Thanks Russell.
Thanks John
I ordered a set of bearings from the site you listed. Much obliged!
I think today I'll try fitting that 500 watt spindle to the mill, just to see what it can do. I did spend some time looking at various spindles in the $100 to $300 range on Amazon, and reading reviews and it wasn't very informative. Some were DC some were VFD 3 phase, some air cooled some water cooled. Seemed like the most expensive (water cooled 2.2 kw 4 bearing w/vfd) had comments like "not much torque compared to my ________" router, or even as much torque as the reviewer's old 300 watt spindle.
So I'm curious about this 500 watt DC spindle I already have. What can it do?
When I think about this stuff, I'm thinking it's likely I will probably settle on a 1/8" 2 flute mill bit for whatever I use this machine for in future. Aluminum, not wood. Small parts. That means to me, considering the overall stiffness of the machine, a speed probably where I am now - 8000 rpm 16 IPM, and depth of cut yet to be determined.
So if that's true, an ideal spindle would be running at 8000 RPM at its peak power output, not a 24000 or higher spindle throttled down to 8000. Bearings are obviously a major consideration. Ideally I would make up a non-motorized spindle driven by a belt of some sort, and a separate motor. Is that right?
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