After many, many months of research and work, I'm STILL at a loss for what I consider the "ultimate" small spindle for a DIY bench mill. Between a Sherline ER16 spindle (light but nice) and, say, a Setco ISO30 taper box spindle, there is a big gap which is begging to be filled. And my bench mill is right there in that gap.
What I am looking for is a spindle with the following characteristics:
Be capable of automatic tool change.
Taper - smaller than ISO30
700 - 1000 watt / .9 to 1.3 HP or so
Modest weight, no 200 pound chunks of iron
preferably capable of 3 phase / VFD use, or DC
~18K RPM, or more if possible
Quality bearings / low runout, no junk
Anyone have any thoughts? I've looked at Gilman, Setco, NSK, Finley, many others. All of these makers start with an ER16 sized cartridge spindle and leap right into ISO30 tapers.
My bench mill has 3 spindles available, a KAVO HF, a Sherline ER16 collet-nose, and an R8 mini-mill spindle head assembly. The Kavo is top quality but pretty specialized and I'm still puzzling about a means of consistent Z, given that the mills slide into the collet with no means of a positive stop. The Kavo uses proprietary collets which are essentially dremel collets on steroids.
The R8 mini-mill head is OK but the quality is lacking.
Thanks fellas
Swede