EtherCat VFD suggestions?

Howdy all, I am working up a bit of an electronics retrofit for my CNC replacing the Adtech controller and most of the electronics with LinuxCNC and Ethercat..

I have about 95% of things worked out, digital IO, axis drives, so forth..

however, I am a little gray on best VFD for my Servo Spindle.. Its a 3.7kw AC 220v servo spindle with encoder runs at 8000 RPM (plate picture included)..

Looking for suggestions on how to control it.. Current VFD does have MODBUS but its a "insert random chinese brand" SINEE EA200 so documentation is, well its there. and it is currently wired up as a spindle with my current controller so not through any industrial automations.. just pins out/pins in.

Kind of wondering if people just get a big servo driver or if they stick with VFD drivers even though this thing needs positional control (rigid tapping), orienting (for tool changing), and of course sustaining a pre defined RPM and stopping fast when needed ..

Wiring up a VFD is no biggy, but how ethercat comes into the mix is where I get confused and figured I would ask the community.

Thanks all

if you got modbus on the spindle control and using Linuxcnc
why not considdering the USB variant to fully controll the spindle system

So don't try to find a VFD/Servo Driver that supports Ethercat, and let the VFD run off a separate bit of hardware?

Is MODBUS fast enough for rigid tapping?/Step Direction... Which is a mode I currently have with spindle and the industrial control I am getting rid of?

jhandel wrote:

So don't try to find a VFD/Servo Driver that supports Ethercat, and let the VFD run off a separate bit of hardware?

Is MODBUS fast enough for rigid tapping?/Step Direction... Which is a mode I currently have with spindle and the industrial control I am getting rid of?

Did you end up getting the VFD working on Ethercat or did you switch to something else for spindle control for this project? I see you are using a 7i76e for a project now, is that the same project or new one?

I am in a similar boat and trying to consider all options.. Thanks!

Cheeers,
Chester

Yah I pivoted away from Ethercat on this build... I am still trying to figure out how to get Modbus working with my spindle....

My current plan is to use ModBus to pull state, but go ahead and use either pulse generation or 0v - 10v analog to handle spin in conjunction with the encoder.

I've got 7i76e + a 7i89 + a standard BoB for all of the encoders and generators for all of the axies.... Still slow going, but that is what hobbies are :-P.

Omron make a very good VFD and the EtherCAT modules is only $250 or so Australian.

OKmarts offer a wide variety of quality VFD s, the price is around 300$. You may check their website.