[gfacer]

Really....

We are not talking large car radiators and fans. A small radiator, like that used in computer cooling, with some slow 120mm fans is compact and silent.

A small spindle fan must spin much quicker to move the same amount of air, and makes more noise, than a larger fan.

There is a fair bit of hysteria going on in this thread.
1. It's not hard to make a system that doesn't leak
2. Where are the electronics near water anyway?

Well, the spindle for one, z motor, y motor, VFD in my case. And, of course, any mdf table top (or worse, machine parts for hobby machines). Depends on the type of leak though.

Sent from my ASUS_Z00TD using Tapatalk

[A_Camera]

There is a fair bit of hysteria going on in this thread.

No hysteria here. You asked a question and there was a discussion. Sorry I disturbed your peace.

I am leaving, have more important things to do than repeating myself.

[Mogal]

Bump, sorry guys, a simple question.

I'm debating the air/water spindle. There would be times where the machine would sit months on end without use/maintenance.
(Being military and deployed - and only hobby level)

For longevity of the spindle, what precaution would need to be considered when the machine is not used for extended times? (water cooled)
I'm strictly hobby at this time, but with retirement soon coming, would like to ramp it up a little.

Or due to the limited use, just go with an air cooled unit?

Thanks,
Chris

[CNCMAN172]

Moral,

If you plan on leaving the machine idle for month and you have a water cooled spindle blow the water out of spindle prior to putting in storage. That's what I normally do.

Russ

[pippin88]

Corrosion inhibitor is a must with these spindles.

I think decent corrosion inhibitor is all you will need.

[SeanLe]

Normal computer coolers bash a great big heatsink on the CPU with a fan to provide a tonne of surface area and keep the air at that surface freshly at room temperature. Laptop computers don't have room for the mountain of heatsink, so they use a "heat pipe" which is usually a bar of copper or aluminium, or a tube of same containing something that conducts heat very well. This just draws the heat from the CPU to some other area in the laptop where there's room for - you guessed it - a heatsink and fan.

There's no circulation involved.

From what I understand, there are various methods used. Passive circulation is possible with highly heat conductive materials (copper/aluminium).
The "water" in the pipe closest to the heat source warms up, this makes it spread through the pipe, this moves the cooler water around creating circulation (usually via a mix of a closed loop in the pipe and gravity being taken into account in the design).

The Samsung S7 cooling system will be a good Google for more in detail info.



Our c02 laser uses a radiator with pump and fan, hot water goes through the radiator to cool then gets pumped from the reservoir to the tube and back again. Fan blows onto the radiator/reservoir constantly.
Works fine if ambient temperature is low enough and as the water is not actively cold there is no condensation.
I live in South Africa though so if the ambient temperature is above 28'c we MUST either start replacing water in the reservoir to help keep it cool or turn the rooms aircon on or the water gets too hot and the tube gets shut off by the safety system.

Our water cooled spindles on our cnc machines that use water cooling have chillers (same as above but with refrigeration), average 3.5 to 4kw.

So does our yag laser (metal marker).

Those machines do run 24/7 though and are not constantly monitored.

Our air cooled spindles are always good but air-conditioning have prolonged their lives by years.

Before the aircons I replaced air cooled spindles every 12 to 18 months. Now they last around 5 to 6 years.

I think for the low frequency spindles you guys use reservoir with fan and pump will be perfect, but I suggest you keep the water lower down (in case of leaks), possibly use something non conductive for your water (distilled or anti freeze) and have at least a 5l reservoir, if something goes wrong with the fan the extra water will help keep the spindle from overheating.
Oh and don't use a closed system. If the water does overheat you may end up with pipes or joints bursting.

Served by a Droid

[cncjack01]

Water cooling spindle more quiet than air cooling spindle .




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[Zeldo1210]

In my experience where I worked, Water cooled spindles are better.

[Mogal]

In my experience where I worked, Water cooled spindles are better.

I think for my needs I want an air cooled.unit.
But I would like the one with a motorized.cooking fan, not the shaft driven one.
How do you determine the difference?
Link?

Thanks !

[ger21]

An electric fan spindle will cost considerable more than a shaft driven fan. I'm not sure that there are any Chinese spindles with electric fans, at least not in the 2.2-3Kw range.

[aarggh]

Bump, sorry guys, a simple question.

I'm debating the air/water spindle. There would be times where the machine would sit months on end without use/maintenance.
(Being military and deployed - and only hobby level)

For longevity of the spindle, what precaution would need to be considered when the machine is not used for extended times? (water cooled)
I'm strictly hobby at this time, but with retirement soon coming, would like to ramp it up a little.

Or due to the limited use, just go with an air cooled unit?

Thanks,
Chris

My machines have sat for months at times while I have other projects on the go, or are using other machines, and I've never done anything special re coolant. On my larger machine I have a 10L bucket at the rear filled with undiluted good quality coolant. As I keep it covered it doesn't deteriorate due to contamination or exposure to light. I check it once a year or so just to be sure it's still clean and fine.

A lot of people really overthink the whole water cooled spindle thing, I wouldn't use air cooled spindles myself at all, but water cooled simply needs a reasonable reservoir of decent quality(and in my opinion, undiluted) coolant protected from light and dust. No fan or radiator needed at all in most cases.

No leaks, no hose or heating issues, super quiet as the pump is in the bucket of coolant, all good!

cheers, Ian

[Zeldo1210]

I think for my needs I want an air cooled.unit.
But I would like the one with a motorized.cooking fan, not the shaft driven one.
How do you determine the difference?
Link?

Thanks !

The motorized ones are more square looked, The shaft driven ones are more rounded. I am using the 1.5kw spindle motor air cooled that I bought few months back from neotronics

[bevins]

I have a square motorized fan cooled spindle running on one of my cnc routers and have had this running at 16,000 RPM for 12 hours cutting a large 3d piece with no problems.