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Chinese spindle for CNC mill

2409 Views 12 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  marecat3
Hi everyone....I am new to this group....But I m glad to be a part of your group......I am building a CNC mill specially for machining mild steel and cast iron.....Are chinese spindles wort it if yes which one should I go for.....Also I would like to mention i would be mostly using it for making automotive dies and moulds, so drilling threading, facing etc would be the processes....I m concerned about which spindle to use
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Are you aware that this is a woodworking forum, not metalworking?
Welcome to the forum you might want to check on Home Shop Machinist. I think they have a forum as well
As for the spindle that would be fairly universal whether you're doing woodworking or metalworking, so thanks for your question. I have a 3 kW Chinese spindle and it's been running fine for 4 years. The only thing with it is that the minimum speed is 6k rpm (max is 24k rpm). 6,000 rpm may be too fast for your metal working unless you're going through a gearbox. I've seen some that go down as low as 4k rpm but even that's too fast for many metalworking machining operations.

David
Hey thanks man. At least I got 1 reply....
So, could you help me with the make and model of the spindle......Bcz as per the reviews jianken spindles are better but are costly.....Also with the spindle you use what is the max cut depth n width and the feed rate for machining aluminium, steel, cast iron.......
Thanks in advance for your valuable reply.....
As for the spindle that would be fairly universal whether you're doing woodworking or metalworking, so thanks for your question. I have a 3 kW Chinese spindle and it's been running fine for 4 years. The only thing with it is that the minimum speed is 6k rpm (max is 24k rpm). 6,000 rpm may be too fast for your metal working unless you're going through a gearbox. I've seen some that go down as low as 4k rpm but even that's too fast for many metalworking machining operations.

David
The above reply I made is for your post David
As for the spindle that would be fairly universal whether you're doing woodworking or metalworking, so thanks for your question. I have a 3 kW Chinese spindle and it's been running fine for 4 years. The only thing with it is that the minimum speed is 6k rpm (max is 24k rpm). 6,000 rpm may be too fast for your metal working unless you're going through a gearbox. I've seen some that go down as low as 4k rpm but even that's too fast for many metalworking machining operations.

David
Also plz help me with the link to buy it
Welcome to the forum you might want to check on Home Shop Machinist. I think they have a forum as well
Thx, I will.....
I just picked one I liked on eBay and bought it. Seems like the seller had a 98% approval rating, no idea what's available today because I bought mine 4 years ago. I've only cut wood with my CNC so can't really help you with the metal cutting questions.

David
The answer to your question is no, the spindles are not designed for steel and cast iron. You can get away with milling soft non ferrous metals like aluminum, and possibly brass and copper, but for steel and cast iron, you need slower spindles. You are better off picking up a BT30 milling head and an AC servo motor ideally (but you could get away with any DC motor and the correct gearing). For steel and cast iron, you need a lot more torque and slow speeds.

A high speed spindle will just destroy bits on steel and cast iron.
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