Collets: ER 11 vs ER 20

[Aiph5u (Aiph5u (not affiliated with Onefinity))]

Hey Forrest, hey Ken @KenA

@SurfinGump

When purchasing a spindle, the most important thing I can think of to consider is the clearance of the motor body and the Z-axis stepper motor. If you have the first generation Z-slider (a.k.a. Z16) and are using the default 65mm mounting bracket, you will likely run into trouble with the top of the spindle motor hitting the stepper motor. There are posts here, and probably Youtube, about this.

yes! One post about this phenomenon on the Z-16 assembly on Original Series here, with links to an interesting workaround:

@Aiph5u

With the original 65 mm mount, the spindle will not clear the stepper so you have limitations on spindle length and/or spindle position in the mount. With the optional 80 mm spindle mount , the spindle clears the stepper so you don’t have this limitation.

Note that if you insist on using a 65 mm air-cooled spindle (e.g. like this one ), there is a solution to lift the stepper cage so that the spindle fits then and eliminates the “bumps the stepper” problem.

Seel also here for more information about 65 vs. 80 mm mount on Z-16 assembly on Original Series.