Mike's Control Cabinet and CNC Router Build Thread

[mikeintx]

Welcome to my build thread! This will be a relatively slow build as like many of you, I work full time, have a family etc. Free time is a luxury, so I "hobby" when I can. Documenting my build here so that when I need help, this thread will hopefully help.

Background on me: Gearhead, handyman, computer geek, I can (horribly) weld two pieces of metal together, mechanically-inclined.

However, I'm a CNC neophyte. My previous experience consists of building a Genmitsu ProVer 4030XL CNC kit and a 3D printer kit. While this build could be likened to building a kit, all the parts were purchased separately and with your help, I'm figuring out how to make it all work together. I bought:

Acorn controller and Router Pro license
2.2Kw Spindle/VFD set: https://www.amazon.com/24000rpm-Inverte ... C91&sr=8-5
UltimateBee 1000x1500 mechanical kit: https://bulkman3d.com/product/ultimate- ... nsmission/
Four Gecko GR214V steppers with heatsinks, four NEMA23 3.5A/600 oz motors (link is to a set of 3 but I got 4): https://www.ebay.com/itm/133097438548?h ... Swss1dFh5R
Two Hubbell/Weigmann 20x20x8 enclosures: https://www.hubbell.com/hubbell/en/Prod ... /p/1722031
Two back-panels for the enclosures which were stupidly expensive for what they are. Why don't the enclosures come with them?

And an endless list of stranded wire, shielded cable, crimp connectors, panel connectors, screws washers and what have you to hook it all up. Man, does it add up FAST.

I have previous experience with consumer VFDs, using them in my garage shop to power 3-phase motors, but never used them with electronics before. I did not know that they are a huge source of EMI. So, I wanted to isolate the VFD from the Acorn and steppers.

Here's what I came up with. This is before the mess of wiring to come. Everything will be labeled. I just ran out of time and energy tonight.

Another angle

Yes, everything is bolted down.

Inside a cable raceway. #10 x 1/2" screws, lock washer and washer on all screws.

Under the VFD are an EMI input filter

And a ferrite to wrap the 3-phase output wires around (the black doughnut-looking thing)

The two barrier strips at the bottom are for 12VDC power distro for the cabinet fans (120mm/12VDC computer fans) and for the VFD output to the spindle. I want to be able to easily detach the CNC machine from the control boxes. I hope to get this box wired up tomorrow.

I think I have a layout for the Acorn/Stepper cabinet. Something like this:

Another angle

My thought process was to keep all the high voltage on the left and low voltage on the right. I'm not crazy about having a stepper so close to the power supplies, but there's a good 2-1/2" between them as well as the aluminum heatsink on the stepper. I'll be using shielded wire for all stepper connections so I should be ok. (Famous last words? Hope not.) I know that wiring this cabinet with the Acorn and stepper drives is going to suck. I have a lot of 12v (car stereo) wiring experience with amp racks and such, so I'll use whatever tricks I know. But it's still going to suck.

The two controller cabinets will be connected with these 1-1/4" conduit pieces. One for the 240VAC lines to pass through, the other for the 12VDC fan power wires to pass through. No CNC controller or stepper drive/motor wires will pass thru the VFD cabinet. All those low-voltage control signals will enter/exit the right side of the Acorn cabinet (to the right of the stepper drives in these pics). Trying my best to keep signals clean.

What's missing is the cabinets and all the holes I'll need to punch. I'll be using GX-16 connectors for the stepper motors and limit switches. Instead of drilling a billion holes in the cabinets (that steel is tougher than I thought it would be) I will cut out a large rectangular hole and use blank outlet plates, drilled accordingly, for the connections.

More to follow. Thanks for looking.

[EastMemphis]

Have you tried using a step-drill to cut the holes in the cabinets? Fast and pretty clean.

[tblough]

My preference is a chassis punch, followed closely in second place by a step drill.

[mikeintx]

Thanks, guys. I do have step drill bits and was going to go that way, but decided that rather than making these expensive cabinets "single use" by drilling specific holes in specific places, I will just cut out a large rectangular hole for a cover panel and mount everything to the cover panel.

That way, down the road if my configuration/equipment changes I can just swap out the cover panel and not have random, empty holes in the cabinet.

I can make the large cutout with an angle grinder and/or Dremel-type tool.

[mikeintx]

Well, I did say progress would be slow, but I'm making headway.

As stated earlier, my "control cabinet" will actually be two separate cabinets mounted on a common plywood board, joined together by stubby pieces of conduit. VFD in one cabinet and Acorn/stepper drives/power supplies in another cabinet. Due to the layout of my shop and available space, I can't really have the VFD mounted on a wall, and I know the VFD is a huge generator of EMI, so it's in it's own cabinet.

I got the VFD control panel/backplate all wired up and tested. I still need to cut a bunch of holes in the cabinet itself, so that's why the backplate isn't installed yet. But, it works! No magic smoke was released in the testing of these components. I do need to test the spindle though. Even though the VFD seems to be working, I still need to go through the menu to make sure things are set correctly before hooking up the spindle. My VFD experience is limited to hooking 3-phase motors through VFDs on a drill press and belt grinder...not exactly precision electronics there. So I'm taking my time to ensure the magic smoke stays where it's supposed to be.

The paddle switch is the magnetic version where if power is lost, the switch stays off after power is restored until you hit the start button. Today was testing day to ensure things worked as intended and things did. The paddle switch switches both the hot and neutral legs of a 110v line and passes them to the contactor, which switches 220v (240v in my case). All components in my setup other than the contactor coil and pump for the spindle run on 240VAC. Though the contactor added complexity, I could not switch 240VAC/30 amps (max) through the paddle switch.

Note: That coil of BLK/WHT/GRN wires at the bottom are for the other cabinet with the Acorn/steppers. Those 240VAC power wires will run thru a piece of conduit into the other cabinet.

I also finalized the layout of the Acorn/stepper drive cabinet, but still need to actually layout/drill/tap mount everything. I kept all the high voltage on the left and low voltage/signal on the right.

The relay board for the Acorn will be mounted on platform suspended above the Acorn, pretty much identical to this setup:

I'll also be swapping out those smaller terminal blocks for larger ones with more contact positions. The larger terminal strips take up less room for the same amount of connectivity.

For cable shield drains from the stepper power wires, stepper motor power wires and home/limit switches, I am planning on using Wago connectors to gather all the drains, and then run a single line from the Wago to the ground bus. That is a lot neater than running an individual wire from each shield drain to the ground bus. While the OCD in me would prefer to run individual wires, even though it would take a while to run and neaten them up, I just don't have the room on the backplate.

Comments welcome. Thanks for looking.

[cncsnw]

ps: How do I get rid of the ghost picture below this line? It doesn't show in my post when I edit it.

In the "Attachments" list, you seem to have two copies of "PXL...27505". My guess is that you could delete the top-most one.

[mikeintx]

Thanks, cncsnw. That worked. Now the picture is just upside down

[cnckeith]

mike,
hello.
fyi..the tech support forum preferred cnc project photo management method is described here.
https://centroidcncforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=1043
#3
looking forward to more photos!

[mikeintx]

mike,
hello.
fyi..the tech support forum preferred cnc project photo manage method is described here.
https://centroidcncforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=1043
#3
looking forward to more photos!

Will do, Keith, thank you.

[mikeintx]

More progress tonight. Got most of the components mounted on the Acorn cabinet's back panel and got the majority of the high voltage stuff wired up. Only high voltage lines not run are for the spindle pump b/c I'm not sure how I'm going to trigger that yet. Likely through the Acorn relay board, but I have reading/learning to do first. Onto the pics.

Overall shot of the back panel. Power input will be to the red/black distribution blocks, which will connect to the other cabinet with the VFD. That wiring is the coil of wire in the pics above. The ground bus will also connect back to the main ground bus in the other cabinet.

Circuit breakers and ground bus. Not my best work but I had to work with the space I had.

Acorn mounted on #6 motherboard standoffs. I have about a hundred of these from computer builds over the years. Free hardware is the best kind! The relay board will be mounted on a piece of 1/4" acrylic, suspended above the Acorn. I had to order standoffs/spacers and they haven't come in yet, else I'd have mounted the relay board too.

Stepper drives. These are Gecko GR214Vs, mounted on a heatsink sold by EBay seller eDealers Direct Automation. The heatsinks weren't cheap for what they are, but they're custom made to fit these drives and come predrilled/threaded. Buy once, cry once. I likely will never need buy steppers or heatsinks again, unless I let the smoke out of these.

The smaller terminal strips are for +5VDC/COM terminal distribution and stepper ERR/RES signal aggregation. Still a ton of wiring left to do, not to mention actually making holes in the cabinets themselves. I'd say I'm about 40% done with the control cabinet build. Slow progress, but at least I've got some momentum now.

Thanks for looking.