[ahacking]

Hi I'm looking for a spindle / VFD etc for a CNC router build (hobby machine), designed mainly to cut soft metals and mild steel.

I was thinking approximately 2.2-3.5 kW?
Should I go water or Air cooled?


I am wondering if anyone can point out what I should look for?

Perhaps you can recommend:


A good system and vendor?


Brand or supplier?
Ebay or elsewhere?
Any good experience with the Chinese systems?
ideal collet sizes
other?

Thanks

Adam

[metalcutting]

Take mitsubishi vfd . Its easy for hobbyist

[awerby]

A spindle like that might work with aluminum, but it's way too fast for steel. It's not likely that your router will be rigid enough to cut steel anyway, though. Spindles for steel tend to be high in horsepower and low in RPMs. You can't turn those spindles (intended for wood) slow enough; they won't have enough torque to do anything when turned down under 8k RPM or so, and the air-cooled ones will simply burn up, since the fan isn't effective when running that slowly.

[handlewanker]

Hi .......a lot depends on the actual size of the router build........arriving at the last point which is fitting the spindle to the Z axis and you suddenly realise that nature cannot be scaled.......specifically you only get so much grunt out of a motor according to the size which determines the diam of the spindle body and therefore the eventual HP and RPM rate......torque is the deciding factor for any material type on any size router.

The point is, you need a source of HP that can output torque at all rpm's and that means you need to have a belt drive arrangement........multi step pulleys "can" go a long way to getting the torque for milling......just the convenience of an all in one high speed water or air cooled spindle won't solve the problem.

For a start how big is your router work envelope.....moving table or moving gantry?

For a size requirement it must be realised that small routers can only mount small power packages on the Z axis platform without overcrowding it and therefor do small jobs......you'll fool yourself to think otherwise.

The old axiom of a big machine can do a small job but a small machine cannot do a big job still holds good....wherever.

If the build is still in the design stage, work from the spindle requirement and design the machine around it.
Ian.