Steel mill spindle

[Sieg]

Hi,

Does anyone recognize these spindles/motors?

http://www.stappenmotor.nl/Stappenmo...r%20index.html

I would like to know if they are able to mill steel.
I'm not sure what brand they are, it doesnt say.

Thanks in advance

[sergizmo]

Looks like a wood router to me. It may be able to handle some aluminum, but no way would it handle steel. The bearing set would not be strong enough, and there would probably be too much runout. There is an e-clip holding things in place, not something I would want to put a heavy load on.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you probably want to look elsewhere.

Serge

[Sieg]

Alright thanks.

Im looking for a spindle to cut steel, but not highspeed.
Let's say 1-2mm DOC, 30-60ipm. Something like that.

I dot not want an intergrated Z-axis. I need something I can bolt onto my own Z-axis plate.

Any suggestions?

[Jason3]

It's Cheap!!

Looks better than a hardware store router or die grinder, which plenty of others on this forum are using for aluminium at least, if not steel. Other than (potentially) runout, I reckon that should work fine. It appears to use an ER11 collet which will limit you to about a 7mm shank cutter. With a bit that small, the force on the bearings is limited somewhat anyway. I used a 150w kavo spindle with much smaller bearings on some stainless steel a while back - it went fine. Slow, but no other problem.

What else would be more rigid for that price? Maybe ask them what max. runout you could expect...

My $0.02...

Jason

[Sieg]

Thanks Jason,

I already emailed the owners of the website, he couldnt tell me wether or not it was suited for steel milling.
He did tell me he also has a 2.2Kw water cooled spindle, but hasn't put it up on his website yet. Maybe that one would do?
I mailed him back asking what brand the spindles are, still waiting for reply.

About them being cheap: Those spindles do need frequencyregulators, which are like 250 euros. So it would total about 550 euros.

However, I am worried about runout.
I will happily shell out $1000 for a spindle if that gets me a better one!
I want to use this machine to make money so I will be using it ALOT.
I need to know I will get the best spindle for the job (for a reasonable price)
It must include a motor tho.

Anymore tips people?

[Jason3]

How about the spindles Keling offers? www.kelinginc.net

Maybe someone here has used one and can give us a review? They apparently use NSK bearings but are made in china... They certainly are reasonably priced for the power. Keling list them on ebay too, and somebody else has ripped off their ebay page and is selling the same thing cheaper. I think Homeshopcnc sell them too.

I'd be wary, I'd want to hear from owners how they perform...

Jason

[Sieg]

Yea Homeshopcnc has those:

http://homeshopcnc.com/HFspindle.html

They do a package deal with the spindle and frequentie drive for $1060
It is 2.2Kw...maybe that is the one my local dealer from stappenmotor.nl was talking about..

Anyway, 2 questions:

- Should I buy homeshopcnc's package, all I would need to add is my own water cooling setup, and it would be ready to go?

- Will this plug into a basic home outlet? I live in Europe and our outlets meet the requirements:
200-240V 50/60Hz. However It says it outputs 11A. I am not sure my outlets can handle that?


Thank you so far.

[Jason3]

The water cooling setup might cost a bit. You'll need to do the wiring between the spindle and VFD - I can't imagine that would be difficult.

As for running the spindle from the wall outlet, that should be ok, but you should probably consider what else you are running on the same power circuit too - for example, your PC that runs the machine (if you have one), the machine axis motors etc. It adds up - you might want to consider the 1.5Kw version of that spindle, or perhaps run a lead from an outlet you know is on another circuit to run the spindle. I'd approach this with caution - if you're not sure, I'd ask an electrician. Obviously the consequences of tripping a breaker on a CNC machine can be serious.

Jason

[nicad]

I have the 2.2kw spindle and HF VFD combo from HomeshopCNC.

I have not wired it up yet, so performance I can not say. It is rated 2.2kw and 24krpm. I would assume low RPM (usually required for cutting steel?) is lacking.

first impressions of the spindle-
-The ER20 collet nut has no balancing machine marks in it (required for balancing ER style nuts due to the eccentric ring on the inside of them for pulling the collet out of the taper). This is bad.

-The threads inside the ER20 collet nut were not cut true, and the nut had a noticeable "wobble" to it. Since the ER collet system uses dual tapers, this then forced the collet and tool that it was clamping to be off center, enough to see. This is real bad.
I ended up spending another $150 on a high quality ball bearing ER20 collet nut, some quality collets, and spanners. These seem to seat down true, but I have not tested a tool shank with an indicator yet.

The 2.2kw 220v 1ph VFD looks ok, but I have had zero experience with these before.
After doing some research, it looks like it is a V/Hz "open loop" VFD. It seems that the preferred controller would be a Sensorless Vector drive.. and from the looks of it they are about 33%-50% more expensive. Might be worth going with one of those instead, I dunno.

For the water cooling, I can not afford to continuously run tap water through it for coolant. I plan to use a re-circulating, radiated pump system. The machine will only be used for about an hour at a time.

I wish I had more performance feedback for you about the combo, but not yet.

[Sieg]

Thank you very much Nicad! Good information!
This does sound disappointing tho When I buy a $1060,- spindle package, I dont want to have to replace half the parts of it to make it any good. Maybe I should look elsewhere.
Please let me know when you have some experience using it tho. User feedback would be very much appreciated

About the watercooling, I agree. I am going for a closed loop, much like how watercooled pc's work.

[ironDigit]

we got 230v and standard 16amp fuses so you'll easily handle 230v 11amps but i'ld suggest putting an add on the marktplaats and try getting your hands on a german-made spindle like jaeger(als ik het goed heb) .Cause i've seen some nice spindles come by on the marktplaats well fitting your budget with much more capacity ,like 20000rpm isn't unusual .Just do mind balanced tooling when passing 10000rpm's or expect trouble.

mazzel.

[Sieg]

Hey ironDigit Good to know our power outlets can handle 11amps.

I looked into your "jaeger" suggestion and found a website:
http://www.alfredjaeger.de

Problem is I cant find pricing anywhere? Why do so many companies make you request pricing instead of just putting it on the website? That's stupid. It turns people away (like me).

Kheb ook even op marktplaats gekeken maar kon zo snel geen spindles vinden daar.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I am still looking for someone with handson experience. Surely I am not the first guy to build a steel mill from scratch?