Upgrade to HD4 controler for the water cooled spindle

Questions/answers/discussion about initial setup of your CNC Shark

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SKIF16
Posts: 9
Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2017 12:34 am

Upgrade to HD4 controler for the water cooled spindle

Post by SKIF16 »

Just wondering if anybody has heard of any upgrades to the HD4 controller to enable it to turn the spindle on and off when a program is run. I could do this with my router before I installed the spindle. Any plans by Next Wave Automation to upgrade the CNC software to allow speed control on the spindle? Also is it OK to put antifreeze in the water in order to keep the water from calcifying the system?

Rando
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Location: Boise, ID
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Re: Upgrade to HD4 controler for the water cooled spindle

Post by Rando »

Well, you can always go the (horribly insane, no don't do it!) route I did:

http://www.cncsharktalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5303

It's a 10-channel Arduino-powered control system driven from commands inserted in the GCode that output pulses on the Shark controller's one output channel. The pulses are interpreted to turn on/off/pulse the output channels. 10 channels, two pairs of relay contacts each channel: a 10A @ 32V set, and another 0.5A @ 10V. The low-current ones are for remote actuation of things like the compressor, and chip blower, while the high-current ones directly switch 12V to things like the spindle coolant pump, an under-spindle light, and a pulsing mister (I cut aluminum, so a bit of lubrication is sometimes helpful...when applied for 0.39s every 9.5s...).

If and when you choose to move to a new controller, first be sure you are confident the motor cabling will work with the new box....

Regards and let us know what works :D.

Thom
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