BuildingAfloat

[BikerAfloat]

...but if this is the absolute max price he can go to.. then the question is does he buy a router that will burn it's self out with a few hours hard use ... or buy a spindle that will keep going ...

Excellent Wilfy, you have totally understood where I am going with my questions!

[wilfy]

Excellent Wilfy, you have totally understood where I am going with my questions!

i understand as i am at pretty much the same price point as you for my table and have the same desire to keep costs down.... the reality is that water cooled is better than the kress, defining how bad a 1.5kw spindle is compared to the other options seems to be the hardest thing to get out of anyone. as i said before if the w/c spindle has to do twice the work a kress could do but the spindle for the same price lasts more than twice the time the kress does... than it already pays for itself... if it lasts 4x or more then even if the trade off is it takes longer to make everything the fact your not buying new parts every couple of hours work makes it priceless...

if however someone turns round and says if you dont have a 2.2kw W/c spindle you wont be able to cut this that and the other then i would have to take some consideration in to the chances of me wanting to cut them things.

[Jonathan]

Excellent Wilfy, you have totally understood where I am going with my questions!

I think everyone participating in this thread understands where you are coming from since you have already made it perfectly clear. Jazz and I are just attempting to make sure you know the advantages and disadvantages of every option.

The absolute maximum price you can go to is already less than the cost of the 1.5kW ER11 spindle, hence you're going to have to wait to get a spindle anyway so all it would gain is getting the better spindle slightly sooner then some time in the future regretting not being able to use any cutters above 7mm. Consider also the cost of the cutters as that could make up the differenc. 1/2" router cutters have a large market, hence they are cheap. In addition the power from the spindle (roughly) decreases linearly from maximum power at around half rated speed to zero at zero rpm. You'll probably never use 1.5kW, let alone 2.2kW, but because of this relationship it's important to have the higher rated power to maintain enough power at low speeds.
Hence you will find it harder to use the 1.5kW spindle at low speeds - i.e. harder to cut steel or drill aluminium.

3) The VFD will let you set whatever speed you want - it's the control algorithm and ratings of the spindle that dictate how fast the spindle will run. The 8000rpm minimum you read might have been referring to the air cooled spindles which cannot be operated at low speeds since the fan would not provide sufficient airflow to cool them.

[JAZZCNC]

Excellent Wilfy, you have totally understood where I am going with my questions!

Geoff so have WE but your blinded by the desire to build cheap.! . . . . Read the thread Wilfy posted and just look at the wasted money with the end result being he's started over again doing it the way it should have been done first time.!! (Actually he's over done it for wood, with some expensive components capable of far more than the design can handle.!!)

I foreone are just trying to help save you money by not wasting money on inferior or below par components. ?

Regards Kress VS WC: You say the £100 difference buys 4 steppers.? . . . I say what's the point if the spindle's dead within a few weeks or months and the machine can't cut.!!. . . . Now those steppers are very expensive paper weights.!!

Don't look at the NOW think of the future.!!