Hello

[davo453]

If the budget will allow go for the 2.2Kw water cooled (air cooled are noisy) as they are very quiet and if you intend to build another machine then it can be used again.

What about the weight I read somewhere that the 2.2kw weighs in at 11kg!

[Neale]

I'm using the usual 2.2KW water-cooled spindle on my MDF machine. Yes, it's heavy, and in my particular case way over-powered for what the machine can take, but it's going on the next machine which will be able to make use of the power. The big advantage is the ER20 collet which takes up to 1/2" shank cutters rather than the smaller ER collet on the next size spindle down. And as Clive said, the water-cooled version is relatively quiet and you don't need anything very complicated to set up the water cooling.

[Clive S]

What about the weight I read somewhere that the 2.2kw weighs in at 11kg!

I think the weight of the 1.5kw is about 5.5Kg but you can run the 2.2Kw without water for about 20min before it starts to get warm and with a small fish tank pump and 1 ltr of water it will run fine.

[davo453]

I think the weight of the 1.5kw is about 5.5Kg but you can run the 2.2Kw without water for about 20min before it starts to get warm and with a small fish tank pump and 1 ltr of water it will run fine.

Oh well I had already ordered an air cooler 1.5kw so will just have to stick with it for now.

An ER16 collet will be ok as I only really use 1/4 inch bits at the moment and can use an extender collet should I need to use a 1/2 inch.

The other concern I had was power my Garage has a 20 amp feed so 8 amps for the PSU + 8 amps for a 2.2kw Spindle and then the dust collector/vacuum at I think 2 amps puts me up there a bit. All peak rates I know but none the less...

Was hoping a 1.5kw Air would be quieter than my current router but not sure now.

[Neale]

You're adding apples and oranges and getting a fruit salad...

You can't add up the output of the PSU, 60V or so DC, add it to the spindle (AC power) and get an answer that makes any sense! Actual input current to the PSU will not be more than about 2A, and the spindle will only draw 2.2KW/8A when it is working really flat out, which means pretty much never. The problem is usually that when the PSU switches on, it takes a big inrush current until capacitors are charged and sometimes this trips breakers. However, I don't think that your machine is going to be anywhere near the limit, and most people run machines like this off a single 13A socket with no problems, so don't worry too much about it.

The 1.5kW air-cooled spindle will probably be quite a bit quieter than a standard router, but not as quiet as a water-cooled version.