Which spindle with a £200 budget?

[ptjw7uk]

Only problem with that spindle is its only half the kit, you also need a high frequency 3 phase driver for it.
That seller on fleabay also does the complete kit for about £300, I think Sir john has one of them or very similar.

peter

[fasteddy]

Hi Peter..

Was just starting to get frustrated with the fleabay guy's lack of english, keep asking the same question and getting answers to different questions I have not asked.. Thanks, would not have known about the inverter from his ad...
Ok, back to Kress then.. Unless someone recommends something else? I did see a Suhner spindle that looks nice, has a 3,500 bottom speed which seems good for ally, trying to work out if it take ER collets.. The Kress FM 1050-1 seems to be the alternative..

Thanks
Steve..

[florins]

Hi fasteddy,

I have a Kress FM-1050 (not 1) for over one year, and I just bought an Suhner spindle (as I needed a lower rpm spindle). Please see the comparison below:

Suhner advantages:
- Suhner is quieter, at same rpm, but the difference is probably not noticeable when milling;
- Suhner looks sturdier and they say it is more reliable;
- the ATC for Suhner is cheaper (at least at Sorotec Germany, please see this link);
- Suhner has a lot of empty space in the electronics enclosure, it might be possible to install there an 0...10V rpm controller (at least that's what I wish to do myself);

Kress advantages:
- Kress is lighter and slimmer (1.7 kg compared to 2.9 kg, ); this helps in the overall inertia of the router and, I presume, in faster start/stop;
- Kress has a spindle lock, this helps in changing the bit with a sigle wrench (you need two wrenches for changing the bit on the Suhner motor);
- Kress finishing looks much more refined;
- Kress is cheaper.

In my opinion, I would use Suhner only with an ATC (myself I bought the one from http://www.sorotec.de/shop/product_i...hner-1050.html, I didn't start it yet), otherwise I would probably go for Kress FM-1050-1 (the 5000 rpm version).

Hope this helps.

Florin

[John S]

When I finished my router I bought a Kress spindle to power it, as It's only a small router , 300 x 300 I bought the FM-800 model, 12,000 rpm to 30,000 rpm on a rotary thumb wheel switch. It's controlled by the computer thru one of Roy's breakout boards via the on board relay.

In position 1 to 2 on the control it's bearable close up as regards noise, flat out it sounds like a router.
It has Kress special collets which can be sourced in standard sizes.

I later swapped this for a Chinese air cooled spindle, I had 3 of them before I found a company that sold a reliable unit.
Don't believe all the hype about ceramic bearings, in fact don't go there, one crash and the bearing is toast.

Buying one can be an expensive job, cheap is not always the best.