[Crimson11]

Good evening,

I recently bought a cnc (150 * 100 cm) without the electronics and thanks to the help of people in this forum, I went with this kit with a 48V power supply as it was avaliable in europe:

https://www.cnc4you.co.uk/CNC-Kits/D...-3-Axis-Nema23

Now its time to go for a spindle...

The cnc is kinda diy/homemade so the structure is not that much robust as you can see in the image attached.. Main aim is to work on wood and as silent as possible....

The options could be vfd + water cooled chinese 0.8w spindle (around 250 dollars) or kress 1050 (250 dollars) - makita (120 dollars) etc.

Would be nice to have er20 collet, though I do not know if the cnc can support it...

I need to buy a spindle mount and adapt it to mine as well. :|

Thank you for your help in advance for deciding which one to buy...

[KH0UJ]

A water cooled spindle is a good option, on my opinion for starters I guess dont use the chinese ones, for it`s going to be prone to abuse because you are still learning how to cut/engrave/carve stage, it tends to fail when you are still in the learning curve which causes you additional headache at least the branded ones are resistant to abuse, by and by when you get sharp enough (strength of material, cutter properties, speeds and feeds) I guess it`s now safe to buy the chinese ones for it`s cheap, specially if you are adding more machines for mass production purposes


Chinese spindle are reliable in terms of longevity, been using chinese spindles for at least 3 years now (800-1500W) just dont over stress it, the problem arises when you are cutting too deep, too low RPM, dull cutter, etc.

I just took a glance on your picture, are you using a ball screw? if it`s not then you will have inconsistencies due to the backlash, a 0.3mm backlash will have enough to offset your spindle running a code loop at several times, for example if you zero in a certain coordinate then try running a code loop several times, I guess after it zeroed it will eventually be offset zero than the original position.

[Crimson11]

Thanks a lot for the reply... I am planning to go for the water cooled one, after I saw some videos about the noise difference...

It is leadscrew...

Any other opinions?

[Crimson11]

no other opinions?

[steve323]

I use a 1.5kw water cooled spindle and am quite happy. This was the largest size that I could run on 110V in the US and I didn't want to bother with running a 220V line. It has an ER11 collet, so I am limited to 1/4" or smaller bits. It is very quiet compared to the Bosch Colt router I used to use.

In Italy, you may have more options because there are more 220V controllers to pick from. You might need to step up to a 2.2kw spindle if you want an ER20 collet.

Steve

[Crimson11]

Thank you for the reply.

I would love to, as there is a very smaill difference in price. I can also have 1.5kw with er16 collet. The problem is, I do not know if the gantry will support it. Maybe not in terms of weight as I am pretty confident by my stepper motors, but more because of the design of the gantry as you can see on the photo.

[A_Camera]

Good evening,

I recently bought a cnc (150 * 100 cm) without the electronics and thanks to the help of people in this forum, I went with this kit with a 48V power supply as it was avaliable in europe:

https://www.cnc4you.co.uk/CNC-Kits/D...-3-Axis-Nema23

Now its time to go for a spindle...

The cnc is kinda diy/homemade so the structure is not that much robust as you can see in the image attached.. Main aim is to work on wood and as silent as possible....

The options could be vfd + water cooled chinese 0.8w spindle (around 250 dollars) or kress 1050 (250 dollars) - makita (120 dollars) etc.

Would be nice to have er20 collet, though I do not know if the cnc can support it...

I need to buy a spindle mount and adapt it to mine as well. :|

Thank you for your help in advance for deciding which one to buy...

If you seriously considering a router or a Kress as alternatives then I'd skip water cooled spindle and would get an air cooled one. They are MUCH better than the Kress or a Makita router. Get a 1.5kW (or 2.2kW) spindle with ER16 or ER20 and will never look back.

[CNCMAN172]

Crimson,
If you want to lose you hearing in the next couple of years by all means go with a Kress or other router. They are extremely loud even under no load. The actually water cooled spindles or air cooled spindles are far superior. They have much larger bearings and are designed to be run for extended times. While some people have had issues with Chinese spindles the fact remains if you run them between 6000 to 24000 rpm they are solid and have a great deal of power. They also use collets so you can use a larger range of cutters, the ER collet sets go from under 1/8" all the way to 5/8" or 3/4" can recall without running out to the shop. Depending on what material you are cutting you will still have a good deal of noise from the cutter. If you are engraving aluminum with a spindle it is so quiet you do not even need hearing protection. Try that with a router. LOL

Honestly, always use hearing protection regardless of which way you go. They have complete kits with the mount, spindle, vfd, water pump if you go water, etc. They are a good investment.

Russ

[Crimson11]

If you seriously considering a router or a Kress as alternatives then I'd skip water cooled spindle and would get an air cooled one. They are MUCH better than the Kress or a Makita router. Get a 1.5kW (or 2.2kW) spindle with ER16 or ER20 and will never look back.

Crimson,
If you want to lose you hearing in the next couple of years by all means go with a Kress or other router. They are extremely loud even under no load. The actually water cooled spindles or air cooled spindles are far superior. They have much larger bearings and are designed to be run for extended times. While some people have had issues with Chinese spindles the fact remains if you run them between 6000 to 24000 rpm they are solid and have a great deal of power. They also use collets so you can use a larger range of cutters, the ER collet sets go from under 1/8" all the way to 5/8" or 3/4" can recall without running out to the shop. Depending on what material you are cutting you will still have a good deal of noise from the cutter. If you are engraving aluminum with a spindle it is so quiet you do not even need hearing protection. Try that with a router. LOL

Honestly, always use hearing protection regardless of which way you go. They have complete kits with the mount, spindle, vfd, water pump if you go water, etc. They are a good investment.

Russ

thank you very much for the replies.

I decided to go for the water cooled one.
But do you think my gantry will support 1.5 kw or 2.2 kw or should I go for 0.8kw ? My concern is the vibration or too heavy ecc. as the gantry design is not that much solid.

[CNCMAN172]

Your gantry appears pretty strong, I would go with the 2.2KW, as far as vibration you can not even feel any movement in these spindles they are smooth as silk. In some cases depending on how your are raising and lowering your spindle, ball screw or other method that level of reduction allows you to lift the spindle without issue. Some people actually add a small air cylinder to help the stepper motor or servo on the Z axis lift a spindle, but I use a ballscrew with a gear head which works fantastic. I did have an air cylinder on a previous design and that worked fine as well, but I need an air tank or compress close to the machine.

Russ

[Crimson11]

Your gantry appears pretty strong, I would go with the 2.2KW, as far as vibration you can not even feel any movement in these spindles they are smooth as silk. In some cases depending on how your are raising and lowering your spindle, ball screw or other method that level of reduction allows you to lift the spindle without issue. Some people actually add a small air cylinder to help the stepper motor or servo on the Z axis lift a spindle, but I use a ballscrew with a gear head which works fantastic. I did have an air cylinder on a previous design and that worked fine as well, but I need an air tank or compress close to the machine.

Russ

I have no idea what is an air cylinder. I have no issue with z axis / lifting as the stepper motors are very powerful. My concern is more about x axis as it runs on one rail (check the photo in the first post) with bearings. The better cnc designs have two rails so that the x axis does not flex back and forward ecc. and I do not have ball screw, but leadscrew. But if you say its smooth as silk I may go for 1.5kw.