Sort of a brag but finally bought a 2.2kw spindle.
Ive checked lukes post about the shopping list and have purchased what I need there. Is there anything else that you guys who have installed one if these found out you needed after the fact? It comes in Wednesday I just want to make sure I have everything I need.
Thanks!
I’ll be following the responses in this thread with interest, as I have been forcing myself to not do this upgrade just yet, but I don’t know how long I’ll be able to resist the urge 
Yea I found a kit from Amazon warehouse for a bit cheaper. Have a friend of mine coming by Sunday to help install the 220v socket and we should be good to go.
Haha, I’m with you @Julien, I suspect I’ll go this route eventually. Even if I can’t think of a good reason!
Got mine installed a month or so ago. Only hiccup I had was my variable frequency drive only accepted a 0-10V signal for speed control, but the GRBL board on the S3XXL only puts out 0-5V. But thanks to Aliexpress, I installed a little PWM converter that steps it up to the required 0-10V.
Have to say its really cool having automatic ON/OFF and speed control.
And the spindle is sooooooo much quieter - the vacuum is by far the loudest thing in the room!
If anyone is thinking about it - no regrets!
Well I bought it as a kit so I’m hoping it comes with what is required. We’ll see Thursday
Any of you guys willing to part with your stock router mount? I’m going to try to rebuild a SO3 for the school (I’m a teacher) using some cobbled together parts from an XL upgrade.
Sure
Need a stock Z axis?
There is a setting I don’t remember the $ value but you can change it to 5v. See Lukes upgrade info it has it in it.
Yea I thought I read that in there.
Unfortunately not on mine!
A lot of the VFD’s on the market seem to be similar in that regard. Mine is a different horse - all the internal codes are different etc…
But its all good now - got it sorted with the little converter module for $12.
The best thing about a spindle is that it is internally grounded - so using the probe, I don’t need to ground the bit with the clip.
Are you able to make heavier cuts with it? Aka 1/2in ish?
I guess what I’m asking is what changed between the old router and the spindle?
The runnout and bearing arrangement are good selling points.
Yes, you can make heavier cuts. That said, you start to stress other parts (Like the X/Z gantry) so there is a limit to what is possible.
I got the spindle for a variety of reasons - one of the big ones was collet size availability. I purchase a fair number of bits that are in metric - so having metric collets was critical. I have a complete ER 20 collet set from 1mm up to 16mm. Just the ability to use 8mm, 10mm and 1/2" is reason alone.
Another factor was noise - my neighbour across the street was complaining about the noise when I worked into the evening. And with the Dewalt 611 I always wore hearing protection. Last night with my spindle, I was cutting Aluminium - and could have gone into the wee hours without anyone hearing. I don’t need hearing protection (for most cuts - sometimes a heavy cut in wood starts to be noisy. Loudest thing I have now is the shop vac - need to put that in a box and kill some noise!
Throw in the automatic on/off controls. And speed control, and range of RPMs.
Ease of tool probing. No motor fan blowing the dust everywhere (if you go water cooled).
Granted its a lot more than a Dewalt 611 - that is the only downside. But you won’t look back once you cross over!
Perfect! Thanks! I wasn’t looking to make any crazy cuts. But the low noise and lower available speed I want. I am just wanting to see if I can run this compression bit at 1/2 an inch that’s what I started looking into this for.
Actually many spindles don’t have the ground wire attached. Mine wasn’t I ended up drilling and tapping a hole on the inside of the cap and adding the ground wire to the plug.
This is something I’d really not want to do… We’ll see tomorrow when it comes in I guess
Right off the bat… The mount has no holes on it. How tf do I mount this thing on the hdz?
Edit: I’m assuming I’m going to be drilling the holes
Yes. You will be drilling holes. Luke sells a predrilled 80mm mount for a 2.2kw spindle. Thats what I did. Worth the money very accurately drilled.
Yea that’s the plan really. I was just hoping to get everything in before this weekend. I believe he’s on vacation right now.
For someone that has never dealt with electricity this vfd stuff seems daunting… 