I’m considering a OF Woidworker, but want to cut aluminum blocks to make parts for shop jigs as well as wood. I wanted to go with a 2.2KW spindle, but not currently possible due to spindle diameter. I found a 1.5KW 65mm spindle, but not sure if it’s adequate. Does anyone have any experience cutting aluminum stock on the OF? Is the OF machine itself up to the task? Is a 1.5KW spindle enough? And how about the small 1/4 inch shaft limitation on the bits with the ER11 collets?
I’ve never cut alum (yet) on my machinist, but I am 110% confident in its ability to do so. IMO, the primary thing that separates the 1F from a true metal-working machine will be the smaller z-axis rails. They are working on an 80mm spindle holder. I would think a larger spindle would be preferable, but not necessarily because of having more power (although that certainly wouldn’t hurt), but having a beefier spindle with more adequate bearing support in general. Additionally, I would like to see the actual spindle holder made wider (thicker) to fully engage the linear bearings between the locking grooves. This would probably result is slight loss of Z travel, but would be a worthwhile trade-off, IMO.
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@OnefinityCNC @MindOfMcClure,
You might want to move this topic out of the ‘Controller’ section. 
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Sorry about that. I’m having difficulty figuring g out how to navigate this forum. And now I can’t figure out how to tell where this topic is located, or how to move it. Can someone please point me to site documentstion?
I agree that additional Z axis contact would be a good thing. I wonder how difficult it would be to mount a flat aluminum plate to the bearings on the X axis. One could then use linear rails (not tubes) and have really spread out the bearing surface.
Mounting a flat plate to the gantry would actually be very easy to do as you describe. That may be a good option for someone wanting do do some more serious metal machining.
Maxwell Noah Kirsner on the Facebook group made several upgrades to his 1F including 80mm ATC spindle, Masso controller, and new Nema motors. He added a RoverCNC Z axis assembly which uses linear rails - he made his own adapter to attach it to the 1F.
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Yeah, Maxwell has really taken his Onefinity to the next level and beyond.
I’m not on Facebook. Is there a link where I can see his upgrades?
He has a few pictures and short video clips of the CNC working - no explanation or ‘how to’. If you are just interested in what he bought I could read through the FB posts and try to find the equipment specs.
Tom
Thank you. That’s really a nice offer, but I wouldn’t ask you to go through that effort. I’ll be ordering my machine tomorrow, which will take a few months to arrive. I plan to initially use a 65mm 1.5 KW air cooled spindle, with a 2.2 KW VFD. Once I gain some stick time on the machine, I’ll dig into designing a 80mm Z-axis. Should be totally doable given the flat mounting plate on the X-axis. I may even be able to mill the needed aluminum parts on the machine using the 1.5KW spindle, by reducing feed rate and vertical step depth.
It wouldn’t restrict the Z axis travel at all because the Z axis stops according to the Bearing Supports and not the actual Spindle Clamp.
It would, because the upper travel limit is where the top of the router motor ultimately collides with the Z axis stepper. Having a longer spindle clamp would force the router about 1/2" higher (assuming the longer spindle clamp went between the bearing retaining grooves).