HI all, i stumbled across a guys build a while back where he had converted an old Bridgeport series 2 interact 2 to run on EMC2 which got me thinking about doing it, i used to have the very same machine and never did alot with it as it could only control X and Y at once. So i started looking around again for more info and stumbled on alot of homemade CNC mills using wood routers as spindles, so i decided to have a go at making one myself. So far ive managed to gather together my Y and Z slides from old but very good linear slides which were getting scrapped from work and bought myself a 1200W varispeed plunge router, at the moment im designing a new custom housing to hold the routers motor and wiring as the main body of it would be a nightmare to secure efficiently.

From this :



To this :



Im was gonna incorporate air/water coolant channels through the main body of the spindle but think i may just go for air, unless i totally seal the unit so water doesnt get to the motor itself. That way it keeps it all tidier without the need for external lines being ran all over the place

Also i think ive come to a design im happy with for the main body of the machine aswell, of course things will probably changes if ive done something i shouldnt have and once i have all of my sizes worked out etc. Ill probably move the X rails on top of the bed so the force isnt going through the cap heads holding the rail in position and ill reduce the height of the C pillar bit that will hold the Y and Z axis but i need to finish designing my spindle to allow me to accurately change it
This is how she looks so far



what are your thoughts ?