I'm planning on purchasing one of the new Demon routers and wanted to get some thoughts on spindles. I've looked at some expensive options from Techno and HSD, and I'm also looking at some Chinese HSD clones. Assuming the quality is acceptable, they are looking like a good deal. The most suitable options look to be either 2.2Kw or 5.5Kw spindle. The former is around 25Kg and there's only a 1-2 Kg difference for the 5.5 Kw in exchange for twice the power. My philosophy for tools is that you'll never regret having a more powerful or capable machine, which is why I'm leaning towards a larger spindle with ATC instead of a smaller spindle with an ER20 collet or just using my PC router.
Does anyone have experience with these Chinese ATC spindles? I know it won't be as good as a genuine HSD, however I'm not planning on running the spindle all day every day.
My other concern is mounting a spindle like this on the Demon. While Georges machines are quite substantial, there are laws of physics that are going to come into play moving a large spindle like this around. I'm planning on using the Leadshine closed loop stepper motors which should have more than enough power to move even a heavy spindle like this, but I'm not sure what adverse effects will come from sudden accelerations and deceleration. How fast could I push this machine with a big spindle before it skips steps, or shakes the whole machine? Would I see a benefit of upgrading to servos? Also, I wouldn't want to create cutter issues if I couldn't keep my feed rates high enough. I plan on using this machine for cutting aluminum as well as wood and plastics, so I want to take extra care to make sure this machine runs as smooth as possible.