Spindle Warm UP

MR-1
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For all those that have their machine up and running, making parts, what spindle warm up procedure do you perform at the beginning of the day prior to cutting parts? Is there a recommended spindle warm up length of time? Is a spindle warm up even required?

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If you think it’s worth it to prematurely wear out your spindles bearings in order to save a couple of minutes here and there, sure, skip the warm up.

Not sure what LS’s guidance is here, but in lieu of theirs I would suggest 1/2 max rpm for 10 min.

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I agree a 10 min warmup.

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I typically will run the spindle at 2500 rpm for about 10 minutes while I’m getting things ready to run a job. You definitely want to do SOME type of warm up of the spindle to get an even temperature through the components and lubrication evenly distributed.

5

Although I’m not (yet) running an MR, on my CNC Routers (spindles) I run a stepped warmup routine before the day’s use. The spindle I’m currently running is water cooled but I used the same routine on air cooled spindles previously. They have Swiss ceramic bearings and the warmup was recommended by the spindle manufacturer.

The warmup program runs at 1/4 speed (6000 rpm) for 3 minutes, 1/2 and 3/4 each for 3 minutes as well. It seems to be a pretty standard routine in the CNC world.

For slower spindles like the Haas, we use a 20 minute warmup starting with 500 rpm and stepping through 1000, 2500, 5000, 7500 and 10000. It’s 2 loops of stepping through the speeds (each speed runs for 200 seconds).

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Thanks for eveyone’s input. I just wrote a shirt g-code program to warm up the spindle daily, varying the RPMs over a 10 minute span.

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I use this G-Code for my warm-up, Feel free to use it, edit it, or hate it… :smile:

001Warmup.nc (5.1 KB)

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Thanks Norm for including the safety information. :smiley:

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Here’s a small modification of @FabLabRacing’s warmup, which keeps XYZ motors stationary. I find I’m more likely to perform a warm up if I don’t have to make sure the work area is fully clear first. 24 minutes total.

SpindleWarmup_No-Motor-Moves.nc (742 Bytes)

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