Do you want an automated mist coolant on your Avid CNC setup for cutting aluminum and other metals? Thankfully, I'll be walking you through the hardware and the software configuration that you need to do to make the process seamless and automatic.
The purpose of mist coolant on my Avid CNC setup
As I mentioned in my previous videos, I cut a lot of aluminum and plastic, a factor to consider about aluminum is that you need a lot of air movement and coolant to keep the machine working correctly.
Originally, I had a manual valve placed on the machine, but this was inconvenient because one could forget to turn it off leading to coolant overflowing. Avid Machines have the capacity to be configured with a mist coolant in the software, in fact, I noticed that in the configuration, the Avid was already pre-configured for a cooling system.
So this lead me begin to purchase hardware to construct a mist coolant system to upgrade my Avid setup. Below are the list of the components needed, affiliate links before if you are also constructing a mist coolant system for your Avid setup:
- Mist Coolant sprayer with two inputs
- Pneumatic tubes & connectors
- Coolant Container
- Coolant (Denatured Alcohol)
- 12V Air Solenoid
- 5V to 12V Relay
- 12V Power Supply
- 20 Gauge 2 Conductor Wire
- Fork Wire Connectors
- Manifold
- Hose for Coolant
The Pins Plan
As I mentioned before, I went through the pin configuration and I found where they already set up Pin 2-16 to handle coolant, which is the M7 command to turn on and the M9 to turn off. All you would have to do is plug in your wires correctly and issue the correct commands for the machine to perform the correct action.
Rigging the Avid CNC Machine
After getting everything wired up we're left with the solenoid on one end, a leg down to the power supply and some bare wires hanging out the other end, so the bare wires will go directly into the ESS controller. I'd recommend running them up through the bottom and hook them to the correct pins.
Again, you'll see one labeled ground and the other one with a different label. You'll see that the pair is really close to one another and finding enough space to move and get them to the right spot was difficult.
Once you are on the support site, you will see that relay output volts are 19 & 20, the latter being the ground and the former being the pin. With this determined if you look at the schematic you will see where to place the ports per their positive or negative charges. Assuming we did everything correctly, it should work.
To do this just replace the manual valve with the solenoid, to get it to stay together fasten a zip tie to keep it in place, or to make it fancy use a command strip.
Testing
Once you get that hooked up, you plug in your solenoid valve , plug in your power supply and you should be good to go. Use the appropriate commands and you will have a mist coolant for your Avid CNC machine, if it works awesome! If it isn't working, check your wiring.
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