As Ice Cube would say – today was a good day.
Performed the install/upgrade of the new AV70S. I had a 3 HP spindle (2020 era) so this was a complete replacement of the spindle control box, install of a new mount, and of course the new spindle.
The upgrade could not have been easier or more straightforward. Kudos Avid.
The upgrade instructions were straightforward. The only minor things I encountered were
- The spindle control box had a loose screw when unpacked. This ending up being the screw that holds the door latch, which was missing entirely. I stole the lock mechanism from my old controller (had to use the whole thing because they are slightly different).
- The spindle box comes with a L21-30 connector with a single phase adapter. That adapter is L6-30 IIRC (3 wire – ground, X, Y). My outlets are L14-30 (4 wire – ground, neutral, X, Y). I simply replaced that plug. I probably had to do that with the original spindle; I just don’t remember.
- Newer pro machines must have come with some sort of riser to raise the cable track above due to the much larger spindle. I didn’t have this and the upgrade didn’t come with it. See pic. I am temporary using an old bumper piece from the stepper → servo upgrade I did recently. I’ll replace it with something more durable.
- I have the Avid dust boot. The 80 mm adapter ring definitely doesn’t fit the 83mm AV70S. I’ll probably mill the current adapter to fit, or 3D print a temporary and order the correct size.
- Everything was packaged and labeled impeccably, and other than the door latch, all parts (including some extras I ordered at the time) were exactly included.
No observations of actually using it yet. I need to verify I installed it in the position I actually want on the Z axis, tram, and plan for my setup. Initially planned to continue to be manual (but easy) tool changes. 12 Tool holders. One through ten being most common used tools, #11 being available for all other tools, and #12 permanently holding the KP-1 probe.
Today was a good day.
