Set up with the Water Cooled Spindle

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

Moderators: al wolford, sbk, Bob, Kayvon

Post Reply
hardidon
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 12:50 pm
Location: Lewisville, Texas (DFW area)

Set up with the Water Cooled Spindle

Post by hardidon »

Doing my initial set up of my brand new HD4. Have assembled the table and gantry together, and have mounted the spindle. But the weight of the spindle overcomes the tension of the drive screws and the spindle drops/slides down until the spindle collar rests on the table... Looking through the HD4 Owner's Manual, i see no mention of any kind of adjustment.

Thanks
don

sharkcutup
Posts: 408
Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2016 5:23 pm

Re: Set up with the Water Cooled Spindle

Post by sharkcutup »

Hello Don,

There are no adjustments that I have found either. On my initial setup the spindle would drift down like that too and I just cut a 2 x 4 to hold it up between table and spindle mount until power was turned on to the control box. It would only drift down after the power was turned off to the control box. I have noticed though that over time I no longer see it drifting down anymore. It remains right where I leave it after each program run.

Hope this Helps!

Have a GREAT DAY!!! :D

Be SAFE around those AWESOME machines!!! ;)

Sharkcutup
V-Carve Pro Tips, Gadget Tips & Videos
YouTube Channel - Sharkcutup CNC
V-Carve Pro 11.554

SteveM
Posts: 168
Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2016 1:29 pm
Location: Franklin, Wisconsin

Re: Set up with the Water Cooled Spindle

Post by SteveM »

My HD4 does the same thing with a Bosch router on it. Once there is power, it's fine. I think it's because the servo motor has no tension on it without power and the weight just causes the ball screw to spin. I really don't think there is a problem.

hardidon
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 12:50 pm
Location: Lewisville, Texas (DFW area)

Re: Set up with the Water Cooled Spindle

Post by hardidon »

Hey, thanks y'all. Newbie to all this, haven't even turned anything on yet... :lol: Appreciate the voices of experience.

Thanks again,
don

RANDYPOTE
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2015 9:25 am

Re: Set up with the Water Cooled Spindle

Post by RANDYPOTE »

i was told by next wave that that is normal till the power is applied to the stepper motors.

User avatar
Kayvon
Posts: 552
Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2014 11:46 pm

Re: Set up with the Water Cooled Spindle

Post by Kayvon »

hardidon wrote:Newbie to all this, haven't even turned anything on yet...
You have remarkable constraint. You'll do well with this!

Rando
Posts: 757
Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2015 3:24 pm
Location: Boise, ID
Contact:

Re: Set up with the Water Cooled Spindle

Post by Rando »

I have the 2.2KW spindle, and yes, my Z-axis carriage drifts down when power is lost. Which, sadly, means that pushing the estop (physical) button or turning off the controller loses the Z-height. Except...if I park it, like others mention. I use a block of "florist foam" with a layer of foam rubber/neoprene glued to the top of that, and rest the spindle down on it when I am turning it off. I lower it into to the block just enough to fully support the spindle. The florist foam works well because it is "crushable", so if I somehow drive it down too far, it will crush the foam instead of hurting the Z-axis anti-backlash nuts. But when it's not being crushed, the foam is rigid.

But yes, you're right....
=====================================================
ThomR.com Creative tools and photographic art
A proud member of the Pacific Northwest CNC Club (now on Facebook)

Sherry Peterson
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2020 10:55 am

Re: Set up with the Water Cooled Spindle

Post by Sherry Peterson »

I am a newby at this. I created my vcarve.tap file and I studied 35 of Lindsay videos. I figured out x y and z setup after destroying my touch plate wire because I left it attached when I turned on the bit and then I broke the bit. I got the xyz down and now I need help with the spindle. I don't want to burn it up. I guess that all I need to do is add condensed water to the bucket. Any clues would be great! LOL!

Rando
Posts: 757
Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2015 3:24 pm
Location: Boise, ID
Contact:

Re: Set up with the Water Cooled Spindle

Post by Rando »

Sherry:

It does sound like you're diving right in!

As for broken bits, I think we all do that...I have a small JAR of them :D
The good news is they recycle carbide.
The bad news is last I checked, you have to have 10# of the stuff

Yes, purified (filtered) or distilled water will work properly. The seals are just normal neoprene o-rings, so they'll be fine. A few drops of bleach every couple months will help keep mildew and mold from growing. Also, keeping a lid on the bucket/reservoir will keep down the amount of yuck that forms over time and potentially gets up into the tubes.

I happen to use car antifreeze, but in hindsight, I can't recommend it...my issue now is getting it OUT of my system :oops:

The spindle works best when WARMED UP a little. Typically about 5 minutes running at about 3-5K RPM will allow the bearing grease to distribute in the spindle. That will make the cuts more accurate and make your spindle bearings last longer. Also, leaving the pump running after a hard run, so it can continue to cool the spindle motor after it's stopped, is a Good Idea.

Hang in there; it's an amazing creative outlet, but as you're seeing, there is a VERY steep learning curve at the very start.

Once you get more familiar with all the weird terms like Feeds and Speeds (F&S), step over, depth-of-cut, pocketing, profiles, ramps, post-processors, GCode and man more, things will start to make a lot more sense.

And, as you're finding, there are a BAJILLION stupid little steps that have to happen every time we use the machine. It's like so strange form of Kabuki theater we have to act out each time. And, removing that probe magnet is one of them.

There is a way to (almost) never have that, but you probably want to stick with the basics for a while yet.

Check back here; I'm back and answering questions, so I'm happy to help. Yes, Happy. Try searching the forums here as well; lots of great information. There's also a FaceBook forum at https://www.facebook.com/groups/SharkHD4Owners though these days I can understand why someone might be avoiding all of the anti-social media platforms. ;)

In addition to learning about the Shark machine, may I suggest going through the CNCCookbook.com's CNC introductory sessions on F&S and GCode. They describe in great detail the actions that occur during cutting, which helps a LOT when it comes to understanding why the system didn't do what we wanted. I found them helpful for what we can do on the sharks, but they also go way above what we typically can. Which, is good, because it gives us a little more context of where our machines sit relative to others.

Hope that helps, and welcome!

Rando
=====================================================
ThomR.com Creative tools and photographic art
A proud member of the Pacific Northwest CNC Club (now on Facebook)

Post Reply