Just received my spindle for my soon to be home built CNC,

Just received my spindle for my soon to be home built CNC, which is not yet finished. it looks good and all parts seems good quality.

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How much was that little lot I’m after a new spindle

Let’s just hope all of that stuff lasts longer than a lot of other imported merchandise seems to these days.

That is the setup I have on my machine. It’s worked awesomely for me! I don’t use it 8hr a day 7 days a week but when I turn it on it works great!

where you bought this kit? and how much it cost?

Does anyone have an automatic-toolchanger design that would work with these cheap ER-something spindles? Or does someone at least have a smart way of changing tools that always positions the tools at the same height?
The spindles with a real toolchanger taper like ISO30 or ISO20/15 tend to cost 4-5k, a bit out-of-budget for most :frowning:

@Henrik_Larsen1 I am envious. That’s what I plan to use - not sure about the pump yet. Will you use a radiator or just a big bucket? Did it all come from one seller or individually? Does the spindle have good bearings?

@Anders_Wallin I have looked for this too. For constant tool height, what about having a fixed reference - EG a plate that you let the tool rest on while tightening the collet? I think I have seen Zeroing routines though that will feel the tip of the tool after each change.

I use a plate fixed to the bed of my machine to reference the height of the tools each time I change

I use a wire and alligator clips. I run Mach3 blue screen (I think it’s blue tex probe or something) and with a ground clipped on the spindle, and a wire to a piece of aluminum you hit the Z probe and it slowly lowers til it hits. When it makes a connection, it rises and lowers again slower. Then rises up and sets the Z height (compensating for the plate)

I have seen this set running and its a pleasuring sound level compared to air cooled spindles. Even at 20000 RPM you can conversate with normal voice levels right besides it.

The VFD can be controlled automatically by Mach3 by installing a cheap RS485 port on the PC.

Tool height is no problem with Mach3, since you can get macros to adjust height after toolchange. Its merely the mechanical process of loosening and tightning the collet, I find annoying. A quickchange chuck would be a big improvement, but then you loose some rigidity.

Automatic tolchangers requires lots of space and some sort of holder system that can also rotate, and because of this, they are quite pricey.

This lot was about 400USD, give or take some, depending on freight. My friend was able to get some discount, because he bought it with other hardware as well.

The pump is just going into a bucket with 20-30 liter of Water. A transparant storebox with a snug lid, placed under the milling table is perfect. I’ll probably use demineralized water to prevent bacterial growth.

This was a kit, i.e. one parcel with all the stuff. The spindle is pretty quiet, with is a good sign of long lasting bearings. Other than that I don’t know.

Thanks @Henrik_Larsen I see you even got collets with it. Excellent. I hadn’t seen that package before. What does the quality of the spindle mount look like?

The mount @Peter_Fouche is extremely sturdy. No problems there. It may even be well over requirements. You have to drill holes for mounting the mount yourself, that would be an advantage for most.

ER20 sounds good as opposed to the usual ER11

ER20 is the main reason for me considering this size spindle

Yes, ER20 allows for 13mm shanks or even more. The collet set goes up to 13mm.

Enough to mounz common milling bits made for manual routers.

ebay has a set of collets for 1mm up to 13mm, combined with the 4 it should come with should cover all bases on bit selection!