Air or Water Cooled Spindles

[NVTS]

I have been looking for an affordable spindle for my new 4x8 router setup. I want to get info from others that have water or air cooled spindles and the cost and where to buy would be nice also.

I was just going to use a Bosch router and upgrade later, but I just wanted to see what others are using and their experiences.

Also, 110 or 220.

I am in Canada also, so shipping and customs always gets me.

Cheers…

Howard

[Drools]

You might find this helpful on shipping. I'm fortunate that I live in a border city.
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111571

[NVTS]

Drools,

Thanks on the shipping info. I live too far away from the border for this.

I am more interested in air versus water on the spindle and which ones that orthers are using and like.

Cheers...

[Pplug]

I believe air-cooled spindles need a rest after 45? min of use and watercooled spindles can run indefinitely. I'm not sure my information is correct for air-cooled spindles but I do run my watercooled spindle for 24+ hours at a time without a break!

[NVTS]

Wow,

Routers can run longer than that, or at least I have and got away with it.

I want to upgrade to a spindle with vfd, but it seems that the water cooled has too many other needs. (Water change, leaks, tubing sizing, pump and so on.)

Any others using a Air Cooled one out there.

Thanks for the post.

[Signmaker]

We run our Elte air cooled spindles up to 8 hours a day with no problems.

If you pick a good quality air cooled spindle from a US or European manufacturer you are paying for a very high quality, high precision piece of kit.... there are fan turbines on top of the spindle shaft which are very efficient at dragging in air and keeping things cool.

We use Italian Elte spindles in our shop.... the bulk of the Elte range is made up of air cooled spindles... the only water cooled ones are designed for specialist applications and are designed to work in concert with a chiller system.

[NVTS]

Thanks Signmaker,

Least now I feel a little better about air cooled. I see alot on middle and high end CNC machines in their ads.

I will then give it a try and order one.

Thanks for the post.

Howard

[wcarrothers1]

I run my ekstrom carlson C73 spindle for hours streight with no problems. There is no time limit on the air cooled ones.. They are a little louder then water cooled ones though due to the fan on the units. Some have them built on the spindle and others have auxiliary fans. The spindle fans are louder and due to design limit the lower RPM you can run seeing they need to supply a min amount of air flow. The aux fan ones do not have so much a lower limit.

I like my ekstrom very much though. Got it before the china ones started comming but don't regret it. It was really only a few 100 more then they would have cost anyway.

b.

[NVTS]

wcarrothers1,

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate the info from all posters. How many hp's is your spindle?

Cheers...

Howard

[wcarrothers1]

Mine is a SM-C73*(Stock) model. Looking at 2.68hp ish. 18000 rpm max.

really 3hp or lower is what you are looking at for household single phase power. Most VFD controllers require 3 phase power for higher RPM's. For me it's not practical to reqiure I run my phase converter all the time my router mill runs. Becides 2.68hp in a real spindle isn't the same as comparing to any standard electric router anyway. I think there are a few higher HP vfd's that run single phase. But biggest Automationdirect sells is 3hp far as I know. (they are about the lowest cost very reputiable company to get electrics from And great support. Their phone support walked me through the settings for mine..


Mine would easily put portercables bigest router to shame (and yes I did sell my PC 7518R when I got my spindle And was happy to do it...

b.

[NVTS]

Thanks for the link and information. I will still keep the PC 7518 as backup.

Cheers...

[Pplug]

Thanks for straitening me out with the air cooled spindles. I know the "name brand" spindles can be run indefinitely but I was thinking about the Chinese ones. I remember reading one of the big threads that talked about running it only for 45 min at a time. But I am probably not remembering it correctly.