[SPEEDRE]

I have been on a quest for the longest time for the most, quietest, silent machine i can build. I have been through many virtual, conceptual builds. Here's my latest idea for a quiet, medium duty, gantry router.
I have on hand a fully functioning K2CNC 14 x 25 gantry frame, a heavy duty 1 h.p. 22k top speed treadmill motor, a variable speed controller, with a speed knob potentiometer, and I was thinking!.
Also, I have on hand a Dremel hand piece, with a 1/8" collet. This has a flexible shaft, what if I mounted it all together? The motor could run the hand piece fastened in a suitable fixture on the Z axis slide and the motor behind the Gantry beam. What issues would this arraignment have? I want to do small plastic parts for my own 1/25th and 1/8th scale scratch building. Part thicknesses no more than 1/8" thick in mostly styrene or proto board foams such as Ren board and the like. What issues would I be likely to encounter with this concept. Comments and constructive suggestions welcome. Thanks

[Al_The_Man]

a heavy duty 1 h.p. 22k top speed treadmill motor, a variable speed controller, with a speed knob potentiometer, and I was thinking!.
Thanks

Just curious, what type of T.M. motor?
I have never seen a DC brushed in that HP made for that RPM.?
Even the odd few T.M.'s that used a Universal motor did not go that high.
Al.

[awerby]

Yes, that sounds like a very speedy motor - are you sure you got the RPMs right? If so, I'd say just mount a collet chuck to the end of it and you're done. The Dremel isn't worth trying to convert into a CNC spindle, especially with the flex shaft; they just aren't designed for that kind of use.

If your motor's really substantially slower, as I suspect, then you can still use it, but invest in a good set of bearings for a jack-shaft with a collet chuck on the end, and raise the speed with pulleys and belts to the max RPMs that your bearings will handle.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[ger21]

If you really want quiet, buy a laser.

A Bosch Colt or similar router with a Super-PID speed control is very quiet below 10,000 rpm. The cutting noise would probably be louder.

[underthetire]

My experience using the dremel cable shaft is they get mighty warm after only a little use.