I am under the understanding that this spindle is much better in terms of what kind of materials you can cut as well as the speeds you can cut them at. I am still in the learning process with my cnc so for now I’ll be mostly cutting wood. Pine to start and work my way into hardwoods. What are some of the feed rates you guys are using for this spindle when it pertains to Pine vs Walnut. I say walnut because it is one of your more denser hardwoods.
Based on the tribal knowledge here, most of us use the Dewalt for the exact opposite reasons that you posted.
The dewalt spindle is 660w. The only downside it has is that it runs at a fixed, higher RPM of 20k.
I tried switching to the 500w spindle. While it was quieter running with no load, once I started cutting, the machine was just as loud. Having control over the RPMs is nice and allows you to use 2 and 3 fluted end mills, it didn’t cut the material any faster.
I ran into other use issues… the spindle itself isn’t grounded. That can be fixed by grounding it. The other issue I had was I couldn’t get a clamp on the smooth case of the spindle tight enough to keep it from twisting in the mounting fixture. I tried wrapping it in electrical tape, but it still didn’t hold.
The last problem I had was I had issues with the machine flexing at higher cutting forces. This kept me from getting a high enough chip load to keep the spindle cool. My spindle finally ended up overheating and burning up a bearing.
I ended up going back to the dewalt.
These are just my experiences. I know there are others on the forum that will be along shortly with their more positive experiences.
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It takes a little work, and voids the warranty, but the PID Development Kit in the Vi Shop that allows you to add PWM PID-tuned RPM control to the DW660. You can then use gcode commands to manage router on/off and RPM. It requires a small 3d printed part that gets inserted into the DW660 to hold an RPM sensor, and some hand-wiring on perf board (or making your own PCB from design provided by @vicious1) for a few components that get conneted to an Arduio Nano. Everything else you need is in the kit from the shop.
I can say from personal experience that it works, and isn’t too difficult to put together with basic schematic reading and soldering skills. If you want to get really fancy you can add and LCD read-out to display RPM. With a couple of small additions (a dpdt switch and a potentiometer) you can add a manual RPM control override.
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Thanks guys. I appreciate the insight. I ended up installing my spindle over the weekend and was not at all impressed with it’s performance. I put my rotozip back on and ordered the dewalt. It’s advertised at 30,000rpm. Are you saying it’s more realistic to say it’s 20,000rpm David? Do you by chance know it’s runout threshold? I know it is what it is but the rotozip I was able to measure a good 3mm in runout… Also… what is the ideal mount for mounting the Dewalt to the Burly platform? I found this one that looks pretty good. Any thoughts anyone? Magnetic Dust Shoe for MPCNC
I’m not sure on the RPM’s I thought it was 20k, but it could be 30k.
I just used Ryan’s mount for the dewalt. It works really well.
I went from the dewalt to the 500w… Then switched immediately back. I just couldn’t get it to cut aluminum well.
Ha… Aluminum!!! I was trying to cut Oak and couldn’t get it to cut.
Do you have a link to it. I can’t find it on thingyverse.
Using the RPM sensor from the PID Development Kit in the V1 shop, my DW660 reads 27000 rpms at full speed. I don’t know whether the power management imposes a load that lowers top rpm. Unfortunately, I don’t have another way to measure rpm to validate these results.
Awesome Tom. That’s some impressive RPM’s. Thanks for the tech info.
Here’s question for you Dewalt users. I’m using V-Carve Pro for my Cam. What do you guys have your feed rates and plung rates set at for a good starting point? I’ll be cutting Hard and Soft woods.
milling-basics page will get you started:
https://docs.v1engineering.com/tools/milling-basics/
Scroll down to ‘spindle options’ here for links to dewalt mount
https://docs.v1engineering.com/mpcnc/PParts/
Looks like this is the one you want
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awesome David thanks