Question about air cooled CNC spindle

JC

JC

Coos Cues
I decided to start a thread about this because I need some serious advice. Joey and others have mentioned more than once the advantages of using an air cooled spindle motor over a router and I want to make the change to my machine for noise and accuracy. But I'm not clear on what I need to buy to do it.

I am currently running Mach 3 with a Gecko 540 controller with 48v power supply. Gecko powers my x and y axis stepper motors and my spindle and is controlled via Mach. The router is controlled with a relay via the coolant control toggle in Mack and turns off and on at the appropriate time in my g code as needed.

So if I replace the 110v router with an air cooled spindle what is my control strategy? Can I power the spindle and control it directly with the g540 using the currently unused z port or some other configuration? Or do I need a separate VFD to go with the spindle motor? What size spindle motor do I need to cut shafts efficiently with router bits?

I want to maintain my automatic control of the router with mach 3 but am having trouble grasping exactly how it needs to be configured.

Thanks,

JC
 
Get a small 3 phase spindle like a tekno .7 kw and you will need a vfd but you can control the on/off from contact closure from a relay and also speed with 0-10v analog signal if you wish but I prefer to use the knob on the vfd to control rpm. You can find a 110v vfd for the smaller spindles I believe up to .8. I would think that you would have to have a vfd for a spindle unless you are going to try one of those inexpensive dc powered deals. If so I will be curious as to the performance of it. I am no expert by far just offering my .02 based upon what I have done
 
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dafunkdawg said:
Get a small 3 phase spindle like a tekno .7 kw and you will need a vfd but you can control the on/off from contact closure from a relay and also speed with 0-10v analog signal if you wish but I prefer to use the knob on the vfd to control rpm. You can find a 110v vfd for the smaller spindles I believe up to .8. I would think that you would have to have a vfd for a spindle unless you are going to try one of those inexpensive dc powered deals. If so I will be curious as to the performance of it. I am no expert by far just offering my .02 based upon what I have done
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Thank you

I don't care so much about having to control speed manually as long as I can turn it off and on with mach 3

JC
 
JoeyInCali said:
You use a stepper motor as a spinner ?
If you do, get a manual spinner.
Click to expand...

Yes I use a stepper motor. I suppose if I got a manual spinner I could control it off and on with the flood relay and use the A port for the spindle.
 
JC, the one on my wood router is the water/liquid cooled version. Very quiet operation. Just have to keep antifreeze in the water / coolant. I went overboard and got deionised water for mine, as it was available. Our normal water has chlorine in it. Mine is the 80mm spindle. Sadly, I did need to true up the spindle taper with a boring bar mounted in the vice on the table, and programmed the 8 deg taper for the spindle. Advantage of that is that with the high precision collets, everything runs really true. Still is mint after 4 years now or so. The shopvac makes more noise than router cutting anything does. So used the wife's Sauber vacuum cleaner one day, and I did not need ear muffs.
 
From what I have read, and will do some day myself...watercooled is low sound levels, and just as easy to control from Mach3 as anything else, and the spindle is happy....lol
dave
 
JC said:
What do you guys think about this one?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-5KW-1500...=item363ef0d3ed:g:bA8AAOSw6-Nb0aAE:rk:34:pf:0

JC
Click to expand...

JC,
I would probably steer clear of any spindle with a an ER11 collet as they are not very accurate, in general. I started off with an air-cooled 48 volt unit. Got it all wired up and then measured the TIR at .002 inch. Contacted Precise Bits about a precision nut and it didn't fit the shaft. (They were very nice and let me return it.) It turns out there are several versions of ER collets and the threads aren't the same.
As far as configuring a VFD to work with Mach3, search CNCZone and you'll find LOTS of information about what needs to be done.
My 2 cents,
Gary
 
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Dave38 said:
From what I have read, and will do some day myself...watercooled is low sound levels, and just as easy to control from Mach3 as anything else, and the spindle is happy....lol
dave
Click to expand...

Dave,
I recently changed my air cooled spindle to a 1.5kW water cooled unit and it is indeed much quieter and the TIR is much lower. Right now I've got the coolant running out of a submerged pump in a bucket of water - not exactly neat and tidy. I will be changing that set up to a PC CPU water cooler radiator and a 24v solar panel water pump and plumb it all as a closed system that will easily mount on the back of my gantry - much cleaner install.
My 2 cents,
Gary
 
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