Thanks for the replies, gents and interesting link. My VFD is one of the cheapies (I think Sunfar E300) so does not have a torque output, only volts,amps and frequency as far as I know. Yep, I can display current on the VFD's display, but maybe to rephrase my question: Do you think that the Current reading as produced by the VFD is a good indicator of cutting force or is there a better way to measure or derive cutting force? Sorry I know little about how these motors actually work and I'm assuming it will use more current under higher load?