Inexpensive spindle with ATC.

[dwalsh62]

As many of you have found out, the round bodied chinese spindles are vanishing due to their marginal quality in favor of a square bodied spindle with significantly higher quality.

Since I received mine directly from the manufacturer and bought more than one, I paid less but I brought the information to you in another thread along with an ebay seller who will provide you the spindle at a reasonable/fair price.

Since my first cut with the new square bodied spindle, I have completely swore off the round bodied spindle in favor of this new beast solely based on it's performance to cut steel.

What you may not be aware of is that in part, I am responsible for some of the changes which brought about this square spindle design and now ebay is flooded with them and now you might get a cheap copy from another manufacturers who cut corners to make more profit and you end up with a substandard product.

I can run the air-cooled square spindle all day long at 5,000 RPM and the motor doesn't over heat (actual experience), the round bodied air-cooled spindle would over heat if I ran it at below 9,000 RPM (burned one up running at 6,000 RPM).

These spindles seem superior to the round bodied spindles and don't seem to suffer from over heating problems so water cooling isn't a requirement.

I bought the 3KW square spindle with dual ceramic bearings at each end and as far as I am concerned, it's worth the extra $40.00 to buy it with them.

The ATC spindle project involves a square bodied spindle with an ISO 20 socket making it an ATC spindle and should be available in 2.2KW, 3KW and 4KW versions starting around $1700.00 USD (subject to change).

The 2.2KW version will use an ISO 20 tool holder with an ER16 collet and the 3KW and 4KW version will use an ISO 20 tool holder with an ER20 collet.

A shift to producing a prototype and testing has occurred and it is my understanding that this process will take about 1.5 months before a final revision product has been realized and tooling for production will begin after that.

I'm hoping in the next two to three months the ATC spindle is completed and ready to ship, I should be the first to receive one and will be able to provide details and information.

If the ATC square spindle is anything like the current square spindle quality I might consider distributing these ATC spindles here in the US/Canada considering the cost of the currently available (cheap) ATC spindles is more than $3200.00 USD for a Columbo spindle (1.5HP) and an Avenger spindle is far too expensive to even consider unless your pockets are really deep.

CAUTION NOTICE FOR NON-ATC SQUARE SPINDLE

While the current 3KW square spindle is going for around $508.00 USD, this spindle does not have ceramic bearings, to get one with ceramic bearings cost about $50.00 more (I paid less than $400.00 USD including shipping to USA for a 3KW square spindle with ceramic bearings).

Someone I know has already experienced a cheap copy when they thought they were purchasing the good spindle for $30.00 less from another seller so make sure you are buying the good square spindle motor, ask to see pictures of the actual item you will receive and who the manufacturer is and do not rely on what is posted in an ebay auction, it's sad to see cheap copies of a good product coming from the same city.

[Hyrum R]

I'm interested in a reasonably priced ATC spindle. Last time I looked at a Colombo ATC spindle, the price was way too far out of my budget. I'm interested to see what you can come up with. It might be just the thing I'm looking for for my new CNC I'm dreaming about.

[dwalsh62]

Originally Posted by Hyrum R I'm interested in a reasonably priced ATC spindle. Last time I looked at a Colombo ATC spindle, the price was way too far out of my budget. I'm interested to see what you can come up with. It might be just the thing I'm looking for for my new CNC I'm dreaming about.

As with the current square spindle that took 5 months to make it to market, delays are probably inevitable as they work out design flaws but with the motor is already done it's just a matter of completing the ISO 20 socket assembly to replace the existing ER20 collet assembly (it's removable).

The only bigger issue I can for-see is that the current customer changes their mind about obtaining ATC spindles and then it's stuck waiting for a new customer because they wont proceed if I am the only other customer who wants 5 or 10.

It's a numbers game and companies in china wont produce a product on their own dime.

[rusel]

dwalsh62
I have been looking into a new spindle but all the one I've seen do not recommend cutting steel.
Can you shed some light on this with you experience in steel cutting,What have you been cutting, tool used, speeds, rpm ,depth of cut, amount cut
Any help in this would be a great help

Thank
Russell

[dwalsh62]

Originally Posted by rusel dwalsh62 I have been looking into a new spindle but all the one I've seen do not recommend cutting steel. Can you shed some light on this with you experience in steel cutting,What have you been cutting, tool used, speeds, rpm ,depth of cut, amount cut Any help in this would be a great help Thank Russell

Cutting speed, not sure how to calculate it but I was told it was set around 160 to 170 FPM (how I have no clue) in the cut file for the material I was machining (customers files and material).

I've been using 2400-3000 RPM (customer recommended 2600 RPM) with a 0.250in 4-flute end-mill and cutting 0.025in per pass (customer claimed 0.025in to 0.030in was sufficient for the tool and material) with coolant/lubricant and didn't break a tool.

Makes a small pile of metal sand every time I have to cut out a couple of parts from the 0.125in x 4.0in x 24.0in piece of galvannealed steel (new one for me but customer provides it).

On my own jet engine fuel pump project (engine used a dyson hand-held vacuum impeller but someone else made most of the parts) I tried a 2.00in face-mill (0.5in shank) at 2000 RPM on a 1.0in x 4.0in x 8.0in piece of mild steel (all I had at the time) but I had to replace the cutting tips often (five on it) since they would chip and then make lots of growling noise until I switched back to the 0.250in end-mill and did it the slow way, took a while to make a 0.625in x 4.0in x 8.0in block with a 0.0625in x 0.0625in recess in a 1.0in x 1.25in area for a silicon seal.

When I can figure out how to take off lots of meat I'll work on shaping the the pump but for now it works, just larger than needed and cosmetically dull.

Someone also told me I should make a zero plate, gave me a "TouchTouch.txt" file but that is all I could get out of them and I'm not sure what is in the plate since I never got an more details or instructions on what to do with the .txt file or if I even really need it (attached for reference/information).

[Valen]

The file looks like a visual basic style program that looks like its sposed to auto set zero on Z.

given its VB I'll presume its for mach.

[dwalsh62]

I've got so much on my plate right now and not enough hours in a day so I'm looking for some help making and testing some parts.

Most of the parts are made out of aluminum and shouldn't be too difficult to produce so if anyone in the US has some time and can help it would go a long way to concluding the design so that the manufacturer can tool for production.

Drawings are already done in AutoCAD 14 as DWG.

[dwalsh62]

Well some parts are ready to be manufactured and prices negotiated which seem to be very attractive.

Product Description	Price (USD)	Minimum Order (pcs)
BT20-ER20 ToolHolder	36.50	100
Pull Stud (ball type)	3.10	500

Now I can move on to other parts.

[dwalsh62]

Anyone good at 3D drawings who can redraw some drawings for me?

Some of my drawings don't look so good in 2D and I'm no artist.

[CarveOne]

That is a Visual Basic auto tool zero file for Mach3. There are little rectangles in the text that looks like carriage return locations. That's why it looks like continuous text in MS Notepad.

CarveOne

[rusel]

dwalsh62
If you want some 3D rendering of your parts let me see your drawings and if it will not take to long I will run them up for you.

Russell

[dwalsh62]

Originally Posted by rusel dwalsh62 If you want some 3D rendering of your parts let me see your drawings and if it will not take to long I will run them up for you. Russell

Hi Russel, thank you, sent information in a PM for the air-cylinder.