Colt Bosch Spindle

[John Bear Ross]

Just wanted to show off my spindle upgrade. I had bought a Bosch Colt palm router about the same time I bought my Taig from Nick Carter. I tried to make an erzatz mounting bracket for it, but didn't really like the results. I also didn't like being limited to 1/4 shank tooling. I shelved the project, and learned to cut with the conventional ER-16 spindle.

Still, I wanted something more in the performance department from my mill. So I looked around, saw that K2 sold a bracket for the Colt, and ordered it. Simultaneously, I found a source for precision collets and a closer nut from precisebits.com. I ordered the parts, fabbed up a mounting plate for the bracket, and here are the results. A Taig CNC mill with a 1 HP spindle, capable of up to 35K rpm. We'll see how the bearings hold up to extended duty, as my tool paths can take hours, if not days, though the Bosch is reputed to be quite solid.

And if I need to switch back, it's only a matter of 4 10-32 bolts.

Here's the pics...








Best,
John Bear Ross

[fretsman]

Interesting, John as I considered doing this same exact thing at one point.

Unfortunately I saw the inconsistencies in the Bosch Colt laminate trimmers as I own one and the runout is just too great for the work I do.
http://www.precisebits.com/lab_repor...h_colt_TIR.htm

How much runout are you getting and, if you don't mind me asking, what kind of work to you do? What's the smallest cutter you use?

Thanks for sharing-
Dave

[ger21]

Dave, that link you posted says they've only seen two Colts that have not worked with their precision collets.

[fretsman]

Originally Posted by ger21 Dave, that link you posted says they've only seen two Colts that have not worked with their precision collets.

Hi Gerry, yes but that's what "they" have found

And mine would be a 3rd-

Dave

[jemmyell]

Originally Posted by fretsman Hi Gerry, yes but that's what "they" have found And mine would be a 3rd- Dave

Have you measured the runout on your Colt without the standard Bosch collet and nut? Was it new when you got it? Any play in the bearings?

-James

[fretsman]

Originally Posted by jemmyell Have you measured the runout on your Colt without the standard Bosch collet and nut? Was it new when you got it? Any play in the bearings? -James

Hi James,

Don't get me wrong, I love the colt by bosch as I use it for numerous other jobs, but it's just not near as accurate as my taig spindle. I do small engravings and I just can't afford to have any runout at all but I would love to have the versatility of the Laminate trimmer speeds and the mounting.

The colt taper is not "true" as the runout is indeed .003-.004" with a bit installed and to purchase the precisebits.com collets and nut would be useless at this point or at least a crap-shoot (for me!). I think that's why they (precisebits.com) say to try and buy the collets first and THEN go buy a colt and try the collet in the spindle to check for slop. Well that's going to be a needle in a haystack kind of thing and I'm sure the store would just love the customer opening up all the boxes just to find a good one, lol!

This is why I asked John, to see what his runout was and what kind of work he was doing. Not trying to stir anything up here at all.

Thanks,
Dave

EDIT: Yes the colt was indeed new and no, no play in the bearings.

[noisillator]

John, that mounting plate looks really nice. Did you fab it on the Taig? Also, what material(s) would you cut with a laminate trimmer at 35K that the 10K standard mill doesn't do so well?

[John Bear Ross]

Not to worry, Dave.

I'm doing sci fi models in wax and delrin, maybe epoxy, too. Nothing too high-tolerance. I'll check the runout with a dial indicator tonight.

Best,
JBR

[John Bear Ross]

Originally Posted by noisillator John, that mounting plate looks really nice. Did you fab it on the Taig? Also, what material(s) would you cut with a laminate trimmer at 35K that the 10K standard mill doesn't do so well?

noisillator,

I did fab it on the Taig. If the spindle head knew it was assisting in creating its replacement/supplement, I'm sure it would have gone on strike. Heh.

I'm really on a quest to reduce my tooling marks, more than anything. Surface finish is pretty important to my clientele, and even the tiny milling marks of a 10K rpm cut at 5 ipm brings questions of "can that be buffed off?" I'm just trying to avoid that. I work mostly in wax and delrin, sometimes epoxy, too.

Best,
JBR

[TDA]

Originally Posted by fretsman The colt taper is not "true" as the runout is indeed .003-.004" with a bit installed and to purchase the precisebits.com collets and nut would be useless at this point or at least a crap-shoot (for me!).

You have .004" runout? Would you mind telling me where you got it? We are trying to narrow this down since it is the vast minority of people that have had issues we think it might be from a single source that these are coming from.

Originally Posted by fretsman I think that's why they (precisebits.com) say to try and buy the collets first and THEN go buy a colt and try the collet in the spindle to check for slop.

I don't want to say where the 2 we know of came from (you can imagine why) but I don't know of anyone so far that has got one from a retail store that has had a problem.



One last thing if you do ever want to try them and they don't work for you you are alway free to return them per our standard policy:

At PreciseBits our goal is 100% satisfaction. We believe in our products and are willing to stand behind them. If you are not satisfied with the tools that you have received, for any reason, you can return any of our products back to us, in the original packaging, within 30 days of the invoice date, and we will refund your money*. All you have to pay for is the shipping and for any tools you do not return. It is as simple as that. We have built our reputation on quality products and services that are delivered in a timely and cost effective manner. That's not going to change. Ron Reed President Inevitable fine print: * If your payment was made with a credit card or PayPal, the 3% non-refundable processing fee that is charged to us by the credit card company will be deducted from your refund. Carbide bits that have been used in any way will not be covered by this warranty, so please do not return dull or broken tools.

[Jeff-Birt]

This is an interesting idea for a Taig. For certain types of work it should do a good job. Given that the spindle speed only goes down to 15k it would not be good for use with machining steel. For use on wood, wax, PCBs, and aluminum (with smaller cutters) it would work fine.

[John Bear Ross]

Mr. John Torrez,

I sent a memo via the website, asking for a 3/16th collet to be made in the future for my new Colt rig, so I can use my tooling with that shank diameter. Any chances of that happening?

Best,
JBR