CNC Spindle-I Need Help Selecting

[canmorebrewguy]

Hello All,

I have been looking at spindles for weeks now but I am not sure on what spindle to go with or from who. Here is what I think I need:

• 2.2 KW
  
• Water Cooled
  
• I will mostly be cutting aluminum with it
  
• looking for low run out
  
• ATC would be nice but would like to keep the budget at $1500 and under if possible
  

I am sure you guys have used a lot of spindles (good and bad) and can recommend a good manufacture or model to go with.

Thanks for all the help!

Todd

 

[keymont]

I just picked up a 4kw, 18,000 RPM spindle motor and a Huanyang VFD to power it and some ER25 collets all for around $600 USD from Amazon. Air cooled, though... I ve got it almost all wired up, but I haven t actually made any cuts yet. I m paranoid about making cuts prior to KNOWING that I have all of the VFD / Motor settings optimized.

I m upgrading from a Harbor Freight Mini Mill head, which topped out at around 4000 RPM and only had 0.8HP. The runout spec on this motor is virtually nonexistent at 0.01mm

I ll update once I have an idea of how well this cuts compared to the old setup.

FWIW, I had to install a 220v outlet, which was pretty easy.

 

[testyourdesign]

@canmorebrewguy

The best spindle to choose would be dependant on the application. Is this for a CNC Router or Mill? What do you expect to cut? How stiff or heavy is your machine? High-speed spindles like you describe suffer from lackluster torque at lower RPM's so they are best suited for CNC routers or engravers that machine wood or plastic materials. Some have had success machining aluminum with those spindles but that was usually on a heavy-duty machine that is stiff and heavy.

I have a cheap Chinese version of the water-cooled spindle you describe on my CNC router and it works perfectly. I bought a kit that included the spindle, 220v huanyang vfd, aluminum spindle mount, and water pump for less than $300usd on Amazon three years ago. It chews up wood projects like a champ but it does not have a tool changer. Not having an ATC on the wood router doesn't bother me too much because most wood projects only need one or two tools. I used to use a handheld wood router for my spindle which also worked fine but the air-cooled fan kept fighting with the dust collection and blowing dust all over the shop so it got ol very quickly. However, a handheld router is also a decent option if you're on a tighter budget or only intend to use it for hobby project in the shed.

Cheers, Stephen Brown

 

[keymont]

Ok, just to close the loop on this, I ended up coming to the conclusion that the first VFD that I tried was garbage, so I ordered a Huanyang GT series VFD. MUCH better. I made an initial test cut using a job from the previous setup, using a 2x4 instead of aluminum, just to see what would happen. No problem, even though the motor was only running at 4000 RPM. I didn t change ANYTHING, so it defaulted to the old motor speed. Even at only 25% of the spindle s rated speed, the cut was superior to the milling head.

I then ran another test cut at 10,0oo RPM. Again, only 55-60% of he spindle s rated output. UNREAL. I ve cut plenty of aluminum using the mill head. Slow, noisy, crap surface finish... this was a MASSIVE UPGRADE.

That said, I do agree with Stephen, above. My machine is reasonably stiff and well weighted down at around 650 pounds, constructed of welded steel. If the machine has the rigidity, you can make use of the high speed spindles. If it isn t, though, all of that extra speed and power is just going to turn into vibration etc.

BTW, Stephen, your videos on youtube helped me make the decision to purchase the Masso - thanks!

- Mike