Craftex CX600 Motor Problems

[Tom Kitta]

Some of this stuff is very interesting http://dealerselectric.com/L510-101-H1-N-DEMO.asp
120V in and 240V 3ph out! At 1hp this could run RRSpeed92 Bridgeport mill (original) within his limit of 120V.

My main worry with cheap VFDs is electronics that just breaks down. Spending 100s of dollars and hours of your time re-wiring just for the thing to die in under a year. Sure there is warranty (if they honour that) but imagine removing all that wiring just to send it in for repair + shipping costs.

 

[RRSpeed92]

I'm really hoping this treadmill works out. I'd love to have the money to buy some of these things but being 25 and having a 3 year old takes quite the hit on my wallet. Hopefully it is something I can get him into!

 

[PeterT]

I'm more concerned about overpowering the mill with higher wattage retrofit motor. RR mentioned blowing the plastic gear. I don't have a good feel for the driveline on that particular machine, but if its the weak link, a bigger motor will just eat them faster unless that gets upgraded too.

What I also find odd is overheating or issues with motor brushes. They are normally kind of benign, the only job is to conduct current to rotating shaft. If they spark or are getting scorched, it kind of infers
- setup issues like partial or intermittent contact = higher resistance = heat (but all you do is install them with spring tension)
- overloading machine hard = more current draw = heat (but he says only light duty fly cutting or drilling)
- background friction like a bad bearing or bent shaft... something the motor has to overcome in addition to machining power (if spindle turns & spins free that should check ok)

... which makes me wonder about the speed control components or related wiring. There just aren't that many things in a DC motor circuit to mess up (compared to brush-less ESC motors) unless its a design flaw or freaky collection of 2+ different problems. I've heard people say the wiring schematics are different that the machine itself & they don't know what to believe. Any chance you can compare your manual to Grizzly. Are they exact PN's or different?

Also, through this, have you ever blown fuses?

 

[RRSpeed92]

Surprisingly enough I haven't blown 1. The wiring schematics in my manual that came with it are different than the wiring diagram on the machine. Different then what is actually in the machine. Also different than the grizzly model. The parts between the grizzly and this one are identical aside from the g0704 being a 1 hp motor, and therefore the motor being different. I feel like the speed controller going and then the motor and repeating is most likely a compiling problem.

 

[PeterT]

Dang. A nice Precision Mathews RF-45 style with DRO type just sold for 3K.
I know this is way outside the fixit budget & maybe space limitations, but just to give point of reference
https://www.kijiji.ca/v-power-tool/...ld/1363309227?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

 

[gsg9.ca]

Good luck on coming up with a workable solution. Sounds like these are coin flip kind of machines.

And by coincidence one of the larger Craftex mills just popped up locally. Janger seemed to like his so maybe I'll roll the dice.

 

[Janger]

Trip to Ontario? It’s tempting...

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-business-in...p_ios&utm_medium=social&utm_source=ios_social

 

[Bofobo]

Ive used this kind of mill, what a great price!

 

[RRSpeed92]

Does anyone have much experience with pwm circuit stuff?

 

[DPittman]

Well I sure hope you can get your troubles sorted out, but I'm quite sure if you do it won't be because Busy Bee helped in any way. Their warranty is a complete joke (like mattress warranties) they should replace your entire machine and give you something for your hassles. Although I've bought several pieces of machinery and tooling from busy bee, they are now a last resort for any purchases. Their prices make it easy to shop elsewhere anyhow. Apparently the owner of Busy Bee and Grizzly Tools are relatives but I find it amazing how Grizzly Tool is known for good customer service and Busy Bee is, well you know!

Don

 

[RRSpeed92]

Yes. I've read some posts about the grizzly machines and it almost seems like grizzly is throwing everything at their customers to get them going again. One guy I saw got 2 speed controllers at once just in an effort to make sure he was taken care of!

 

[gsg9.ca]

The one good thing is this thread is highly searchable. The next person who researches that machine will get fair warning and be able to make an informed decision.

 

[Colten Edwards]

I had a issue with my King Industrial KC20vs. which is basically a G0704. I was boring out a large hole and it was taking a awhile. The brush cap melted and when I attempted to restart the mill there was nothing. Fortunately the Bosch Colt router has basically the same size cap and brush. I then 3d printed a cap to sit on top of the motor which had a 12v fan in it. In the meantime, I attempted to source a motor from King. $500ca. Not in this lifetime. Ordered from one Grizzly. It's the updated motor, so I had to order a gear since the shaft size changed. It's beefier than the original motor as well, so I had to remake the fan mount. So I replaced the fan as well with a AC fan and hooked it to the speed controller AC input.

In the meantime.
I've partially converted this to CNC. Had the electronics all setup, then seen a video with Tormach's PathPilot software. This is a heavily modified version of the LinuxCNC using Mesa electronics 7i92 ethernet controller. So, rip apart the electronics and replace the ESS smoothstepper with the 7i92, and start learning LinuxCNC. This is a extremely heavy learning curve as it's not Mach3/4 which I'm familar with. Right now, I need to hook in a cable to the motor controller for speed control and ON/off Fwd/Stop/Rev control. I'm very very close right now. Just need a 7 pin connector so I can hook it into my electronics case properly.
Once this is all done, I then need to strip the machine down so I can replace the lead screws with the $300 ball screws I ordered for the mill.

After all of this I'll have a fairly accurate KC20vs with full CNC control. A VFD would be next on the budget.. Shoulda just bought a bridgeport

 

[Janger]

Sounds like quite the project. Where did you get the ball screws?

 

[PeterT]

Is the intent to run it standalone CNC when all the mods are done? I hear its not feasible to mill manual mode with ball screws, but maybe you weren't inferring that to begin with.

So if I understand, LinuxCNC is a alternative to Mach? So where does the Tormach PathPilot thing come in?
Does you PC have to be configured to a certain OS or vintage in order to run this stuff?

I wish I was more CNC savvy. Its somewhere down deep on the one-day-to-do list.

 

[Dabbler]

Peter 3 of my friends with full sized BP clones all use ballscrews on them. They are entirely manual machines. The ballscrew thing is a misconception stemming from skill problems. When you mill in a single direction, ballscrews are said to creep on the other axes. Unused axes should always be locked down, or accuracy will suffer anyway. My friends have no problems.

 

[Colten Edwards]

I bought my ballscrews on eBay from a guy linearmotion2008 (?). He has supplied alot of these to people using the Hoss plans to CNC there G0704's as he's a recommended supplier. AutomationTechnologyInc is another supplier, but I had a problem with there shipping costs. You have to ask him about the G0704 ballscrews and he'll put up a specific buy it now for you. Seems to me it was $180 including shipping with DHL. Of course DHL had to get there fingers in the pie and it cost me another $30 at the door.

LinuxCNC is a replacement for Mach3/4. It runs on a variation of the linux kernel with realtime support. Instructions to patch and then compile a modified kernel are supplied. Most are running this on the linux Mint distro. PathPilot on the other had comes on a USB stick which has a slightly older version of linux Mint installed. The USB stick completely replaces the HD contents when it installs. You then need to boot on a USB, so you can run an expand opeation on the HD since using 15gb of a 2TB drive is not acceptable to me. This is not for the faint of heart. PathPilot is meant to run on Tormach's hardware. Getting it to work with the 7i92 ethernet controller is not difficult. Getting it to work with full functions with your BOB are another story (BOB = breakout board). I'm using a C11G from cnc4pc which has PWM control so that 0-10v output controls the G0704 speed. There's also a on/off relay and fwd/rev as well as coolant relay. These are spdt relay's, so you need to control at least one external relay for dpdt for/rev function. You will need to add a diode across the external relay terminals as well. This is so that back EMF when switching a relay doesn't cause conniptions on the 7i92. I spent a day figuring this out, finally asked on the linuxCNC forums.

 

[Colten Edwards]

Is the intent to run it standalone CNC when all the mods are done? I hear its not feasible to mill manual mode with ball screws, but maybe you weren't inferring that to begin with.

You would not be able to use the dials to manual mill. However a good DRO would make it quite possible to manual mill. My intention is to remove the handles completely. CNC only. But this does not preclude manual milling as you would be using the keyboard to jog. At some point I could get a touch screen, and wouldn't need the keyboard as much. PathPilot has touch screen intregrated already..

 

[PeterT]

When you mill in a single direction, ballscrews are said to creep on the other axes. Unused axes should always be locked down, or accuracy will suffer anyway. My friends have no problems.

Huh, learn something every day. I assumed they meant the feeding axis could self creep more-so than a conventional screw thread lead screw/nut. Good to know.