PM45-CNC OWNERS

[Boswell]

Great news.
Now you have English and a working Spindle. Go make some chips and let us know how it goes.

 

[ajg308]

Great news.
Now you have English and a working Spindle. Go make some chips and let us know how it goes.

No doubt! I am freaking giddy at the moment.

 

[Ray C]

Got an exciting update!

My buddy just came over and we were looking at it and I was explaining the problem to him. He said it sounds like a clutch problem. So he starts messing with the spindle and gear selector and said it was just out of gear. By turning the spindle it allowed the clutch to engage and when I hit the spindle power button it worked!

So it may be as simple as it not being fully in gear. Hope this helps someone.



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This is what I was hoping for. I kind of felt like I was alone in this, glad to help and be helped. Thanks.


I will try changing this right now and report back. Hopefully Matt comes up with better instructions for future users.

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Got English! Thanks for the fix.

Yeah!!!

BTW: I'm on the hook for the updated 45CNC user manual and I'll be working on it all weekend -no doubt.


Ray

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AJG308,

I wish in your same exact boat. I remember loading the chinese version first and thinking oh this must be the wrong one and then installing the 1.58 driver. then once i went back the mto the chinese 1.56 driver in chinese my mill ran awesome. I will try changing my Mach3 from Chinese to English and post my results last night. i found a link to change that said go to view and click Load Screen...browse to the mach 3 folder and select 1024.set and this will bring it back to English. i have not tried it yet but i will tonight.

I agree this should have been a much easier setup from PM. I was frustrated because i am noobie with CNC and was looking for a simple mill to get me started. once we figure out all the issues this should go smoothly.

Guys,

I thank you for being so reasonable about this... Matt has been calling and exchanging emails with the fellow in China about this for a long time. I've mentioned before, the guy over there is really nice, very smart -but doesn't speak our language -nor does Matt speak Chinese.

Again, I thank you all for ganging together on this...


Ray

 

[zr8cnc]

Ray you owe us a steak dinner for figuring out all these spindle problems.....lolol. This will make the problem solving section of that work instruction a little easier.

 

[Ray C]

Ray you owe us a steak dinner for figuring out all these spindle problems.....lolol. This will make the problem solving section of that work instruction a little easier.

PM's sent. Your help and patience is recognized and will be rewarded...


Ray

 

[ajg308]

Today I ran the PM45-CNC in all the gears as described on the website. I thought I should turn on the lube pump and when I did, bang! A loud pop and from the pump and a tripped circuit breaker in the breaker box. I tripped it back, and everything seemed ok. When I had the balls again I hit the pump again, but nothing happened, I was not sure if it was even working. I determined it was working because the oil went from new and semi clear to dark brown and then black. I also have quite a leak coming from somewhere in the table.

My questions.

What freaking happened? Is the pump ok? Can I test it besides Ray's method? How do I find the leak? What is the best oil to replace it?

Thanks, everyone.

 

[Ray C]

Today I ran the PM45-CNC in all the gears as described on the website. I thought I should turn on the lube pump and when I did, bang! A loud pop and from the pump and a tripped circuit breaker in the breaker box. I tripped it back, and everything seemed ok. When I had the balls again I hit the pump again, but nothing happened, I was not sure if it was even working. I determined it was working because the oil went from new and semi clear to dark brown and then black. I also have quite a leak coming from somewhere in the table.

My questions.

What freaking happened? Is the pump ok? Can I test it besides Ray's method? How do I find the leak? What is the best oil to replace it?

Thanks, everyone.

I don't know what went pop but, I'd start by looking at all the connecting wires under the cap. It's possible the oil pump got tugged on during shipping because it was tacked with plywood to the shipping crate. Unplug the unit before checking the wires, of course...

It sounds like it's working if you've got oil leaking all over... That's what you can expect. The oil gets pumped into the table way areas and it drips down all over the place. It also gets slathered onto the leadscrews etc... Under normal circumstances you'll just wipe the excess off.

Mobile Vactra #2 way oil is the appropriate lubricant.

Ray

 

[Boswell]

Today I ran the PM45-CNC in all the gears as described on the website. I thought I should turn on the lube pump and when I did, bang! A loud pop and from the pump and a tripped circuit breaker in the breaker box. I tripped it back, and everything seemed ok. When I had the balls again I hit the pump again, but nothing happened, I was not sure if it was even working. I determined it was working because the oil went from new and semi clear to dark brown and then black. I also have quite a leak coming from somewhere in the table.

My questions.

What freaking happened? Is the pump ok? Can I test it besides Ray's method? How do I find the leak? What is the best oil to replace it?

Thanks, everyone.

this may be stating what you already know but the one-shot lube system as implemented on the PM45-CNC is not designed to be turned on and left on. I turn mine on for 10 seconds before I use the mill each day that I use it. I am not sure if this is long enough, I plan to experiment with longer and longer times until I see excess oil.

Also a note of caution. Twice, I have realized that I forgot to run the lube until the Mill was running a program so I reached up and did my 10 second routine while it was running. When I turned the lube switch off, the spindle turn off also. Mostly likely some electrical noise or voltage drop that caused a relay to trip or fall out. Regardless, you have to hit the stop switch quick or bust something. The only way I could get the spindle going again was to turn the Mill OFF and back ON.

 

[zr8cnc]

Anyone know what the rpms limit is for the two different gear selections?

 

[Boswell]

Anyone know what the rpms limit is for the two different gear selections?

I have only used the high setting so far and based on the specifications it should be around 3000. Although that is not necessarily the Limit of the gears. While I was working out spindle configurations Mach3 would occasionally run the spindle at the Maximum (what ever that means) and the RPM readout on the Mill would show about 3150 plus or minus a bit. All I am working with right now is 6061 aluminum and so have not tried to run slower than 1500. I do run the edge finder at about 1000 and some times when I turn the spindle on it will start at around 100 RPM. Again, all in the higher Gear setting.