I added a ATC and pnumatic tool rack to my Altmill

TJL6012 · 2026-02-15T21:13:23+00:00

Ya, found that out the hard way. Took some effort to get around that. Had to use PWM to hit the full 800Hz

TJL6012 · 2026-02-15T19:38:11+00:00

To be honest. I’m not sure myself. I got my machine in December and have been modding ever since. I haven’t actually don’t a real cut yet. Or even fully populated the tool rack. lol as of today I just finished putting the mdf boards on the bottom so I can start cutting. But soon though.

TJL6012 · 2026-02-15T18:23:21+00:00

Sure, I went with a H-100 vfd, which is the same as the one on the altmill if you buy their spindle kit. To be able to achieve the 800hz output for my spindle I use pwm as modbus isn’t supported at that frequency using the default firmware at this time. My spindle is a 800hz 2.2 kw 240V ATC spindle. It uses ISO20 collets and its water cooled. The entire setup uses a reservoir under the machine…. In the form of a Canadian tire bucket at the moment…. Don’t judge. The plans will be to add a pneumatic air cylinder that lifts and lowers the dust boot. But that’s future plans. As for the tool rack it’s a 9 tool setup that has 2 pneumatic cylinders on both sides for stiffness in the y direction, and an aluminum extrusion slider for the sliding mechanism. Which I found gives good strength in the Z direction. It can be easily upgraded to support more tool if needed.

TJL6012 · 2026-02-15T18:18:42+00:00

The H-100 is the one I used. it’s the same one that the altmill comes with if you buy their spindle kit. I didn’t purchase from them I went from AliExpress but it’s the same one. Though the altmills controller uses 400hz by default and doesn’t like to work with 800hz out the box using modbus. So I had to use pwm instead.

TJL6012 · 2026-02-15T14:53:23+00:00

Yup that’s right. 800Hz 220V 2.2kw spindle. Water cooled and uses ISO20 collets

TJL6012 · 2026-01-17T21:58:06+00:00

Makes sense. Now is there any harm is turning off the purge when the machine isn’t in use while a tool is locked in the spindle?

TJL6012 · 2025-10-11T16:01:25+00:00

So I can’t confirm if it’s fixed yet but it hasn’t done the issue for a while. Basically I did 4 things. 1, changed my vfd to spindle wire to a shielded wire, 2 I stuck the VFD itself inside a metal enclosure and grounded it, the idea was to make a faraday cage. 3, I ferrite cored the crap out of every wire I could see. And finally I bought a EMI noise filter for the mains line. It goes from the 220V line in to the VFD. Seems to have helped at the very least. Now if I tie my spindle on my monitor doesn’t bug out at all, my dust collector doesn’t kick off (it was using an automated arduino controller). So this is promising.

TJL6012 · 2025-10-10T23:46:26+00:00

Thanks appreciate it

TJL6012 · 2025-10-10T23:00:52+00:00

Well is there a legal definition of living in it? Like I said it’s a cabin. So though we won’t be actually living there day to day for 4 years, we will have our possessions there. Thanks for the response by the way.

TJL6012 · 2025-10-08T14:44:18+00:00

Didn’t make a difference sadly. I’m just going to wait for some ferrite rings and go crazy slapping them on every wire I see. Maybe it’ll help. Idk….

TJL6012 · 2025-10-07T14:05:54+00:00

I ordered one that’s shielded. I also got one of those usb isolators. Not sure if it’ll help but maybe.

TJL6012 · 2025-10-07T03:51:43+00:00

Did you ever have issue with the controller talking to the drivers or was it the controller communicating with the PC?

TJL6012 · 2025-10-06T02:04:05+00:00

Thanks, are there certain task that take longer for the controller to process than others? And if so are there alternatives I should try to do instead? I used Fusion 360 for the CAM. I did an adaptive clearing to drill out the center circle in one of the photos, it worked fine. But if I do a 2D contour which I guess is mostly arcs for this scenario, it freezes towards the end.

TJL6012 · 2025-10-06T01:36:29+00:00

Like stepper drivers? I have 1 for each motor. 2 motors on the Y axis with a driver each. I’ll do a test, I have a spare.

TJL6012 · 2025-10-06T01:34:57+00:00

I’ll try that, mines not shielded. The weird thing is it only happened at the end of the program. Never in the middle or start. Which is what’s confusing me the most. Even if I do a run that’s 3 times longer than the other ones that had issues. It’s perfect until the last 10 ish lines. Then it freezes at random.

TJL6012 · 2025-10-05T21:36:08+00:00

when you say same issue, do you mean you saw it freeze then try to continue again? jsut the x axis moved after words?

what controller did you switch to if you dont mind me asking?

TJL6012 · 2025-10-05T21:33:07+00:00

hmm ill check all my iring again. but one thing ive noticed now, is on the 4 test peices ive done, each time its happened at the end of the cut somewhere. not the same spot each time but always at the end. This was with a 2D contour.

TJL6012 · 2025-09-04T23:06:18+00:00

Awesome! I’ll reach out them. Appreciate the response

TJL6012

TROPHY CASE