[pistolknight]

Hi folks,
After perhaps a hundred small projects i've killed my Kress FME 1050. The bearings collapsed and caused the motor to 'burn out'. bummer.
I can't really justify another £160-£180 on another Kress as it hasn't really worked that hard. What are my options?
I was considering butchering the Kress to remove the collet chuck so that i could then use it ( and the full set of collets i have for it) held in a relatively inexpensive variable speed wood router and when that router died, i could then just move it onto another one.
Your comments/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
David

[joshendy]

Hi David,

Bit worried after reading this. I too have a Kress 1050, only used so far for around a dozen jobs so far but seems to be running healthy.

Have you opened up the Kress yet? Any possibility of replacing the bearings or burnt out motor?

Worse come to worse and your serious about your CNC'ing you could get a spindle, I was going to go that route but got a Kress instead because I couldnt justify the money on a small hobby machine but yea hopefully I dont regret that decision.

Cheers,
Josh

[Ron Dunn]

How many hours would you have in those 100-odd projects?

Ron.

[pistolknight]

I would have to say that the Kress was used for only 250 - 300 hours max. cutting mostly acrylic and light ply.
The bearings gave absolutely no sign of collapsing i.e no tightness or strange noise. Unfortunately, i have opened it up only to find a charred mess. The bearings could quite easily have been replaced.

[Ron Dunn]

Ouch.

I've got a 1050-1 somewhere in shipping ... hope it isn't a standard "feature".

[cliffy]

Hi guys,
I also have a 800 Kress, when I got it home I noticed that the bearings was quite tight and it was getting warm very fast, so I decided to try and run it in, first 10000 rpm 15 minutes, cool down and then start again, I did this many times then went on to something higher, today I still haven’t run it at full speed at a long time, it’s now not as tight and doesn’t get warm as much, I just hope it lasts so as to get my moneys worth.

[pistolknight]

The bad thing of it is - i have never run it at full speed and i have always taken relatively light cuts. The Kress has never been 'pushed'.

[RomanLini]

A quality brand name product like that should be covered under a 12 month warranty, maybe a multi-year warranty. Go back to the shop and get a replacement.

[pistolknight]

Unfortunately i imported it from Germany about two years ago so i don't think i have much chance of getting anywhere under warranty.
I have just bought a 2.2kW water cooled spindle from china so, if anybody in the UK wants to make me an offer for the six Kress collets i have.......

[pistolknight]

make that seven collets - 3mm,1/8",4mm,5mm,6mm,1/4",8mm.

[hemsworthlad]

Hi,

I use a VFD powered chinese 2.2Kw water cooled spindle(2yrs now) and it's the best money I've spent.
It's done hundreds of hours machining Ali 99% of the time and cutting some job's for 19-20hrs at a time and never get's more than warm.
There's absolutly no sign of wear it makes the kress seem like a toy. It's super quite and accurate.

100% recommend one over a kress and well worth the extra it would cost.
Buy the VFD in UK thou, chinese supplied vfd's are rubbish.

Edit: Opp's didn't see post saying you had bought one, you wont regret it.

[pistolknight]

Thanks for the reassurance on the chinese spindle Hemworth Lad. I'd heard a lot of people saying that the chinese VFD's are total crap so i'm trying to source one over here for cheap. Where did you purchase yours?

David

[hemsworthlad]

This company very good to deal with and ok prices.
Inverter Drive Supermarket - Variable Speed Drives from 0.1kW to 3mW

My vfd ABB ACS350 torque vector drive, nice drive but very complex with lots of feature's that are not required for this spindle. I use it to control a Lathe and drill press not just this spindle.

[pistolknight]

Thanks for that. Their prices look really pretty good. I will try and sort out what one i need. Can't wait 'til my spindle arrives now!

regards,
David