machining aluminium with 1.5kW spindle

[routercnc]

Thanks Eddy. I'll look into that but I would need something which I knew definitely worked with a spindle before purchasing. Also if I ended up spending that much I probably go for a 2.2kW spindle + new VFD instead which is not too much more money.

[JAZZCNC]

Can't help with torque guides etc but I can tell you that 2.2Kw cuts ali fine with speeds down to 5000rpm thou to be honest I mostly cut between 8-12K depending on cutter size.

Now if your getting Sticking and melting chips then I suspect your cutting to shallow so getting very thin chips which heat up quickly and melt. Try cutting deeper and you may well be pleasantly surprised what depth you can cut at. Set the VFD to amps and watch the load this will give you an idea of how the spindles coping with the depth.!

[routercnc]

Thanks for that Jazz. Gives me some hope for experimentation with the existing spindle. The machine is still under final construction so when I am set up properly I'll include higher DOC in the runs. I've only done a bit of quick machining to help build the last bits of the bed so used the 0.5mm DOC from the previous much weaker machine.

I'll also dig out the VFD manual and set up the display for amps. Seem to remember this being an 8A VFD but it was a while back so I'll confirm so I can see how it is coping.