I suppose it could… but all my needle-cutter machines began life as needle-cutters and never had a spindle. They were built large (typically 3’ x 4’ or 4’ x 4’) to handle sheet foam (bluecore fanfold and DTFB) and, while rigid enough for needle-cutter, laser, or pen… they were way too flimsy for spindle work.
I do remember once entertaining the idea of a Dremel/rotary tool mount for MPCNC that mounted side-ways and chucked up a needle cutter flywheel/eccentric mounted on a 3mm shaft. Even went so far as to print a Dremel router base modified to hold a sports ball-inflation needle guide. I never mounted it on the MPCNC but did hand-hold it for testing. Had photos but cant find them now. I did find an STL that might have been part of it… the needle guide would be threaded into the block on left side.
so my spindle has a pretty large circular portion of the body just above the spindle itself. I am envisioning a needle cutter housing that clamps around it. Into the spindle goes a shaft with a bevel gear on it, which drives a right angle gearset that is attached to the needle cutter bearing/body or whatever.
Yeah, gears are fun. And for a needle cutter, they would never need to reverse, so backlash shouldn’t ever be a problem. I suspect gear longevity might be the biggest issue if they were 3d-printed in plastic but I’m sure suitable metal or nylon bevel gears could be made to work.
From the beginning, the needle cutter has always been a DIY project… and the underlying philosophy is “use what you’ve got (or floats your boat…) and KISS.” So I encourage you to keep going until you’ve at least satisfied your curiosity and/or become convinced that the idea has merit, or not. And, above all, enjoy the process. Have fun with it!
Typically, I run my needle cutters at ~8000 rpm, no load… and it would drop a couple of hundred RPMs while cutting. I also used a “rule of 10” to set the ratio of cutter rpm to feed rate… at 8000 rpm and 600-800 mm/minute feed rate. This results in 10-13 perforations/revolutions per millimeter of travel… and nice clean cuts in DT foam board, with paper on.
In my experience, running at 10k rpm and above, there would be a bit of foam melt (little black bits in the cut) as the needle started transferring enough heat from the MIG tip needle guide (which could get quite hot). Staying below 8000 rpm was far less stressful on the cutter and much quieter in operation; i.e. less “angry” sounding.
It will go very low, but I recall the documentation warned not to run below 5k or 8k for extended periods, dont remember which. will check when I go home. In any event, the product page lists 10k-24k so im sure it can run all day at 10k. Id wager that a needle cutter doesnt put much load on the spindle at all so 8k is probably fine.
Plus, since I need to use gears to transmit power anyway I could always gear it down mechanically and keep the spindle rpms up.
Years ago I was looking into a product call Super PID that added true PID control with RPM feedback to off-the-shelf routers, and they recommended supplemental cooling fans be added as the built-in vanes in the routers themselves didn’t keep things cool enough at lower RPMs.
I recently finished all of the ‘work in progress’ projects. This is not to be confused with the ‘all the projects I’ve been acquiring parts for’ projects.
At the end of the last project, I decided to step away from projects and to spend some time doing a deep clean of the shop. I started at one end and in the course of 2 weekends managed to make it all the way to the other. No horizontal surface was left untouched. Every item on wheels got moved and the floor swept and cleaned under.
I then replaced some smaller, worn out, shelves with a larger shelf unit and reorganized a bit of the shop to make it more useful.
Surprisingly, I’ve worked on a few projects since finishing the deep clean and ‘most’ of the shop is still clean. Once a week I go through and do a quick clean. Each night I put all my tools away unless that tool is directly related to a project that I’ll be working on the next day. If my son comes out and gets something out, I make him put it back before he goes back in.
It’s weird how less-stressful the shop feels when I go out to work on something or get something since I’m not walking past mounds of ‘stuff’.
As for ‘current’ project… I’m trying to decide what to work on next. The kids and I just finished a new desk for the daughter and I finished the LEDs on the front of the house mentioned in another thread.
I’m considering building another boat, but I need to finish my cost estimate spreadsheet and double check funds.
My first experience with this was my sockets and wrenches, now I organize as many things as possible. Keeps projects moving and stress to a minimum. I hope I never go back to the old ways.
All I can say is - you don’t have enough projects!
It’s the 17th of October - the month I have dedicated to cleaning up the workshop, and I’m still only at the bit where the car lives. The generator is back in the cupboard, and the doors and drawer fronts are on and adjusted but they still need a couple of coats of paint, and I think I’ll write an essay about making new handles…
Security screen doors. The dogs like to scratch on the screens and I’m tired of fixing the nylon or aluminum screen . Also putting a smart lock on it so I can’t don’t lock myself out anymore
. Also putting a smart lock on it so I can’t don’t lock myself out anymore 
