <-> spindle cable with heavy shielded grounded cable
4:- remove and disassemble all ball nuts (has some gritty sand stuff in 1 of mine)
5:- fit homing / limit switches
6:- go over the whole unit and check for striped threads / lose bolts (i had to helicoil 2 of mine and several where lose)
-------
things to do

upgrade power supply from 24VDC to 48VDC
build a dust cabinet because this thing throws crap all over the place and even in to the next room

that is about it i think

ive had a completely different story... cables and controller for mine were fine (unshielded, but didn't seem to matter). I was having issues, but seemed to be PC related. Was pretty obvious when I could consistently cause the motors to loose steps/loose sink entirely by re-positioning the mach 3 window in windows while jogging....

so, my list of changes is:

1 ethernet SS. all control issues solved.
2 dust extractor attachment, great for aluminium too (keeps chips out)
3 sound deadening enclosure - also keeps any stray chips in rather than all over the floor, and means i can work on my pc next to it comfortably
4 replaced Z axis, which had a stuffed ballscrew. Switched to supported rails while I was at it, with some more travel.
5 just finished - home made fog-buster. runs off an airbrush compressor, so nice and quiet too.
6 also setup the diaphram pump to run off 5v rather than 24, much, much quieter - I cant even hear when its on now. if you're using one of these I highly reccomend it - saves switching to an aquarium pump. also means you can 'suck' the coolant through, rather than 'push', so if any leaks happen you just get some bubbles in your coolant line rather than coolant spraying everywhere (dont ask why I know this happens!).
7 limit switches
8 Z height probe plate (should have done this first, SO useful)

still to do
supported rails on Y axis (my y axis is most peoples X fyi)
brushless vacuum system so I can use alcohol coolant on aluminium, and still vacuum up chips/keep fumes out.
add some web-cameras so I can monitor things remotely

wishlist
auto tool changer (who doesn't have this on their wishlist?!)

I'd suggest a ESS in either case - it means you can comfortably run windows 7+ without issue, and lets you use laptops or mini pc's too.

[Fred27]

@kuntheec Sorry to hear you've had problems, but this thread is about the CNC6040 It's long enough without irrelevant posts about lasers.

Ah - I can see your just spamming everywhere with the same post.

[asuratman]

Actually, it is better to purchase frame only?

[tgdavies]

Actually, it is better to purchase frame only?

I did that -- *if* you are comfortable wiring up a g540 and power supply into an enclosure and doing the rest of the wiring yourself then it isn't a bad way to go -- you will have a result that is more or less guaranteed to work.

I made that choice before the 'black' controller boxes were available -- they have a better reputation than the 'blue' ones, so perhaps now it is not necessary. You won't save money going frame only.

[asuratman]

I have one with the black box, it works OK.

[hobotek]

A I wanted to play with Photocarve,I bought a 3040Z (small version of 6040) as my Syil is too slow and the head to heavy for the rapid up and down moves. I ordered it from lovehappyshopping. Arrived with the vertical axis shaft end 1/4" and 3/8" top plate badly bent, before it was packaged as no significant damage to packaging. Replacement ballnut and screw arrived quickly. After such an impact, I dismantled the whole machine to check for damage. There was none and the machine is a wonderfully simple but very robust bit of kit. It would be a simple job to use the mill the make a duplicate or larger model of itself. Having read the posts about the control box, I wondered how it was going to perform. However it was pretty ok, fairly accurate on positioning checks. Dont forget the cheeky way to get power to the opto isolated parallel port skt. It needs 5v stolen from the computer's USB. Saucy sods.
The Y axis ballnut has a grease nipple screwed in, the others have screwed port, but no nipple and would need to be dismantled to get at the nipple if one is fitted.

how are the ball screw bearings mounted in these , are the bearings pressed into the end plates. I notice a nut on one end a a couple screws with washers holding the bearing in on the opposite side. Is there a detailed drawing on this assembly? I like the idea of not using any bearing housings......looking to cut corner on a unit I'm building.....what bearings are they using? Could someone do a quick sketch of it, I'd really appreciate it.

[igorwhite]

Hello!
It was anyone experience connection. CNC 6040Z
Interface Board YOOCNC-450JKB and Nowforever D100S1R5B?
Or on the RS-485 connection?

[john-100]

to use the PWM signal from your breakout board you need some thing like
http://www.homanndesigns.com/index.p...eldb2f7q0r0ff1
or
https://cnc4pc.com/c41-pwm-variable-...rol-board.html

to convert the PWM signal to a 0 to 5V or 0 to 10V analogue control voltage that is electrically isolated from
the PC

John

[igorwhite]

John, Many thanks.

[TxDave]

I just got a 6040Z for Christmas. Now i need to learn how to use it.

[nosmokingbandit]

I'm on the fence about one of these 6040 units. I'm new to cnc, so I don't want to spend a ton, but the newer 6040 with the "nowforever" controller seems ok enough for woodworking and glass etching. If I ever do metal it will be aluminum, but even then I imagine it won't be much.

Does anyone have experience with the usb interface? Being Chinese they aren't very forthcoming with information about it, which is fine but if the usb connection is reliable I'd be pushed a little more toward buying one.

I'm also thinking about trying to run the gcode to the machine from an android tablet via otg cable. Does anyone have experience with this or should I just grab a cheap laptop to keep in the shop?

[charliebid]

Hello
I have a 6040 z USB CNC router - I have it running with the "nowforever" VFD- I can help you get to run via MACH3 including the spindle- Regards Charlie