Sneak Peek at the X-Controller

[rpegg]

Just checked. Looks like they are still in the first 400 so yours will ship fairly soon. I didn't order mine until Jan 23rd. They didn't start shipping until the 25th. 10 business days after the very first X-Controller shipped I received my shipping notice. I was told by Inventables that they were shipping 20-30 X-Controllers a day. So I'm guessing you will have a much shorter wait than I did.

[KC_703]

Also put an order in for the X-Controller yesterday. How do you check inventory of the first run of 400?

[rpegg]

It says on the description page: "Once the first 400 are sold out, the date at the top of the page will change. That’s how you’ll know whether you’re in batch #1 or batch #2." It has not yet changed. You are in the first batch. Guessing you will see it sometime in the next 2 weeks. Mine is to be delivered tomorrow, 15 days after they shipped the very first one.

[CNC3D]

Have they stopped selling the X-Controller? I did a search for it and only came up with old threads about it....

[ErikJenkins]

Here it is in their online store...

X-Controller

[StephenCook]

Oh awesome, thanks for clarifying! I see the enclosure has a mounting flange at the bottom for mounting, would it be possible to have a version that has mounting flange at the top? This would be so you could mount it under the top of you bench.

With the machine you could create some and put them on the corners

[StephenCook]

Bart, would you recommend the water cooled spindle to work with the x-controller?

I know you asked Bart but I thought I would throw in one other thing as I was looking into these.
You can use any water cooled spindle and if the power is higher than what your plug supports you can get a converter. I have seen them. I would not consider a water cooled spindle unless I wanted quiet or I was running the machine every day nearly non stop.
I get very good results with the stock system.
I also make sure to clean out everything by using some air hose to blow out dust and other contaminants.

[BartDring]

@StephenCook The X-Controller will support VFD based water cooled spindles. It has 0-10V and 5VPWM, which should cover most.

Some of the low cost Chinese VFDs are very noisy and can cause issues. When attached USB devices you need to be careful about routing wires.

Some Advice: Use as short as USB cable as possible and keep the power cord to the VFD away from other wiring.

[StephenCook]

Yes Bart your correct.
I didn't mention that. Thanks for adding those warnings and extra info.
I would not get the Chinese version of a spindle due to poor electrical construction. I would gladly pay extra for a high quality electronics as its the thing that is more critical. Mechanical I can get away with as I am not stressing my system enough to worry.

[Varcho]

Hey Bart!

Do you know if the gerbel files for the X-Controller will be made available at anytime, similar to how they were provided for the original power X-Carve Power Supply Interface PCB here(
Open Source Design Documentation)?