Thread: Router table spindle motor

I have no experience with the motors, why would you not just use it as a spindle moulder, it would be more versatile

Hi Andrew.
Ive been thinking of doing same to a Wadkin EQ . What type of moulder are you thinking ?

That spindle linked looks to small for 1/2 collets possibly?
Two thing have kept me pondering.
The collet sizes are not clear in a lot of listings. ER 20 goes up to what size? Obviously you need at least 1/2 "shank . And the units that take the larger collets go into square body shapes rather than round. Round is better for a Wadkin EQ depending on diameter. Not sure about other moulders.

I think it would be good to go as large as possible with collet size . Up to 3/4 " if possible. or 5/8" or 16mm.
And the larger water cooled units are supposed to be the quieter better units I think .

Rob


Edit
ER 20 does look good for up to 13mm so 1/2" is covered.

wq.jpg

I have done two tables using spindles, what do you want to know? I bought complete kits from ebay with water cooled spindle, VFD & a complete collet set.

Hi China

I've already got a very good spindle moulder and whilst I can change over the spindle to accept router bits they are too slow for the router bits to work properly.

Also, a second machine means I don't have to spend time changing the spindle.

Hi Rob

I picked up an unbranded machine about a month ago. It had an awesome 8 speed Danckaert feed which is now on the EQ. I think the moulder is a McPhersons one at a guess. It's got a slotted table and separate fences with micro adjust. The fences are not as pretty as the EQ but work in a very similar fashion. Rise and fall is solid, as with the entire machine. Only downside is the rise and fall handle is small and close to the top of the table preventing a larger one from being put on but I'm sure I can work around it. I plan on using a power feed on it as I've got a couple of spare ones.

I only have 1/4" and 1/2" bits so I'd say the ER20 would be perfect.

I do like the idea of the water cooled ones but I'm not sure if I'd remember to always keep water up to it. I'm not too worried about noise.

Converting an EQ would make a very nice machine, albeit a little criminal.

Hi Chris

Thanks for your reply.

I see that spindle motors vary vastly in price from around $120 to close to 1k. I guess my main concern is will the cheaper one, the 2.2kW at around $180 off ebay do the job. As stated in my other reply, I already have a second spindle moulder for the larger work, here I'm looking to have something for my router bits for lighter work.

What's your thoughts?

Thanks
Andrew

I used Huanyang water cooled spindles on both tables simply because I wanted complete kits and I don't know if complete kits are available in other brands. You will need a VFD for speed control and most if not all the kits are 230V to run from a single phase supply. Do a search in the router forum using my name and have a look at the manual table. I am pretty sure we ran the pump from the VFD somehow but electronics are a mystery to me but I will say that the water cooled spindle is very quite to the point it is possible to not hear it running if you are not close to the table.

I am very close to having our fully automatic table up and running and I will ask my son how he hooked up the pump because that has no switch either. I have posted links a few times in the router forum but they may not be any good these days. I will post to show the one we are building when it is finished but that is a very complex build and not something that should be taken on without good background knowledge of electronics as it stops just short of being a CNC build, luckily my son has done a lot of low voltage DC trouble shooting which has helped a lot, look up MandJ's (user name) router table build to see what I mean.

To directly answer your question on quality, I really have no idea but take the view that the short time runs that we give spindles compared to CNC long runs gives me hope that the quality for most of them is good enough. For all I know they may all be Huanyang and come from the same supplier.