# China air cooled spindle, 400 watt



## SteveMI (May 29, 2011)

Wanted to share an experience. I needed to use some 1/8" shank bits to do smaller engraving and cut veneer. On eBay early this year, I found an air cooled 400 watt spindle with speed control that didn't break the bank at $140 with shipping. So here is some of the story after 40+ hours of cutting.

* Spindles use an ER interface to hold bits, different collets for the ER interface let you use different shank bits. The ER 11 interface only takes collets up to 1/4" shanks. [bigger spindles with an ER 20 interface can take 1/2" shanks] You can get metric size collets also.

* 400 watts is 1/2 horsepower. The spindle seems to have less torque than a normal router and needs time to ramp up to speed. Of course I have never used a 1/2 hp router to make a real comparison. You need to take quite a bit less depth than you would with even a 2 hp router. I have found that any larger than an 1/8" end mill isn't very efficient with this low of horse power.

* Run-out on the spindle was less than .001 with my expertise and available equipment in measuring. In use with wood, aluminum and brass the finished parts measured exact. 

* Air cooled is a bit of concern to me since my shop isn't air conditioned, when the ambient temperature goes over 70 F, it could affect the spindle life. 

My conclusion is that it is fine if being used for the right purpose. I use as small as 0.05" diameter end mills for work that couldn't be done with a 1/4" shank bit. I change out the spindle for a die grinder when I need to make deeper and larger cuts. 

Someday I may upgrade to a 2.2 KW (3 hp) spindle. Problem for me is that they are 220 volts which I don't have in my shop. They are normally water cooled and have a third bearing in the center. I need a way to rationalize the payback of the investment.

Steve.


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Steve, if you have multiple circuits in the shop you can tie them together for 220.


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## SteveMI (May 29, 2011)

It wouldn't be that hard to run a 220 line from the box to the shop area since it is in an attached garage. 10 years ago the local power company would have installed a second box in the garage for free, now they don't even want to do it. I got busy and didn't take them up on it back then.

Circuits in the garage have other lives in the house. Sometimes when the refrigerator cycles, dishwasher is running and then the microwave is used a breaker will trip on one of my shop tools.

Steve.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Steve up here all 3 of those appliances are supposed to be on their own dedicated circuits. How many amps is your panel?

By the way thanks for the review. That was interesting. The spindle was cheap enough. What about the software?


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## SteveMI (May 29, 2011)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> Steve up here all 3 of those appliances are supposed to be on their own dedicated circuits. How many amps is your panel?


Separate circuits would be smart, didn't happen in 1980 when the house was built. There is a separate 220 run to the laundry for a dryer to the kitchen for a stove and a line to air conditioner compressor that might be 220. I think my panel is 200 amp total. 

The spindle comes with a circuit board that will interface with Mach 3 and other controller software. Due to the ramp up time I run it manually with the speed control from the circuit card. 

I went to eBay for a picture and was surprised. It is now $98.50 with free shipping from California, I ordered from China. From the picture you can also see that it comes with a mount for the spindle.

I have no connection with the maker or importer of this product. 

Steve.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

That's cheap!

Steve you have ample power at the panel, you just need it distributed better. In the long run, the cheapest and easiest solution would be to run a heavy gauge wire from your main panel to a subpanel in your garage. I'm not sure what you would like to have there for tools but you could easily have a 60 amp panel there and then all the runs to your outlets and tools would be short. You would just need to install a 60 amp breaker in your panel and run a 6 or 4 gauge wire to your garage.


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