Hi there,
Just finalising my V4 build, have gone with 32mm galv rails, wanting to know what people’s experience with 1.5kw spindles has been. What’s the weight effects of a large spindle on the system?
Has anyone used a particular budget air cooled spindle in their build?
Keen to hear anyone’s experience.
I’m no longer using an MPCNC frame so I can’t talk to weight and integration, but my experience with a 1.5kW spindle has been great. The standard ER collets and digital speed & on/off control have been worth it for me.
The problem isnt the weight. Its being able to get the collet in the right place. I tried to run one on the LR4 and you cant get the body up high enough to not have added flex. Your best bet is the carbide3d router for $60 that has ER11 collets.
I’ve been running a spindle on a 762x1524 machine. It’s a bit quieter, although the cutting noise now dominates. I “feel” like I can dial in my speed on various end mills. It seems to produce good results. I suspect I don’t see the deflection issue because the beam is short.
It adds a bit of complexity which is probably of limited real marginal value.
Wow that seems like a good deal. I had the Makita on my Primo and was going to just move it to my LR4 but I have been thinking I may just keep both. This would be a good option to have and keep both active.
Thanks @Jonathjon I just pulled the trigger on this. It seems they had it at $150 and based on everything else on their site I’m thinking it was at $150.
Yeah everyone I know has gotten them for $60 and they ship them real fast too. I have one here for if/when my kobalt dies. I have 2 friends running them on LR4s and they both love them.
OMG how could I have forgotten about the noise difference. The spindle vs DW660 was a night and day difference, noise wise….that is probably the BEST part of the spindle for me.
Looked just now, showing $60 for me, marked down from $150.
They have a non-ER router at $80, make sure you get the ER router for $60
Sorry I was not clear. I also got it at the $60 also.
I inherited a bad trait from my dad when I see a good deal I want to buy two!
Do I NEED two? Will I use two? Nope!
Invest in the spare parts at the time of purchase, and when they last of them have been put in and can’t be replaced/replenished then it’s time to start shopping for the replacement.
I have 2. Pretty good routers. Very quiet (compared to the dewalt)
They come with 1/8” + 1/4" collets, 2 extra set of brushes. It is indeed a really good purchase, they have soft start (sometimes you have to turn the router on if it is near the starting point so it gets up to speed)
My purchase has shipped and am anxious to try. It is 65mm body like my Makita so hopefully will fit easy enough.
Fits right in the Makita mounts no problem
I love mine!
You will need the KOBALT dust shoe. Start printing it
You would not neet to set the router above 2.5 in the dial, make your test cuts to set up your feeds and speeds. The router will sit pretty quiet. Unless you are running 2 flutes-1/4” bits
-edits are for typos, English is not my main language so my keyboard is set to my native language
Once you have everything dialed in only your cad drawing skills can stop you
Also wondering about using a spindle - I haven’t bought anything yet except the Jackpot CNC, just preparing and making a list, and notice spindles can be bought pretty cheaply here in Asia. Most of the CNC machine sellers locally use them - in fact I was planning on buying a pre-built machine with 800w spindle for wood cutting, total cost ran to about $2500 which isn’t bad for a full size setup, then I discovered the Lowrider and thought I’d try that instead as it’s much cheaper and a nice project to work on.
How difficult is it to use a spindle instead of a router in regards to build and software?
There seem to be tons of different spindles available here so I’m sure I can find one that has the right kind of specs, just checking if it is indeed possible and won’t cause problem with my build.
From what I gather they can be slightly more accurate and much quieter than a router? Potential downside or issue being weight, at 4kg they’re twice as heavy as a Makita router.
(Pic showing them for sale online locally. It’s Thai Baht, not USD. 5000 thb is around $150)
I’m just digging into info about spindles now, but I’m in a 220-240V region. The main differences between them seem to be kw (0.8kw, 1.5kw, 2.2kw) and cooling system (water and air cooled).
I found the same model numbers on AliExpress and other sites, so they seem to be the generic Chinese ones sold everywere, e.g: GDZ65F-800
Specs:
Diameter : 65 mm
Speed : 24000rpm
Power : 0.8 KW
Voltage : 220V
Current : 4A
Frequency : 400Hz
Joint of nose : ER11
Weight : 4KG
Collets : ER11
An 800w spindle is more than enough, a 65mm body should work nicely with the makita mounts (you will need to solve dust collection on your own (the standard dust shoes wont fit. Consider: spindles needs VFD (please use a vfd module that is supported on the fluidnc wiki) so you will need an rs485 or a 0-10v module to controll it. Also wiring is a little more complicated.
Great thanks - so using with the Jackpot CNC board is no issue, I just need to get some additional parts (vfd module) and just wire it all together a bit differently/extra?
If there are guides online I should be able to follow along easily enough, I’ll dig into all the information now, just wanted to confirm there’s no big issues or problems going the spindle route.
Also, does anyone have any experience or advice re: air vs water cooled? I’m in a hot and humid country so thinking water cooled might offer better cooling and it seems fairly simple to setup, just a few hoses and pumps.
EDIT:
Digging into more experiences from members, 50/50 on it now. Really the only big downside I can see from using a router is the noise..
