Hello

[Zig]

Hello Jim,

I am in Brisbane, Queensland, The Antipodes.

I made my machine. It is in it's second incarnation in terms of control system.

Still need to link spindle fault flags to the controls to make it crash proof.

[daedelus]

Hey guys, great to hear from you.

Mine is a Zen Toolworks which I shipped from the States to here in the UK. It was bare bones and flat packed so it was cheap but required lots of components (and lots more money) to get working.

I like it though, its a well designed and sturdy bit of kit which is ideal for making small PCB's.

My spindle is really quiet but has a maximum rpm. of about 8000, so its really only ever on or off and there no feedback or fault flags on it. I'd really like an upgrade though

[JimFranklin]

I thought I'd just pop in and say hello !

I'm near Bolton/North Manchester - and I have a chinese cheap clone 3040-T router table.
I've had it since September 2013 and so far it's been "OK" - especially after I changed the wiring to make the spindle spin in the correct direction!!

-Jim

[Country_Bubba]

Looks like we have a good start to the group.
While were on the subject of introduction, I am located in LaGrange, GA USA and my router used for PCB work and development is a home brew unit with about 330 x 330 x 50mm work envelope. The frame is made from Aluminum and is screwed and glued together. It uses acme thread with derlin zero backlash nuts driven by steppers and for control, turbocnc.
Also have an RF 31 Mill/drill that has been cnc'd with ballscrews and servo motors. In the works (long slow project) is to cnc my 12x36 Atlas/Craftsman lathe again using servos and ballscrews.

Art
Country Bubba

[KenH]

Well, since ya'll have told a bit - I'm located just East of Mobile, AL (USA). I started with a Zen 6X6 CNC, sold it and got a Chinese 3040 CNC - been pretty good. The spindle motor got too much TIR - about .004" TIR after a bit of use. Perhaps jamming to one side and down into work at rapid travel speed didn't do it any good either - darn those coding errors.

I've got a new Chinese spindle ordered and should be here most any day, but have been looking at http://www.cnconabudget.com/ site (scroll down page a bit). The promise of .0001" TIR sure is interesting.

Ken H>

[Country_Bubba]

Ken,
I have one of Paul's spindles (an original 3 speed type) and find it to be very good. Wish it had a bit more power (70 watts), but for doing PCB work it is fine. I routinely use 30°bits and haven't broken one yet due to runout.

Usual disclaimer.

[KenH]

Art, good to hear Paul's spindle is working good. I "think" I could make Paul's spindle work, but having a hard time getting timely response from him. We exchanged a couple of emails, then a few days pause - he said my email had gotten caught in his spam filter. If I could get a couple of questions answered, I'd already have his spindle ordered! My Chinese 3040 CNC needs 4.75" from top of my spindle mount bracket to bottom of tool holder. From looking at paul's spindle, it "might" be that long.

Does your spindle use the setscrew in side of shaft to hold the 1/8" tool bit? If so, how do you like the setscrew?

Seems like that's a bit more awkward than a ER-11 collet? My spindle doesn't require a lot of power, my Z axis is not rigid enough to handle too much power. It's been 26 days now and the Chinese spindle I ordered still has not shown up. I've opened a case with Ebay. I don't want a refund, I want the spindle!!

Ken H>

[Country_Bubba]

Art, good to hear Paul's spindle is working good. I "think" I could make Paul's spindle work, but having a hard time getting timely response from him. We exchanged a couple of emails, then a few days pause - he said my email had gotten caught in his spam filter. If I could get a couple of questions answered, I'd already have his spindle ordered! My Chinese 3040 CNC needs 4.75" from top of my spindle mount bracket to bottom of tool holder. From looking at paul's spindle, it "might" be that long.

Does your spindle use the setscrew in side of shaft to hold the 1/8" tool bit? If so, how do you like the setscrew?

Seems like that's a bit more awkward than a ER-11 collet? My spindle doesn't require a lot of power, my Z axis is not rigid enough to handle too much power. It's been 26 days now and the Chinese spindle I ordered still has not shown up. I've opened a case with Ebay. I don't want a refund, I want the spindle!!

Ken H>

Ken,
Yep as he says, sometimes he is a bit slow; BUT I personally feel it was worth it!
I measured the length of the 1" dia spindle below the motor mount and it is 3.44" long. And he supplies a bracket that you can use to mount the spindle. I mounted mine with it using a single (IIRC) 1" long 10-24 socket head screw. A hole is provided in the bracket for this specific purpose. It has worked well for me.
As for the set screw, yes that is what I have and I think it is easier to change than using and ER collet as you need only the one allen wrench (supplied) instead of two wrenches that I need for ER collets. I initially was going to order the ER collet unit until Paul suggested otherwise! Again, it has served the purpose very well and the "only" problem if you can call it that, is when I have fat fingered an MDI command and driven the engraving bit at G0 speed into the work piece:{( (Makes a lovely punch) Then some times (yep more than once) it would slip the bit axially up into the spindle until it hit the top of the hole.

As I initially stated, I have been a happy customer of Paul's

[daedelus]

I am very tempted by either of these spindles myself since my own one lacks a fan and gets very very hot.

Ken, has the 3040 replacement spindle turned up yet? I ordered some V-engraving bits from China through ebay over a month ago and still havn't received them.

It does seem to take a very long time to receive things from China sometimes though. I once ordered an emergency stop button from China and complained after nothing turned up after about a month. They sent me another and that didnt show after a few weeks so I got a refund. After a few more weeks, both items showed up, so your spindle might be the same I guess.

[booski]

Hi there,

Nigel here from Lowestoft!

Regarding machines and spindles?

My machine is a purpose built, custom designed machine that I made for a college project.
Made out of 3 6mm MDF laminates for total 18mm thickness and laser cut parts. It's not particularly sturdy and mimics the shape of a mantis cnc machine a little. Except it's not held together with glue!

Uses proper hardened linear rails with pillow block bearings. Slightly under 200x150mm working area.

Also, spindle wise? It's also custom built spindle made from ER11 extension shanks and brushless motors made on my metal lathe. My most recent incarnation of this spindle is completely 'all in one' as in I can hold the spindle in my hand and use it like a dremel style tool if I should want to.
Speed of my spindle? about 26,000 RPM
The 2200KV motor is run at 12V or if I bump the power supply up to 13 then it's 28,000.
This thing FLIES and is noisy to boot but that's probably down to my machine being rattly rather than the spindle.

I do have another machine, it's a china import and similar in build to the zen-toolworks. I received the machine in parts of which a lot where missing. I've finished the machine by making the missing parts myself including one of the lead screws. It came with one of those stupid american Ex Servo motors that run on 110V. It was a laughable motor really as it had obviously been crashed and had a bent output shaft. So what did the chinese do? Put the fan on spindle end and spindle on the fan end!! I Tried my best to repair it but limited tooling and the sheer condition of it meant it just went into the bin.

So, I'm looking to make another spindle for that machine but this will have a brushless motor and o-ring drive belts and hopefully be a little quieter!