[MFchief]

All,

I've been following the discussions on the high speed spindle, and I get the impression that a lot of folks would love to have the speed, but will probably pass because of the issues with no ATC and maybe more importantly the loss of tool offsets requiring touching off each tool, or maybe buying some seemingly expensive adapters to work with the ER20.

I am wondering if it would be possible to have Tormach offer this setup as an aux spindle? You could get the motor quick change kit and be able to use either the current spindle or the aux spindle with pathpilot.

My concern would be that there would be some weird loads on the Z axis by having an offset spindle. I know there are a lot of very experienced machinist and engineers on the forum who might be able to address this.

I also know there are a number of members who have worked with Tormach on developing and test projects in the past, probably including this spindle kit. If it is feasible from and engineering standpoint perhaps some of those members would be willing to talk to Tormach about offering that setup.

Terry

[alan_3301]

Wouldn't it be pretty easy to just machine a clamp to bolt a high speed spindle on the side of the main spindle?

[MFchief]

It would be, and I already have that. But I use it mostly for engraving, and the Tormach video shows running a .5" cutter at high MRR's, just not sure if that would be a problem off the Z axis. My adapter has the aux spindle axis over 6" for the main spindle axis.

But also, I would very much like to have the machine control the spindle in pathpilot.

Terry

[mountaindew]

Tormach / sprutcam has a new video on adaptive rouging option for sprutcam and they use the high speed spindle in the example. Looked like a nice feature to be combined with this spindle system, OH and I think he mentioned it was a $800 cam option. ouch! hehe.

[MFchief]

Mountaindew,

I don't know if you are a hobbiest like me or are in business, but you might consider Fusion360 from Autodesk. They have a 30 free trial, and after that it's free for students and hobbiest. There are different price structures for businesses depending on size and cash flow, but for alot of smaller businesses it's less than the maintenance fees for some CAD/CAM software.

Fusion360 is cloud based and that turns a lot of folks off, but it included HSM works CAM as part of the package and that includes 2D and 3D adaptive clearing. NYCCNC has a couple of recent vids about Fusion360 if you want to check it out.

Terry