School me on the best machine for big hardwood

[bluesking]

Do those motors have integral brakes?

An excellent point which I had not considered! Unfortunately no brake.

I plan to use the following 3.5kW spindle and VFD:
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pro...1bdf23a8f7ed5m

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pro...2e6c275cpko9w1

At 8kg, this spindle may well cause problems.

I will most likely use a fairly high gear reduction on the Z (maybe 5:1 or even higher as compared to 2:1 on X/Y). Perhaps this will amplify any holding force/friction enough to keep it in place when powered off. If it does turn out to be a problem I guess I could always buy an external brake like this (though I won't have a convenient 24v supply for it, nor will I know how to connect it, maybe using a relay on the BOB or something...)
https://www.zappautomation.co.uk/24v...brake-2nm.html

I'm also not particularly happy about the C10/C11 breakout board that comes with the kit. The wiring diagram is a bit scant and I am not sure it has all the features I need for spindle control - and I don't know what a charge pump is, or if I need one, but it doesn't seem to have one.

If I am feeling up to it I may use the kit as an inspiration to piece together my own system using some more custom parts - but I'm already overwhelmed by the complexity of all this!

you might get a slowly drooping spindle when you switch off.

That's what she said