Spindle Speed Controller Question

[Boyan Silyavski]

1hp spindles also work very good for small machines and cutters up to 8mm. Plus a brand 0.75kw VFD like Toshiba are around 110 euro only. Actually for a small machine not meant for production, i don't see a reason for a bigger spindle.

Less than that i would not go.

[thomashomer1986]

Yes Clive that is the machine it is for, it's been a long build but it will get finished one day lol! Family life takes over and it keeps having to be put on hold.

I'll leave the 400w spindle then, I was expecting that answer tbh!

I'll save up and get the water cooled spindle then, I will have to get some new brackets made to mount it tho so may take me a bit longer. I used to be a machinist in a heavy engineering workshop so had access to making pretty much anything I wanted back then, but now I'm in an office job I'm limited to asking my old work mates to make bits for me!

Do you have a link to one of those spindles Boyan?

Thanks for the advice everyone!

[Boyan Silyavski]

Do you have a link to one of those spindles Boyan?

0.8kw spindle, its ok to buy it together with the chinese VFD drive, which many people use. I use one for my 3kw spindle , price wise. But for smaller motors i personally use and prefer the Toshiba VFD


With the correct cutter 0.8kw spindle does not have problem to go up to 1/4 deep in aluminum with 1/4 carbide bit, provided mist cooling

[Clive S]

The 0.8Kw spindle are only 65mm Dia. Think first if you are going to build a bigger machine in the future as the 1.5Kw or 2.2Kw are not much more money and they have a bigger collet

[thomashomer1986]

I did make a mistake when building my machine to not account for a bigger spindle, but who doesn't make mistakes on there first build lol?

The idea of this build was just to get me going and learn from it so that when i wanted to make a bigger and better machine i would have a better understanding of machine building. However since my circumstances have now changed considerably (ie 2 kids and changing jobs) the likely-hood of me building a second machine is pretty slim.

with regards to spindles, are the air cooled ones really much worse than the water cooled? because i'm under the impression that the water cooled system requires a separate water tank and pump? which would just put the price up further.

[njhussey]

What are you looking to cut with your machine? Have you thought of making a brushless DC spindle like in this thread? I've made one and although not used it yet Jonathan and Mark have used theirs with good effect. They are controlled with cheap servo testers and a brushless Radio Controlled ESC.

[thomashomer1986]

I only plan on cutting wood and maybe some plastics.

I have already read that thread from start to finish which is why my original plan was to make one of those brushless spindles, thats why i made my motor mounts to suit 52mm dia spindle body. However making a spindle now is out of the question as I no longer have access to a workshop. I really do miss the working on the tools sometimes!

[Clive S]

are the air cooled ones really much worse than the water cooled? because i'm under the impression that the water cooled system requires a separate water tank and pump? which would just put the price up further.

The air cooled are very noisy not necessary worse. The water cooled only require a very small fish tank pump £3 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ultra-Quie...uYAAOSwR5dXREE~
and a 2 ltr Tupperware container for the water.