CNC Water cooled spindles info?

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conleyshepherd
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CNC Water cooled spindles info?

Post by conleyshepherd »

I am interested in getting a water cooled spindle for the CNC. I do not want to burn out a router every year. From what I seen, spindles have better accuracy than the routers.

I have a Gecko 540 controller and would like to see if there is a central location here for spindle advice or not.

what I have found so far for my setup
get 220V power
80mm spindle kit
VFD controller - need to know why frequencies are important in that
Water - better cooling
Something compatible with Mach3

I was looking into the 110V setups, but seen reports about lack of power at higher RPMs.

I am getting into 3D carving on 3-axis designs. I have done some sign carvings as well.

I will soon be unemployed and want to make money with the CNC during my unemployment.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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jimandi5000
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Re: CNC Water cooled spindles info?

Post by jimandi5000 »

These are my thoughts...

I have both setups, I have a Porter cable router and mount and I have a 2.2 Khz spindle (3hp) and VFD connected to 220V and this all costs just under $600 after purchasing, metric and imperial size collects, additional collect nuts, spindle mount, cooling pump, tubing, tank, radiator, fans, flowmeter, and the shielded spindle cable.

Save your money. The end product that you produce with a spindle versus a router are exactly the same. Especially when you compare the cost of replacing a router versus replacing spindles. Spindles do wear out and the industry is moving away from water-cooled systems to air cooled.

Knowing everything that I know now about spindles and routers, I would stay with a router because of its simplicity and single point of failure versus complexity and costliness of a spindle.

These are just my thoughts, I am certain others feel differently and that's okay.
Thanks,
Jim

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scotttarnor
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Re: CNC Water cooled spindles info?

Post by scotttarnor »

I agree with Jimandi5000, on my small machine I have been running a Bosch colt for 2 years now with no issues, I have a water cooled spindle on my larger and really the only advantage is sound it is so quite. You stated you would be unemployed soon and want to make money, I would continue with a router till you make enough profit off your work to pick up a spindle.
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Re: CNC Water cooled spindles info?

Post by wb9tpg »

conleyshepherd wrote:
Tue Aug 17, 2021 6:32 pm

I am getting into 3D carving on 3-axis designs. I have done some sign carvings as well.

I will soon be unemployed and want to make money with the CNC during my unemployment.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I installed an 800W water cooled spindle on mine and it's perfect for the work you're describing. Keep in mind the weight of the spindle. My 800W G-Penny spindle is around twice the weight of the router it replaced and it's the same diameter as the Makita router.
Gary Mitchell
Kentucky, USA

conleyshepherd
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Re: CNC Water cooled spindles info?

Post by conleyshepherd »

Thank you for the replies, looks like I will be using my Router for now. I had a couple backup ones and I will return them for now. They are easy to come by, but one Metabo power switch went bad. I cleaned the brushes and was able to tap on the top of the spindle where it was able to start. A few times doing that, it seems to work regularly better. I have 3 routers for backup. I should be safe for now. One of them is for my router table. :)

Thank you once more for your replies and additional thoughts. I really appreciate it!

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Adrian
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Re: CNC Water cooled spindles info?

Post by Adrian »

From the other side I've been using an air cooled spindle since 2009 pretty much 5 days a week for between 3 and 6 hours a day and it's still going strong. I doubt any router could hold up to that. The other huge advantage (for me anyway) is noise. The spindle is far, far quieter than any router I've used. Often when cutting with smaller bits you can hold a conversation at normal levels right next to the table.

It is very expensive being an HSD model though. I've no idea if the Chinese models at a tenth of the price would hold up so well though. Also depends on the size of your machine and what you do. I regularly cut 3/4" thick 8x4 sheets in a single pass. If I was doing 6" square 3D work then the spindle would be total overkill.

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Re: CNC Water cooled spindles info?

Post by Wayne Locke »

I have run an air cooled Chinese spindle for over five years and have never looked back. I was running the biggest Porter Cable and Milwaukee routers and replacing bearings every year or so. I don't run my machine as much and probably not as hard as Adrian but so far the spindle has held up well. I just got a new one yesterday which I am going to install and then have the older one as a backup. One of the great features of a spindle is having a complete range of Imperial and Metric collets.

I could never warm up to the water cooled spindles. My experience always made my little voice say, "Sometime it is going to leak and you are going to be screaming bad words."

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Re: CNC Water cooled spindles info?

Post by conleyshepherd »

Thank you for the additional comments - looks like the air cooled is the way to go then.

I will wait for now until I am better financially stable. I have 2 new backups of the Metabo for now.

My machine is a 4x8 machine and it is in the corner of my garage with a Harbor freight vacuum system. That is pretty loud. The quieter spindle will be nice, but it will still be loud regardless. The metabo will go 24k rpms and has not died completely yet.

Appreciate y'all! thanks again!

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jimandi5000
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Re: CNC Water cooled spindles info?

Post by jimandi5000 »

I would like to amend one item to my statement above.

If you're buying a spindle with air operated Auto Tool Changer Chuck? Then I would say a spindle is a absolute must!!! And supercool to have one. :)
Thanks,
Jim

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Re: CNC Water cooled spindles info?

Post by Tailmaker »

One more vote for the Chinese spindle. Mine has been running since 2012 but not all day every day. I bought 2 back then but have not had to use the spare.

My situation regarding water vs. air cooled is special. I have a "water cooled" 2kW spindle but cool it with air anyway. For that, the dust collector duct coming from the dust boot makes kind of a shroud around the cylindrical spindle body. The high volume, high velocity air stream cools actually better than the trickle of water going through the tubing. Even at full load I rarely see more than 20 degree F over ambient temperature and it is quieter than the air cooled spindles since it does not have the whining fan. But of course that requires some adaptation of the dust boot to make it work.
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