Hey David,
I bought the Mechatron…
… spindle, because I did not yet have the money to buy the …
Although the forum members who bought the Mechatron HFS-8022-24-ER20 spindle (at least three are running it) are very satisfied with it, some people (who did not yet run it) say they don’t see the price for the german spindle justified and bought either a cheap Chinese spindle, or an expensive Chinese spindle. But you could also buy a different European spindle brand or a U.S. spindle.
I also bought this cooling station for the spindle and a set of class 1 ER-20 collets from Mechatron, and the Omron 3G3MX2-AB022-E VFD for 2.2 kW motor and 200 V class single-phase input from a CNC parts supplier. I am building and equipping my VFD Control cabinet myself (what do you need to do this?) since I have the knowledge and the tools required (will publish a howto with photos when I’m finished).