Has anyone here have experience with the air-cooled spindles as sold by Amazon.com? What is the longevity under general usage? Do they stand up to long run times? How is low RPM torque?
Thanks, experienced responses preferred.
I think @EdwoodCrafting has one - maybe he can help?
John, I have a J-Penny 1.5KW air-cooled spindle. To answer your questions I find for most of my cuts I draw very low wattage so heat is not really a factor. The recommended low-speed RPM that will still provide sufficient cooling (air) is 7000 RPM. I have done a few 5-10 hours of carves and the spindle only gets slightly warm. I think you will find that below that the torque of a VFD spindle will drop off significantly. Certainly, a water-cooled spindle will allow running at lower RPM but it will be at diminishing returns as far as available torque. Metalworkers use very different spindle/controller setups for low RPM operations
A spindle with good bearings will run for many many hours trouble-free as long as you don’t let it overheat. In an induction motor only the bearings will wear. My spindle has 4 sets of ceramic bearings so I expect a long life from it.
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Thanks for the reply, Edward. I’ve ordered the new OneFinity 80 mm mount and as soon as I hear a ship date I will order up a spindle. The present setup with the Makita router has a .006 inch run-out, so I’m looking forward to less noise and better finishes.
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Do you have any recommendations for an air cooled 2.2 kw spindle for the 80 mm mount?
Thank you
Since I have had good luck with my J-penny you could look at this one
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Hi Edward,
I bought an air cooled G-Penny 1.5kw spindle in error intending for a water cooled version. Can you offer insight how it compares to the Makita router and or the water cooled version setup from a noise perspective?
The G-Penny air is significantly quieter than the Makita. Bearing noise is a major factor with the Makita noise and the G-Penny has much better bearings. A water-cooled spindle will be quieter at the higher RPMs because of the fan. I feel that is the main advantage of a water-cooled spindle if you need to cut at high RPMs. But even then the noise of my Air-cooled @ 20K is not bad and masked by the bit cutting noise. I don’t regret going with an air-cooled one bit.
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Thanks everyone for the feedback, I’ve placed an order for the 80 mm Z adaptor. When it arrives I’m gonna go with an air cooled spindle.
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Hi Edward, great for that feedback. I feel so much better going down this route all be it by accident.
Ed - do you have the 120v version or 220? I’m bingo fuel on breakers so I can’t get 220 to my machine without relocating to the garage.
-Tom
I have the 120v on a 20 amp circuit by its self
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Do you have a link to the one you bought? I’m looking to get an air cooled one that runs on 120V @EdwoodCrafting
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Wow - that’s almost less than the Makita - seems like a great deal to me…
The price is good but the shipping is a killer
Yeah shipping for me for that one was ~$80
The order was placed over a week ago, and yesterday the new air cooled spindle arrived. I will post pictures and try to document the installation as it progresses.
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Has anyone looked at utilizing one of the ATC attachments sold by CNC Cat in addition to their spindle with the Onefinity?
One owner - since sold his set-up - had used that Mechatron ATC adapter on his spindle, however he was using a different controller and had modified his 1F in other ways as well.