I’m seriously considering upgrading the DeWalt 611 on the X-Carve to a water-cooled spindle. Probably a 2.2kW with VFD.
Has anyone tried this yet?
Any information (pro or con) would be appreciated.
I seen this done before I believe with this spindle:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/161396875930?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
2.2kW I sadly lack experience as I never even seen on my own eyes any of the big commercial CNCs.
Personally I suspect that this would push stock or even stiffened X axis beyond any reasonable benefit of this spindle.
Thanks. I hadn’t thought about the X axis but since I’m also working on designing a new “board on frame” honeycomb X axis design I don’t think it would be an issue. I might drop down to a smaller unit like you showed though just to save some money. Thanks for posting the link.
That is a great point, I always assume people look for wider range of RPMs with Dewalt setting 1 being already so fast. I suspect this is not the case here.
Additional benifits are quieter running, lower spindle weight, and much better dust shoe performance. They also have some of the features found in Super PID’s inherently built-in. I also like the idea of how the 3 phase VFD works. The water cooled spindles that I’m considering have a runout typically of less than 0.001". You’ll never see that on any brand of router. Bottom line is I think it’s a much more professional way to go. I know it will work with the X-Carve because Zach Kaplan was using a 0.8kW water cooled VFD spindle last year.
The weight of a 2.2kw spindle will be far more than the Dewalt. When I was looking at alternatives to the Dewalt I’m sure the 2.2kw water cooled spindles were over 5kg (Dewalt is under 2kg if I remember correctly) which to me is far too heavy for the Xcarve.
I don’t know if you are looking at Chinese Spindles, but it seems very much pot luck as to which bearings will be used inside them/general quality. Also there seems to be a lot of problems with the VFD’s from China, which is a bit risky with the power they can output.
Obviously I don’t know if you are looking at Chinese Spindles, but the equivalent from a more reputable supplier will be far more expensive.
I decided against taking a gamble, and bought a Kress 1050 fme-1 to get me started. It has an rpm range from 5-25k and is really pretty quite when running.
I had to make my own spindle mount for the Xcarve, but I suspect that would be the case for a watercooled spindle as well.
In the future I may move to a bigger Watercooled spindle, but I think the weight involved would require some significant upgrades/replacements for the Xcarve frame
Close, it’s around 2.1kg. The water cooled that I’ve been looking at are around 3 kg. I’m not interested in the Chinese or eBay spindles. Too many unknowns. Looking for quality. Would consider a .8kW if it was from a reputable manufacturer.
Did you have any luck? What did you go with?