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We received a nice little Christmas bonus at work and I'm thinking I should spend it soon on some CNC related gear before it makes its way into the general household account. Next up for me is a spindle VFD combination. I don't have enough funds to get the 2200w Colombo spindle I would like but I can afford the same sized (presumably Chinese) water cooled spindle and VFD from Automation Technologies.

Spindle: http://www.automationtechnologiesinc.com/products-page/cnc-spindle/2200-milling-spindle
VFD: http://www.automationtechnologiesinc.com/products-page/cnc-spindle/led-display

I currently run a Hitachi M12 VC router with PreciseBits precision collets and it does a reasonably good job. It is very loud though and I can't turn it on and off in GCode. Do you think the spindle/VFD from Automation Technologies would be a worthwhile upgrade? With collets, etc. I would be looking at spending about $750.

Thanks for your thoughts

Scott

Those things look like they'd be ideal spindles for really good table routers, too.

Make an adapter to put it in something like a JessEm router lift system, and it would be the ultimate.

Lots of folks have returned good reports on the cheap Chinese spindles. There are some lemons out there but they're usually sold on e-bay and what not. Although you can find the same spindle for less on e-bay, the advantage to buying from AT is that they'll replace it if you do happen to get a lemon. On the other hand, the e-bay prices are almost half of what they want.

As to the VFD, there's been a lot of bad reports on that VFD. The stuff I've heard is that they fry very easily and I've actually got one with a broken keypad that I'll send you for nothing if you just pay the shipping. Supposedly it works but I never got it to work because of the keypad issue. Apparently, keypads can be re-ordered, or "borrowed" from another VFD and, I believe it can also be programmed through modbus.

Instead of throwing good money after bad, I went with a Hitachi WJ200 to drive my spindle (which is an air-cooled Teknomotor BTW) and it does a really nice job. I'd definitely recommend one of those.

There's pretty much no comparison in performance between a router and a spindle. Spindles are better on every front except for initial cost. And with the CCSs that are now so ubiquitous, they're not much more expensive than a router.

The other day I made a programming mistake and accidentally sliced into my aluminum corner fences with a 1/4" bit at a .2" depth of cut and 1/8" of stopover at 200ipm and the spindle didn't even notice (2kW). I didn't believe it happened until aluminum chips hit my hand!

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I bought a 2.2 kW water-cooled spindle from eBay through a group purchase with some friends a couple of years back, and it works very well. I also got the Hitachi VFD, and the whole setup is great. The thing that is ready surprising is the cost of real good wire for the spindle. Yikes! I bought mine through Igus, which is only ten minutes from me.

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Thanks for the replies. I think I'll get the Automation Technologies 2.2 KW spindle. While there are cheaper prices on eBay, they all seem to ship from China. Shipping from China is twice as much as from AT so that helps to offset the cost difference. Being able to return it easily is worth a few extra dollars.

That's two votes for the Hitachi VFD so it seems like a good way to go. Don, do you know the sub model number (the part after the hyphen)? It seems that I would want a WJ200-022SF. Though more expensive than the Automation Technologies VFD, the Hitachi is still reasonably priced.

Andy, I have the same machine as yours, an XZero Raptor. Mine is a 40 x 60. I remember being jealous of how (relatively) quickly you got yours. Mine was one of the early orders and I think George got a bit ahead of himself with the early pricing he gave me and had a hard time honoring it. In the end I wound up waiting 20 months for delivery and then it came in several packages two months apart. All is well now though and I am happy I have it.

I am no expert. But I am happy with my P
C router with a super pid. It runs on the g code fine and is much quieter. I usually run it at 16k rpm for plywood jig stuff. Again I am no expert just pretty satisfied wit the set up.


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Ken

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Ken

+1 on the pc router and super pid

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I'm outside looking in, just farther from the window than most.

I like Politically inCorrect routers, but I don't like Pelvic Inflammatory Disease.

See what alphabet soup can bring to the table?

He he funny funny. But seriously look up super PID.


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Ken

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Ken

Hey Don,

This is the setup that I'm looking at as well. Do you by chance know the part number of the cable you ended up getting? I'm trying to get my pricing together for startup, and that info would be really useful.

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Jason McGowan
M&S Guitars
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I do know what the super PID is, but I don't see how speed controlling a universal motor on a router is going to make it any better. I want those RPMs; I don't want a slower, quieter router not doing it's job well.

I'm trying to decide on how to set up a nice 40 to 60 K RPM spindle on my machine...pulley drive with an "O" ring off of a CAT30 tool holder to a nice spindle with high speed bearings? Air spindle? I can bolt something right on the side of my HSD spindle...