Spindles

[Johnp]

Gidday from another Kiwi :biggrin:
By way of introduction I have some 35 yrs experience in heavy engineering including heavy machininig but avioded CNC sucessfully.
Now still keen to learn as hobby as also inteterested in electronics, PIC etc so the 2 combined skills will be usefully and I hope I can guide others.

Have currently converted small lathe ,now working towards gantry mill but concerned about spindle costs mainly, anyone tried build own HF spindle or has ideas along that thread I'd be interested in you experience good or bad, perhaps interface of Outrunner type motor as used in those electric model choppers etc to custom spindle arrangement is a starter?

Cheers mate, John

[Conan257]

I have seen various custom spindles, as long as you can get a high rpm motor then it shouldn't be too difficult...

Model helicopter/aircraft engines are maybe not ideal as they are not built to withstand load on their X and Y axis....

[Tom]

Hi John,

I'm not much use directly because I'm going down the Kress route (at least to start with). Have you seen this guy's work? He's done several iterations of router spindles, some heavier duty than others. Maybe you'd be able to scale up/down as required?
http://www.buildyouridea.com/cnc/pcb_drill/pcb_drill.html

This one is the party-piece - an automatic tool changer, with custom-made collets!
http://www.buildyouridea.com/cnc/atc/phase_three/phase_three.html

Good luck, and let us know how you get on.... This site needs more examples of hands dirty solutions that are not directly "out of the box".... :biggrin:

[John S]

There is already one on this forum by Jerremy.

DIY spindle design - MYCNCUK

That uses a cheap off the shelf collet chuck and an Outrunner motor, well worth the read.

[Johnp]

To all that replyed so quickly chrs mate, impressed with Jeremy's design as like most its only a hobby & budgets rule.
Most encouraged by the help and will definately repay by posting photo, drawing of the end product.
As many may know us kiwis are starved for cheap parts and have to make or build heaps thats ontainable in Europe.
Sure WWW helps but the efforts in the learning & doing rather than just buy!

So little time , so much to learn
Cheers John:beer: