[dwg123]

I'm a new hobbyist who recently took delivery of an AlphaCNC AMN-6040-M fixed-gantry CNC router for use in prototyping parts in 6061-t6 aluminum. So far the machine looks pretty solid but I'm having a few setup issues. The manufacturer is kind of trying to help, but language barriers, etc... It's been slow & frustrating. This is one of the setup issues I'm having:

Background-->

The Z-Axis calibrator I ordered with the machine isn't working. Luckily I tested it first! When I touch the calibrator to the spindle motor housing I see the 'Digitize' input go high in Mach-3/Diagnostics like I think I should, but when I touch it to the rotor / tool-holder, I don't get the 'Digitize' signal. This seems to indicate that there's no electrical contact between the spindle housing and the rotor. I confirmed this, my multi-meter reads OPEN CONNECTION when I check resistance between the housing & rotor. This isn't a multimeter or probe contact issue (paint, etc), I can read 0-ohms across the tool holder, etc.

Both the manufacturer (who obviously didn't test this before shipping the machine) and my local 'experienced friends' are incredulous and say "that's impossible! You should have contact thru the bearings (etc)". So I ask:

Questions-->

- The spindle rotor, and therefore the tool holder aren't grounded. How is it possible that there's no connection between the spindle rotor & the housing?
- Is the spindle motor defective? Is this a common issue?
- Or is the rotor typically isolated but is normally tied to ground via a wire but isn't here? (loose wire?)
- Is there any way to "manually" ground the rotor spindle?

Besides relying on the Alpha CNC guy, we're going on three weeks of emails on this and other issues with no good results so far, the only thing I can think of to resolve the problem is to hack around it by building or buying some sort of switch based Z-Axis calibrator.

I'm aware I could manually ground-clip the bit before using the Z calibrator but I'm planning on upgrading to an ATC and want to resolve the issue up-front if possible.

????*??

[Jim Dawson]

Ceramic bearings perhaps?

When using the tool setter you could temporarily ground the spindle or tool bit with an alligator clip. Don't forget to remove and stow it before turning the spindle on

[ger21]

Get a tool setter with a switch inside, so you don't need continuity through the spindle bearings.

[mactec54]

I'm a new hobbyist who recently took delivery of an AlphaCNC AMN-6040-M fixed-gantry CNC router for use in prototyping parts in 6061-t6 aluminum. So far the machine looks pretty solid but I'm having a few setup issues. The manufacturer is kind of trying to help, but language barriers, etc... It's been slow & frustrating. This is one of the setup issues I'm having:

Background-->

The Z-Axis calibrator I ordered with the machine isn't working. Luckily I tested it first! When I touch the calibrator to the spindle motor housing I see the 'Digitize' input go high in Mach-3/Diagnostics like I think I should, but when I touch it to the rotor / tool-holder, I don't get the 'Digitize' signal. This seems to indicate that there's no electrical contact between the spindle housing and the rotor. I confirmed this, my multi-meter reads OPEN CONNECTION when I check resistance between the housing & rotor. This isn't a multimeter or probe contact issue (paint, etc), I can read 0-ohms across the tool holder, etc.

Both the manufacturer (who obviously didn't test this before shipping the machine) and my local 'experienced friends' are incredulous and say "that's impossible! You should have contact thru the bearings (etc)". So I ask:

Questions-->

- The spindle rotor, and therefore the tool holder aren't grounded. How is it possible that there's no connection between the spindle rotor & the housing?
- Is the spindle motor defective? Is this a common issue?
- Or is the rotor typically isolated but is normally tied to ground via a wire but isn't here? (loose wire?)
- Is there any way to "manually" ground the rotor spindle?

Besides relying on the Alpha CNC guy, we're going on three weeks of emails on this and other issues with no good results so far, the only thing I can think of to resolve the problem is to hack around it by building or buying some sort of switch based Z-Axis calibrator.

I'm aware I could manually ground-clip the bit before using the Z calibrator but I'm planning on upgrading to an ATC and want to resolve the issue up-front if possible.

????*??

You may have ceramic bearings which some have so there will not be any Ground contact with the Rotor this can be a problem also as the Rotor becomes charged it can discharge the rotor voltage, and will damage any electronics you attach to it, you may also get a little shock when you change the tool

The other thing if it does not have ceramic bearing, it could be that the grease being new and, is not allowing contact through the bearings

Do as Gerry has said then you don't have to have anything attached to the spindle which is much better way to do it,

Check the spindle Plug that it has a Ground attached and that the spindle is Grounded it may not be, and will have to be corrected

[CitizenOfDreams]

The alligator clip approach is pretty dangerous. You may forget to put the clip on before the measurement, or you may forget to take the clip off afterwards.

I don't know what real machinists use, but I just put a brush contact on the shaft of my spindle.

[dwg123]

Thanks for the suggestions, all.

The AlphaCNC support guy is at a loss and I get the impression he's semi-unwilling to put in much effort to resolve the issue.

To complicate things, now that I'm actually using the machine some (on wood) I've noticed a grinding sound coming from the spindle. It's worst around 10K RPM. This sucks, coming from a new machine - it will cost somewhere around $600 if I have to replace this 3.2kW motor...

Depending on how this resolves, if they screw me over I'll probably end up either fixing the problem by getting a new spindle motor or rebuilding the existing one.

Then if this ground problem still exists, I like the contact switch idea, thanks for that @ger21

[mactec54]

Thanks for the suggestions, all.

The AlphaCNC support guy is at a loss and I get the impression he's semi-unwilling to put in much effort to resolve the issue.

To complicate things, now that I'm actually using the machine some (on wood) I've noticed a grinding sound coming from the spindle. It's worst around 10K RPM. This sucks, coming from a new machine - it will cost somewhere around $600 if I have to replace this 3.2kW motor...

Depending on how this resolves, if they screw me over I'll probably end up either fixing the problem by getting a new spindle motor or rebuilding the existing one.

Then if this ground problem still exists, I like the contact switch idea, thanks for that @ger21

Did you check to see if the Spindle has a Ground you can do this with your meter, check the 4th Pin in the spindle connector to the spindle body ( continuity test ) if it is not connected you will have to connect it, a lot of these spindles do not have the Ground connected and the user has to correct this

The grinding noise could be just bad EMI from no Grounding or Correct Shield Grounding and no EMI Power Filter, Incorrect VFD Drive Parameters set also can cause this also , these are just some of what can be wrong if it is not mechanical

[dwg123]

Did you check to see if the Spindle has a Ground you can do this with your meter, check the 4th Pin in the spindle connector to the spindle body ( continuity test ) if it is not connected you will have to connect it, a lot of these spindles do not have the Ground connected and the user has to correct this

The grinding noise could be just bad EMI from no Grounding or Correct Shield Grounding and no EMI Power Filter, Incorrect VFD Drive Parameters set also can cause this also , these are just some of what can be wrong if it is not mechanical

Thanks for the excellent suggestions!

I checked and my meter reads 0 Ohms from the spindle ground pin to the spindle motor housing, which is very well grounded. Oh well, it was worth checking. Do you think it's worth setting up an osciliscope on the power leads? I have a cheap USB osciliscope that should work; I guess I'd be looking for spikes between ground and the three power-in phases, right? Anything that's not the X Hz sine wave I should be seeing?

But I'm starting to strongly suspect it's mechanical. When I warmed up the spindle this morning, starting at 6000 RPM, I heard a squealing noise, like a skidding bearing. Not loud but abnormal. Not good. I immediately jumped in and bumped the RPM to 8000 and the sound wend away. After finishing the warmup routine I dialed it back down to 6000 and the sound was gone.

So yeah, I have a bad feeling about this. I emailed the vendor AlphaCNC about this a week ago and no reply so far. I the past they repeated several times, "polish the spindle", but I KNOW I have a good meter connections and clearly spelled it out with pictures, then they fell silent. And now there's this bearing issue with a brand new motor. This is getting old fast.

If they continue to ignore me I'm thinking of dumping an expose of what they've been putting me through as a warning to others here. That being said, I think the machine itself is pretty good so far. It's definitely stiff and although I'm not pushing it too hard yet I'm impressed with it's performance. It's just the many quality issues & poor support are killing me. This issue is actually only the tip of the iceberg. Guess that's what I get by going with the 'inexpensive' solution. I hope they get back to me so I don't have to go there. If they don't support me I have nothing to lose by burning them down...

[mactec54]

Thanks for the excellent suggestions!

I checked and my meter reads 0 Ohms from the spindle ground pin to the spindle motor housing, which is very well grounded. Oh well, it was worth checking. Do you think it's worth setting up an osciliscope on the power leads? I have a cheap USB osciliscope that should work; I guess I'd be looking for spikes between ground and the three power-in phases, right? Anything that's not the X Hz sine wave I should be seeing?

But I'm starting to strongly suspect it's mechanical. When I warmed up the spindle this morning, starting at 6000 RPM, I heard a squealing noise, like a skidding bearing. Not loud but abnormal. Not good. I immediately jumped in and bumped the RPM to 8000 and the sound wend away. After finishing the warmup routine I dialed it back down to 6000 and the sound was gone.

So yeah, I have a bad feeling about this. I emailed the vendor AlphaCNC about this a week ago and no reply so far. I the past they repeated several times, "polish the spindle", but I KNOW I have a good meter connections and clearly spelled it out with pictures, then they fell silent. And now there's this bearing issue with a brand new motor. This is getting old fast.

If they continue to ignore me I'm thinking of dumping an expose of what they've been putting me through as a warning to others here. That being said, I think the machine itself is pretty good so far. It's definitely stiff and although I'm not pushing it too hard yet I'm impressed with it's performance. It's just the many quality issues & poor support are killing me. This issue is actually only the tip of the iceberg. Guess that's what I get by going with the 'inexpensive' solution. I hope they get back to me so I don't have to go there. If they don't support me I have nothing to lose by burning them down...

You need to check the pins with a continuity test, Ground Pin to the spindle Body

The Bearing problem is not uncommon for the Bearings to make noise when starting up if it has been running for a while the grease gets soft and when the spindle stops the grease will run into the bearings causing the bearing to skid when starting up can your spindle run at 3000 RPM at startup some can and this will help until the grease has moved

The noise problem you have is from the VFD Drive and you need a EMI Power Filter on the input power to the VFD Drive and if your system has any Switch mode Power supplies they should have a EMI Power Filter on there input power supply also

Unless you have a low pass filter I would not try that with your phone

[dwg123]

Thanks again for the feedback. Maybe I'm getting over-concerned about the bearing noises? Being a n00b sucks, so much to learn, so many mistakes to make.

And yeah, sorry for the confusing description, I did test Ground Pin to Body and recall getting wither 0 Ohms or possibly a fraction of an Ohm. I think I'm screwed on the spindle problem (bad pun not intended) and am going to look into getting a switch-based tool height calibrator. It's only money...

And so now AlphaCNC is ignoring my June 18 emailed plea for support. I just sent them an email threatening to basically burn them down online if they don't make things right with this customer. So many crazy / easily avoidable issues, you guys will enjoy the read about a Really bad customer experience™. It's looking like everyone here who warned me away from getting a Chinese CNC machine were right after all. Serves me right I guess. Hopefully they'll get back to me with some basic support and avoid my email flames of wrath & warning to others...

[mactec54]

What VFD Drive did you use that E001 may be a simple fix manufacture and model number I most likely have the manual and can take a look

Mach3 this is a known problem never use pause when cutting or it will mess up, I'm surprised that you went with Mach3 for a new machine like this

The chips on the machine where most likely from testing

Do you have a link to there web site

[dwg123]

What VFD Drive did you use that E001 may be a simple fix manufacture and model number I most likely have the manual and can take a look

Mach3 this is a known problem never use pause when cutting or it will mess up, I'm surprised that you went with Mach3 for a new machine like this

The chips on the machine where most likely from testing

Do you have a link to there web site

Thanks for offering to help!

The VDF is a FULING INVERTER DZB300 series. Specifically, markings are "DZB312B005.5L2DK". The inverter drives a 3.2 KW spindle motor. If you can, can you pass along a link to the manual? I've looked around and am not certain which manual applies to this model.

Thanks for the mach3 controller bug tip: no pause until I upgrade the controller. Regarding the controller on this machine, what would you recommend upgrading to?

... As far as a link to their web site goes, this is weird but I just went to their website http://www.alphacnc.com/ and it appears to be parked at GoDaddy. Maybe they forgot to pay their domain registration renewal or were hijacked? Or I wonder if they're in the process of going out of business? That sure would explain their failure to respond, etc. Anyway, they did exist, here's their youtube page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEb...O5g2yudPzE5jeg

For what it's worth, here's a link to their site as copied by the internet archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20190107.../alphacnc.com/

The specific machine I chose wasn't listed on their web site anyway; it was recommended by the sales person when I told them I needed to work thru metal fast & with good precision. I can share the specification PDF if you're interested. Looks like I might have a 'unique' machine...

[mactec54]

Thanks for offering to help!

The VDF is a FULING INVERTER DZB300 series. Specifically, markings are "DZB312B005.5L2DK". The inverter drives a 3.2 KW spindle motor. If you can, can you pass along a link to the manual? I've looked around and am not certain which manual applies to this model.

Thanks for the mach3 controller bug tip: no pause until I upgrade the controller. Regarding the controller on this machine, what would you recommend upgrading to?

... As far as a link to their web site goes, this is weird but I just went to their website http://www.alphacnc.com/ and it appears to be parked at GoDaddy. Maybe they forgot to pay their domain registration renewal or were hijacked? Or I wonder if they're in the process of going out of business? That sure would explain their failure to respond, etc. Anyway, they did exist, here's their youtube page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEb...O5g2yudPzE5jeg

For what it's worth, here's a link to their site as copied by the internet archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20190107.../alphacnc.com/

The specific machine I chose wasn't listed on their web site anyway; it was recommended by the sales person when I told them I needed to work thru metal fast & with good precision. I can share the specification PDF if you're interested. Looks like I might have a 'unique' machine...

This manual should cover your VFD Drive it is the DZB300 series but covers the DZB 200 series also

[mactec54]

Thanks for offering to help!

The VDF is a FULING INVERTER DZB300 series. Specifically, markings are "DZB312B005.5L2DK". The inverter drives a 3.2 KW spindle motor. If you can, can you pass along a link to the manual? I've looked around and am not certain which manual applies to this model.

Thanks for the mach3 controller bug tip: no pause until I upgrade the controller. Regarding the controller on this machine, what would you recommend upgrading to?

... As far as a link to their web site goes, this is weird but I just went to their website http://www.alphacnc.com/ and it appears to be parked at GoDaddy. Maybe they forgot to pay their domain registration renewal or were hijacked? Or I wonder if they're in the process of going out of business? That sure would explain their failure to respond, etc. Anyway, they did exist, here's their youtube page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEb...O5g2yudPzE5jeg

For what it's worth, here's a link to their site as copied by the internet archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20190107.../alphacnc.com/

The specific machine I chose wasn't listed on their web site anyway; it was recommended by the sales person when I told them I needed to work thru metal fast & with good precision. I can share the specification PDF if you're interested. Looks like I might have a 'unique' machine...

E001 is low Voltage so you need to check your supply voltage and current ( Amps ) that you have is enough for your spindle, are you running single phase or 3 phase

[dwg123]

E001 is low Voltage so you need to check your supply voltage and current ( Amps ) that you have is enough for your spindle, are you running single phase or 3 phase

This is residential, so 220V 1-phase, wired direct to service breaker box via over-spec wire, don't recall exact gauge at the moment. Two breakers, one at service box & one on machine.

Since it's at power-on and not under any continuous load I'm assuming its electronics initial draw? I don't have any way of capturing peak-draw. I could measure amps on both hot legs with an inductive clamp but that would be useful for continuous load unless I hook the clamp up to a scope which is possible. But it shouldn't be much, I don't see any huge capacitors anywhere. (?)

I'll double-check conductor fasteners to make sure they're tight, that never hurts.

It hasn't happened the last few days. Looks like I may just have to live with it.

Anyway thanks for your help.

[xillianto]

Hi, i was reading trough this page, and yes.. if you do have ceramic bearings, you wont get ground at tool actually, so that should explain the failure on that probing.
As a future controller, i would suggest UC300eth/UB1, that one would handle just about anything you need to run with all the IO's and also handles feed hold very well.