Air powered routers

[ullbergm]

Has anyone out there tried using a aircompressor powered router?

I was thinking that the piece that would be mounted in the gantry would be smaller and lighter than a 'regular' router spindle.

Anybody know what kind of horse power ratings that airpowered routers produce or what kind of acuracy they have?

[ger21]

They need a whole lot more air than you're likely to have available at home for continuous operation. I believe they are more expensive as well.


Gerry

[balsaman]

What he said, and noisy! Also inefficient. You need 3 HP compressor for every 1 HP you get out of an air tool. Also as an electric router gets loaded, it produces more torque, so they are hard to stall, an air tool is the opposite.

Eric

[ullbergm]

Ok, that makes sense.

Thanks guys

[chuckknigh]

Despite all this, I remember seeing a thread on one of the CNC forums, that had to do with pneumatic grinders.

It basicaly said that a very small, lightweight, and inexpensive spindle can be made from a dentist's drill. Considering the size, it shouldn't require much in the way of capacity -- and they're a pneumatic version of a very accurate Dremel tool.

I think someone was using it in a very small machine, to produce highly accurate PC boards.

I don't remember the brand name, but there is a line of disposable dentist's drills which was recommended -- so cheap it's not worth sterilizing them, but sufficiently long lived that they'd work well for this kind of project.

-- Chuck Knight

P.S. My own idea for reducing spindle mass was to suspend a router over the machine, and power the spindle with a flex shaft. You get rid of the mass and bulk of the router, but still maintain your power levels. I know they make them for Dremel and bench-grinder sized capacities, and they probably make them for larger ones, too, if you're thinking multi-horsepower units.

[bunalmis]

Pneumatic systems can not used in high precision servo systems.

If you want to use high speed spindle motor you can select pneumatic motor. (You can see at the dentist.)