Originally Posted by
jbarber
I received the new KL-6090 CNC router 29 June 2009 and spent some time over the last couple of days getting it set up and tuned.
First, let me say THANKS to John at Keling for outstanding support before and after the sale. Now that I've been through the process of buying, shipping and setting up the machine I would do it again with full confidence.
Here's my notes thus far. I have pictures I can post if anyone's interested.
UNLOADING/POSITIONING
. The machine arrived nicely crated, roughly 500 pounds gross. I hired a Bobcat and driver to move the crate from the road to the shop and help me unpack and position the machine. There were a few minor scuffs in the paint and sheet metal covers, which is normal for heavy machinery. Otherwise it arrived in good condition.
. Once the machine was positioned where I wanted it, I used a floor jack and 1/8" felt leveling pads to get it level and stable. (it actually only took one pad. the machine frame was pretty square, my shop floor isn't perfect)
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS
. For its size, the machine is by far the heaviest-built I've seen. It uses 640 ounce-inch NEMA 34 motors and the gantry rigidity is quite good. The table appears to be cast aluminum with a T-slotted top, and has pieces of hard foam attached to the top beween the T-slots. (this is a GOOD thing) A quarter-sheet of 3/4" MDF slides right in without any cutting required for the spoilboard. Six spoilboard clamps are provided.
WIRING/SETUP
. The initial wiring wasn't difficult at all. Each axis, the spindle and the limit switches each had their own cable. The axis cables were marked X,Y,Z . The other two cables weren't marked, but used unique connectors so that they couldn't be confused. (the original markings were in ballpoint ink, I made new ones with a permanent marker)
. I initially thought the Z-axis stepper driver was bad, but it turned out that the parallel cable wasn't seated correctly at the computer. I found that out after checking the cable for continuity. (I'll remember to check that first if there's a next time...)
. My shop has 240V 60hz single-phase power that actually measures about 247V. (my property has its own power transformer so the line voltage is on the high side) The switching power supplies are handling that fine, running nice and cool. The provided power cord is on the light side, (18 AWG conductors) but showed no signs of heating after an hour or so of use.
. After setting up Mach3, I found the X and Z-axis motors were running reversed. I changed the wiring to correct it, but John tells me that you can reverse the motors in Mach3. Now that I know that, I'll change the software instead of the wiring if it comes up again in the future.
. Initially, I have the motors tuned for 200 inches/minute maximum and 8 inches/second acceleration. Those numbers may change with experience, since the only cutting I've done so far is to surface the spoilboard.
SPINDLE COOLING
. The machine came packed with a plastic tank, tubing and a little fish tank pump for cooling the spindle. The pump was bad out of the box, so we raced to town last night and picked up a fountain pump, some 1/2" tubing and a 1/2" to 1/8" adapter to fit the 1/8" tubing supplied with the spindle. After a half- hour or so of runtime at a light to medium load the spindle body was perhaps 85 degrees F. The 1 gallon of water I put in the tank raised 5 degrees F (measured) over that hour, which is actually very little. I am quite impressed with the efficiency of the spindle and VFD! (A remote speed pot would be a good add-on, but adjusting the VFD from the control cabinet will work for now)
FIRST USE
. The first use was, of course, surfacing the 3/4" MDF spoilboard. I used the 7/8" flat bit handily supplied with the machine, since my regular surfacing bit is too big for the ER11 chuck that comes on the spindle. (ER11 supports up to 1/4" bits, basically) I created a 22" x 30" x 1/16" pocket toolpath with VCarvePro, set up the cut and let it go. At 200hz (12000 RPM?) 100 inches/minute and a single-pass 1/16" cut it took about 18 minutes to surface the spoilboard, read my email and have a cup of coffee.
That's really all I know for now. I plan on making a series of test cuts over this coming weekend, which may generate a few more notes and pictures.
SUMMARY:
From what I've seen so far, the KL-6090 is built like a battleship and is a truly great value. After I've run some tests on it we'll find out about accuracy and repeatability, but for now I'm very impressed. Does it work? Yes! Will it make signs and cabinet doors? Yes! Will it mill high-precision prototype parts at high speed? That one we'll find out in future installments.
SHORT LIST OF RELATED PROJECTS/ACCESSORIES
. Build a dust foot for the spindle (!!!!)
. Check into a remote speed control pot for the VFD
AND LAST:
For those that may be wondering, I have absolutely no business or other relationship with Keling, their employees, suppliers, pets, etc.
Regards,
--jim
James (Jim) Barber
Yakima, WA USA